Recommended through a mutual friend, I was linked up with Mary Devlin Lynch and Debbie Devlin Zook (jointly named DevlinsBooks) to work on the cover design of a reprint of their 2009 novel Beautiful Disaster: A Witherspoon Adventure. We immediately hit it off, and that work turned into the on-going reprint and design of 3 more of their books:
- Burnt Roses: A Witherspoon Adventure
- Before Everafter: A Witherspoon Adventure
- Lying for a Living: Meredith Abbot’s Adventures in Hollywood
My process for each of these covers was to first read the novel. Thankfully I’m an avid reader, so it quickly became my favorite part of the assignment! I would read their novel, taking notes of notable quotes, descriptions, or images that I thought would lead to a compelling cover. I would then email the sisters with a concept board with 1 or 2 initial ideas, something like the below (concept board for Beautiful Disaster):
Mary and Debbie were great with feedback, and after a few rounds of discussion, I had a general idea of where to go and what they wanted to see. The process was such a pleasure, and I was really happy with how each of the covers turned out! Here’s a quick look at all 4 final designs:
