The answer is No.
No, what?
No, was our cover artist able to use any of my Vegas photos in the cover she designed for Swingers Light Up Vegas.
But it wasn’t her fault.
We wanted two things on the cover: something sexy, and something that anchored the cover explicitly in Las Vegas.
So even though all the photos I posted last week (https://wp.me/p9O7pv-336) were taken by me on various trips to Las Vegas, none of them really scream “Vegas.” The fabulous LINQ? Lots of cities have those by now, and a nighttime shot says nothing about which one it is. Ditto a Lazy River. Pick a tropical setting anywhere (or even just a relatively warm one), and lots of resorts sport them. The view from the Stratosphere? We actually didn’t even send her that one; it does picture the famous strip, but from such a distance that it’s not distinctive. And the same with the view out our 8th floor window. It gave us lots of pleasure, every night, to watch the sun set over the south end of the strip, but the photo isn’t identifiably Vegas.
Valerie June Bondarenko of Veridian Rose Graphics is the artist we approached to create our cover. We shared our two criteria – sexy, and Vegas. She began by offering us several “sexy” photo options to consider, and both Hubs and I were immediately drawn to the shot with a window, roses in a vase, and a partially clad female torso wearing black lace. Perfect. The swing lifestyle is focused on women and what women want; men may love to ogle, but women call the shots. We think our cover gives her the power to beckon, and the power to say no.
Next question: what to put in the window? That’s where we’d thought the LINQ could go, but it didn’t really work, and it would still have left us with the question of how to convey Vegas. Valerie came up with the idea of the iconic Las Vegas welcome sign in the window, and when we got the draft, we both said “wow.” It’s perfect.
Next dilemma: the window-roses-black lace pic wasn’t the right dimensions for a cover, and anyway we still needed placement for the title and author. We were clueless, but Valerie came up with the dark red lace on black borders top and bottom. This is why she’s the artist.
Last issue: font for title and author. We thought about neon lights – we think she’s captured that spirit in the title font and colors. Plus it’s a fun touch that “light up” actually lights up the title. And who doesn’t love seeing their name in big bold letters?
So yes, we signed off on her first complete cover draft immediately and are thrilled we did. We highly recommend Veridian Rose Graphics.
BLURB
Swingers Light Up Vegas
What happens in Vegas…
Swingers Dan and Ginger head to Las Vegas to celebrate Ginger’s fiftieth birthday. Through their friends back home, they’ve scored a free week at a posh Vegas resort condominium. They fill their days with every iconic Las Vegas experience they can dream up. But by night? They’re determined not to leave Vegas without sampling what it has to offer in the erotically charged swing lifestyle. A Vegas swing club beckons – will it live up to their fantasies?
BOOK INFO
Genre: Erotic Romance, Bisexual, Later in Life
Release Date: January 30, 2023
Length: 5K words
Price: 99 cents
BUY LINK
Pre-order coming soon at https://books2read.com/