In the Shadow of Blackbirds Blog Tour: ReCreate the Cover Contest

"Before I saw Maria T. Middleton’s evocative, haunting design for the IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS cover, I honestly envisioned a cover image similar to the one you’re seeing today." 


Hello, and welcome to the official In the Shadow of Blackbirds blog tour, hosted by #ModPodgeBlogTours! 

To learn more about the debut novel, and its author, please check out the official website!

Let's start things off with a BANG- a word from the author, Cat Winters, and a re-create the cover contest where you can win GORGEOUS prizes!

My protagonist, Mary Shelley Black, poses twice for a character named Julius Embers, a young man who takes people’s pictures in his late father’s studio and claims the spirits of their departed loved ones will appear in the developed photos. Deep down, I hoped one of those two resulting photographs would be featured on the front of the novel, but I wasn’t sure if Amulet Books would go to the trouble of hiring a model and setting up a photo shoot for my little book. 

Amazingly, that’s exactly what Maria and photographer Symon Chow did.

In July 2012, my editor, Maggie Lehrman, sent me a photograph of the cover shoot. Before that moment, neither she not Maria had given me any hints as to how the cover would look. I was ecstatic to see a shot of a young model dressed like Mary Shelley Black, posing in a studio chair like her, with Mary Shelley’s good-luck goggles hanging around her neck. I envisioned various title fonts and wondered if a spirit would be inserted into the final image. In August, I saw the completed design, and I loved it! I’m incredibly humbled and flattered that Maria and Symon took a scene that had originated in my own head and recreated it for the cover.

Of course, there are various other ways to visually represent this novel, from menacing blackbirds and crows to faces in flu masks or a frightened young WWI soldier…  

Thanks, Cat, for that sneak-peek behind the scenes! 

Now, it's your turn! 

You heard Cat, there are various ways to represent this novel in design and it's up to you to decide which way is best. 

How to enter: 

Create a brand new cover using photography, drawing, stock images etc. just make sure you have rights to any image you use, and submit the cover either by emailing me or tweeting your original cover image using the hashtag #ModPodgeBlogTours. 

Only those images tweeted with the hashtag, or emailed directly to modpodgebooks(AT)gmail(DOT)com 

will be eligible to win. 

Cat & I will choose our favorite and announce the winner here on MPB after the tour concludes on April 6th. 

To give you an example, here's my take on Cat Winter's In the Shadow of Blackbirds:

Prizes:

An In the Shadow of Blackbirds poster!

Deliciously deco jewelry! 

Enter to win a finished copy of In the Shadow of Blackbirds:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

March 25th-April 6th

25th- Recreate the cover contest @ The Mod Podge Bookshelf

26th- Interview @ Icey Books

27th- This or That @ Novels News & Notes 

28th- Guest Blog @ Jaime Arnold

29th- Interview @Hobbitsies

30th- This or That @ Carina's Books

31st- Interview @ Book Whales

1st- Character Interview with Julius @ Read Write and Read Some More 

2nd- Guest Blog @ Mundie Moms

3rd- This or That @ The Book Galaxy

4th- Guest Blog @ Teen Librarian

5th- Interview @ A.L. Davroe

6th- Character Interview with Mary Shelley @ IBTeens