My current publisher
(under another pen name)
has given me a lot of control
with covers.
I work closely with the cover artist.
With the first cover,
I explained about my characters
and my important scenes
and gave him total creative freedom.
He gave me a gorgeous cover
with an almost naked woman on it.
The thing is…
my target market is heterosexual women.
We aren’t interested in naked women.
With the next cover,
I outlined my ideal cover exactly.
The cover had a couple
on the bow of a ship,
the waves crashing around them.
The artist tried.
He really did try.
The problem was…
ships weren’t his strong point.
With the third cover,
I searched his online album.
I found a similar scene
in his existing art.
I told him I wanted the same
except the hero had short hair,
he didn’t have wings,
the heroine was in a long white dress,
etc.
The third cover was beautiful,
the artist was happy,
and the book sales were great.
If you want a completely creative piece of art,
let the artist do his thing.
If you need a marketable piece of art,
reference off an artist’s existing art
and suggest tweaks.