I have a great editor and publisher who
allow me a lot of input on my covers.
When I am about midway in a book, I start visiting the stock image sites
and I make my own lightboxes. I pick images that I can see using for either my
cover or my trailer for the book. A couple of years ago while putting together
a lightbox for Knight Blindness I saw this fiery knight shot. I bought it and
then had all my two previous book covers in my Knights in Time series redone
with the fiery knight as a banner on the bottom. He is now on all of the books
in the series.
With In Time For You, I wanted to convey
the time travel element. I wanted to show a modern woman had gone back in time
and a knight would come to her rescue. I had the female model from one of my
lightboxes I gave my editor who I worked with on the cover. She and I had
discussed my concept and I knew she understood what I was going for. I had a
castle image for the medieval element. We took several tries to get the knight
right. I had a fabulous knight in armour picture where you only saw the armour
(the breastplate and his gauntleted hand holding a red rose) but we could not
get the sizing right. We tried three or four different positions and foreground
and background shots and different shading. It just wasn’t happening. I had the
knight on horseback in one of my lightboxes and we decided he would do just as
well. I’m very happy with the final result.
I wound up using the knight holding the
rose in my trailer.
About the Author
Chris Karlsen is a Chicago native. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was in her late teens where she later studied at UCLA. She graduated with a Business Degree. The daughter of a history professor and a mother who was a voracious reader, she grew up with a love of history and books.
Her parents were also passionate about traveling and passed their passion onto Chris. Once bitten with the travel bug, Chris spent most of her adult life visiting the places she'd read about and that fascinated her. Her travels have taken her Europe, the Near East, and North Africa, in addition to most of the United States. She most frequently visited England and France, where several of her books are set.
After college, Chris spent the next twenty-five years in law enforcement with two agencies. Harboring a strong desire to write since her teens, upon retiring from police work, Chris decided to pursue her writing career. She writes three different series. Her historical romance series is called, Knights in Time. Her romantic thriller series is Dangerous Waters, and he latest book, Silk, is book one in her mystery/suspense series, The Bloodstone series.
She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and five wild and crazy rescue dogs.
My website is: http://chriskarlsen.com/
My FB page: https://www.facebook.com/chriskarlsenwriter
My Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/chriskarlsen/
ABOUT THE BOOK
While horseback riding in the English countryside, sisters Electra and Emily Crippen find themselves trapped in a tear in time. Thrown back to 1357 England and caught by a local noble, they are in a place that is home but as frightening and unfamiliar as an alien world would be. With no idea how the tear in time came about, the one thing they do know is: they must stay together and stay near to where the event took place in hopes of discovering the way back to their modern life. That certain need to stay together is the first certainty taken from them when one sister is forced to remain in England and one is sent miles away to Wales by royal order.
There is one other hope for help the sisters don’t know exists. It’s Electra’s lover, Roger Marchand. A time traveler himself, he never told her of his past. When he realizes what has happened to the sisters, he enlists the help of a scientist friend to help him open the suspected passageway through time. Any effort to save Electra and Emily will likely cost him his life. This was the time Roger came from, a time when his country, France, was at war with England. If he is discovered on English soil while searching for the sisters, he will either be killed or taken prisoner of war. Any risk is worth saving the life of the woman he loves.
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Thank you Book Cover Junkie for this opportunity to talk about how covers come about. It's fun when you're lucky like me and get to see your concept brought to life.
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