One of the best things about publishing your own works? You get to design the covers – or hire the designer of your choice. And when you don’t think you’ve gotten the design quite right, you can always change them!
I had a very definite vision for the cover of Sunset at Catoctin Creek, but it just didn’t work out. I have the paperback with the original cover, and I’m happy about it, but from a bookshelf sales perspective, I could see it didn’t do a good job of selling itself. It didn’t tell readers what was under that cover.
I hired a cover designer and I think the work she did was very pretty. I really liked the first two covers she designed. In fact, when she found a picture with a cute dog for Snowfall at Catoctin Creek, I wrote in the dog. If you’ve read that book, you know how important that dog is to the story. So it’s crazy but true: the dog wasn’t even in the first draft!
Ultimately, these covers skewed too young. My characters are in their early 30s and the covers just felt much younger than that. And they didn’t express the sense of place that I wanted to convey. Catoctin Creek isn’t just about the people — it’s about the place.
When fellow author Brittney Joy wrote to tell me about her new small town romance, Starting Over at Maple Bay, I took one look at her cover and nearly screamed. It was perfect! I was so happy for her — but I also knew I had to get Catoctin Creek right.
That night I redesigned the covers, and I finally felt like I had the right formula for this series. The new Catoctin Creek covers express everything I want: this is a series about a beautiful, natural place. There are horses. The typeface is clean and easy to read, showing these are contemporary reads. I think these covers scream pick me up. I definitely would.
I’m so happy with these covers, and I’m excited to start working on the cover for the third novel, Springtime at Catoctin Creek. Writing Sean and Nadine’s romance is like a little treat I’m saving for myself, and once I have the cover ready, I think I will have the inspiration I need to really jump in and create this new sweet tale.
Read the first chapters of the Catoctin Creek books here: Escape with Catoctin Creek: A Small Town Romance Series