Hauntings in the Garden: Covers and Blurbs

Day 3 of the Halloween celebrations for Hauntings in the Garden--the series of nine small seasonal novellas from The Wild Rose Press.
And each day gives another chance to win the Rafflecopter prize--a £25 gift certificate for the Wild Rose Press. Wth all the great discounts that might mean up to 25 new books :-)
Day 1:Planning and purpose with link to Lazette Gifford's free ebook on preparing for Nanowrimo.
Day 2:Writing "small": analyse blurbs for style and content.

Today, I'm featuring the fourth of the mini novellas, Lara Parker's The House and my own ShriekWeek.

Paranormal suspense

Unexpectedly, Leslie Harrison inherits a sprawling horse farm in Florida from a distant relative. She packs up her life and relocates to the Sunshine State with no idea what awaits her. Upon her arrival, she meets the farm manager, Preston McClay and, to her chagrin, he isn’t happy to see her. Quickly the cantankerous, but rather good looking, farm manager becomes the least of her worries when things start to go bump in the night. Will the sinister activity in the house chase Leslie away, or will she prevail in the struggle between good and evil?

Rating: sweet
Page Count: 55
Word Count: 12900
978-1-62830-570-8 Digital

Click on the link for more info and to read excerpt.

Cozy Mystery

Events organizer Maggie Ballater has a new career, a new Island home, and a new life, and intends to make the most of it. But two things stand in her way. One is the dangerously attractive guitarist who brings back memories she’d rather forget. The other is the inexplicable murder of the lead actor in her ShriekWeek pageant.

Bram Jenkins wants to clear his name after being imprisoned for a crime he swears he did not commit. He has no time to be distracted by an opinionated woman he  suspects of working for his enemy.

Solving the ShriekWeek murder means they must both face up to the past before they can lay their ghosts to rest, and find out where their future lies.

Halloween
Rating: Sweet
Page Count: 69
Word Count: 15280
978-1-62830-563-0 Digital

Today, think about covers. What is different about the covers above compared to the covers on Day 1 and Day 2? Do covers matter for e-books? Do you prefer to have people on the covers--look back at the past two days. Which cover do you like best? Which is more important to you, the blurb or the cover? Why do you buy the books you buy? Why should people buy your book?

For some help with thinking about book and cover design, try Thinking With Type's interesting downloadable pdf on Beautiful Books with sections on fonts, layout and covers. The download for me took a long time to happen but it was worth the wait.

And here are nine authors' views of great cover design

Comments below the rafflecopter giveaway please and remember to enter the giveaway for a chance of winning that £25 gift certificate, courtesy of The Wild Rose Press.

a Rafflecopter giveaway