#GuestDayTuesday – #CoverReveal – #SarahBrentyn

/ Marcia Meara

I have a special surprise for you folks today! My friend, Sarah Brentyn, has not one but two beautifully redesigned  and elegant covers to share with you! But I’ll let her tell you the full story of how they came to be. And here she is:

~~~

I Don’t Know How Art Works

To me, art is magic. And I mean that literally. Obviously, figuratively, too, since all creative endeavors are magical. But it’s…I don’t know…weird. I just don’t get it.

Having these covers made was a long process. I asked many, numerous, countless, repetitive, stupid questions along the way. It wasn’t pretty. Like “How do you get the picture from your notebook to the computer screen?” And “What do you mean?” And, “How is that going to turn from a…line thingy…into a shaded flower?” And “What do you mean?” And “How are you going to make that lighter without making the other part darker?” And “What do you mean?” Fortunately, the artist I worked with is a saint with a great deal of patience. (Or, just as likely, sent kind inquiries and tolerant responses while screaming obscenities I couldn’t hear. Yeah. That’s super possible.)

I’m going to give you the sanitized version of how this all went down. (Believe me, this is for your own good.)

I didn’t know what I wanted.

Or, rather, I knew exactly what I wanted but had no idea how to express it. I don’t speak art.

So, when I tried to explain the idea, it sounded like Dr. Seuss on a bad day:

“I’d love to have a fringlehop around the juglifine. A circle ‘round the difentoot with wiscott and some bine.”

She asked if I could show her what I meant. That went well. It was like a two-year-old shoving a crayon scribble at you and expectantly waiting for applause for the amoeba-shaped blob that is obviously a cat.

After that, came more, ridiculous, relentless questions. Like “Can you move the thing over to where the other thing is?” And “What do you mean?” And “How about if that thing is closer to the other thing?” And “What do you mean?”

There was also a great deal of, “I don’t know how art works.” It became my mantra.

When the artwork was done, we needed to distress it. The images were too clean and pretty for my dark writing. Did I want the background distressed or the image itself? And what type of distressing? That, my friends, is another story.

For now, enjoy the beautiful artwork by the talented (and ever-patient) Loni Townsend. I hope you like the fresh, new look for my books!

~~~

Artist Loni Townsend: Wife. Mother. Ninja. Squirrel.

Website | Instagram

Shoutout to the lovely Allie Potts for getting these covers into print-ready form so I could have my precious paperbacks (and for creating beautiful 3D images). 

~~~

And … tada! Here are Sarah’s freshly redesigned covers for your viewing pleasure. Personally, I think they are gorgeous! Elegant and refined, and positively stunning. I suspect most of you will agree.

Now I ask you, was I right? I love both of these covers so much, I’d buy them just to put on easels on my bookshelves. But an even better reason would be because the writing is so very good. It’s a Win-Win! Check out these Blurbs!

Hinting At Shadows BLURB:

No One Escapes Life Unscathed

Delve into the deeper reaches of the human condition and the darkness that lives there.
A girl haunted by her sister’s drowning.
A boy desperate for his father’s affection.
A woman forced to make a devastating decision.
A man trapped by his obsessions.

Experience tales of love, loss, murder, and madness through this collection of flash and micro fiction. Take a peek behind the smile of a stranger. Get a glimpse inside the heart of a friend. Scratch the surface and discover what is hidden beneath.

These stories will open your mind, tug at your thoughts, and allow you to explore the possibility that, even in the brightest moments, something is Hinting at Shadows.

Buy Hinting at Shadows HERE
(It’s now on SALE for just $.99!)

On the Edge of a Raindrop BLURB:

When You’re on the Edge, It’s Easy to Fall

These are stories of lives on the edge.
A girl tortured by the world within her.
A boy powerless to escape his home.
A mother doomed to live with her greatest mistake.
A man lost in a maze of grief.

Each raindrop provides a microscopic mirror of ourselves and those around us. But we can’t always trust what we see. The distorted images disorient the mind, altering our view of reality.

This second collection of flash and micro fiction explores the depths of the human condition and the fragile surface of our perceptions. Dive into these tales of darkness and discover what life is like On the Edge of a Raindrop.


Buy On the Edge of a Raindrop HERE

~~~

Author Sarah Brentyn

I wrote my first story when I was nine years old and never looked back. My work has appeared both in print and online in lit mags, newsletters, websites, newspapers, and anthologies. I have a master’s degree in writing and have taught all ages, from Kindergarteners to adults. When other girls dreamt of being a ballerina, I dreamt of scribbling my thoughts in a notebook and turning them into a book. I bleed ink.

You can Reach Sarah on Social Media here:

Website: Sarah Brentyn

Blog: Lemon Shark | Lemon Shark Reef

Twitter

Instagram

Pinterest

92 thoughts on “#GuestDayTuesday – #CoverReveal – #SarahBrentyn”

    • It was a great pleasure to have Sarah here for the first time. (Hint: she’ll be returning for a couple more interesting and entertaining posts in the weeks ahead). And glad you plan to check these books out, too. Thanks for stopping by, Joan! 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    • Aw, thank you, Joan. I appreciate the feedback. So nice to hear others like these covers. And also nice to hear you’re reading short fiction. It’s a form I love but it’s not for everyone. I hope, if you give these a try, you enjoy them! 💖

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    • I agree with both of those comments, Mae. I laughed throughout that wonderful post, but the Seuss thingie really was hysterical, wasn’t it? The good news is, Sarah will be visiting us a at least a couple more times during the weeks ahead, so stay tuned!

      And thanks so much for stopping by today! 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  9. Pingback: A Fresh, New Look | Lemon Shark

  10. All the best, Sarah. I love the artwork. My interactions with artists were similar. I finally settled on one specific person and let him come up with the art based upon my vague representations. We work well together these days.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • So nice to hear I’m not alone in the trying-to-interact-with-artists. 🙂 It was a weird experience. I just don’t know the terms. Glad I found someone willing to deal with that and happy you found an artist you work well with. It’s awesome when our visions become reality. Thanks, Craig!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • It was MY pleasure to have you visit is, Sarah, especially with such lovely cover reveals. I knew folks would enjoy seeing them, and reading your very funny comments, too. 😀 And you are welcome to visit us here any time you have news to share of any kind. 🙂 ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • Aw, thanks, again. It was a process and also a fair bit of uncertainty with the no-white-background rule of book cover design. I went with what I loved, not what was “right” so…a bit of a gamble. I’m grateful for every bit of positive feedback (of which you’ve given plenty). So appreciate you, lovely lady. 💖🥰

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        • Awww, shucks! Thanks! 🤗 And I bucked the system on covers somewhat, myself. There are a few types hugely popular right now that instantly turn me away before I even know what the story’s about. Though many other popular styles work beautifully for me, I just wanted something very distinctive for mine, and happily my good friend and cover designer extraordinaire says we share a brain. I tell her once, she has a mock up back to me within a day, and it’s generally pretty much just as I pictured it. I sometimes ask her to tweak a color slightly, or move an object a wee bit, but that’s all. And often, I don’t even need that. Am I lucky, or what?

          Truthfully, no cover appeals to every single buyer, so we are left with three options as I see it:
          1) Go with the flow and do what’s commercially hot.
          2) Be a total rebel, and do what we personally prefer.
          3) Compromise, and try for that very tricky happy medium.

          I think you’re going to find that white background or not, most folks will love your new covers, and they will definitely stand out on a crowded bookshelf. (And isn’t that the whole purpose of fancy covers, anyway?) Wishing you huge success with the future sales of these! 🙂 ❤

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

  14. Heh. Sarah, I’m sure it didn’t help that I don’t know how to talk to people! I’m just glad we were able to get you covers that lived up to what you wanted.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  16. I love Sarah’s humor. And it’s clear that she had a vision despite her insistence that she didn’t know how to get there. Beautiful artwork from Loni. Congrats to Sarah on the gorgeous covers! Great guest post, Marcia.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  19. I absolutely love how these hint at distressed beauty, or is it beauty distressed? You could use either phrase to describe the contents of both collections. Hopefully, the new covers will capture the reader’s eyes they deserve.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  20. Great covers, Sarah. I can identify your process of creating these covers. I went through a similar process with my illustrator who did the illustrations of my children’s book. Your collections of short and micro fictions sounds wonderful. Thank you, Marcia.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  22. Pingback: Smorgasbord Blogger Daily – Wednesday 30th June 2021 – #CoverReveal Sarah Brentyn with Marcia Meara, #Review Jacqui Murray, #Inspiration Rebecca Budd | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

  23. Oh yes, the fun of creating cover art. I’m there once again in a quandry for my latest book collecting moss lol. Okay, I loveeeeeeeeeeee these. And I love that they create a branding with what’s inside the book. Readers will relate to them as Sarah Brentyn books. ❤ xx

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  25. I got such a kick out of reading Sarah’s process of working with a book cover artist. My brief to an artist would be “I want you to design a cover that feels like this, but I can’t put the feeling into words.” I love the two covers, particularly how they have the same look and feel.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • So glad you enjoyed this post, Liz. I thought Sarah slayed it! (Well, it slayed me, anyway. I laughed pretty darn hard!) And I agree with you on the covers. They are truly beautiful, elegant, refined, and all those other good adjectives. Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Glad you got a kick out of it. It was definitely a process–and funny, now that enough time has passed. 😉 And I’m thrilled you love the covers. My goal was a simplistic design but also a huge reason for doing this was to have them be a clear set. Thanks, Liz! 💖

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

Leave a reply to coldhandboyack Cancel reply