While struggling with the cover for this book, I started thinking about how important the right cover for your novel really is. If you have the right cover, you're golden. But if it's wrong...you are so not golden anymore.

When I went to do the cover of Prophecy, I was under a time crunch. I had to have everything submitted by the end of May and it was the middle of May. I had to write the bio for myself, a synopsis for the book. It was difficult. Then you add to it the fact that Nathan was drawing the cover of the book from scratch. He had to sketch the cover, then fade it and blur it to make it just right, add the background, find the right font for the title and my byline. It didn't turn out half bad for the amount of time we had to finish it.

The cover of Forbidden is a different story, literally. I have a new font, a real picture instead of something drawn, and a much better idea of what is really going into the cover itself. Plus, I actually had more time to work on it and more time to veto what I didn't like and approve what has worked out in the long run.

What I hope you learn from my mistakes and experience with this is that you have to find what's right for your novel. Prophecy has so many elements in it that couldn't be given away by the cover or synopsis. I had to be careful. Forbidden is similar, but the twists aren't as surprising. It doesn't matter if you're writing a love story or a story about employees in a coffee house, the cover has to fit what you're looking to do.

Another thing to take into consideration is that you have to have permission to use everything you put on a cover. Images, fonts, the whole shebang. So make sure you thought that through before you used it.

Once the cover of Forbidden is finished, I'll post it so you get the sneak peek at it. It's going to be beautiful.