duplex needed a new other design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 82 designs submitted by 27 freelance designers.
Joan Sween
Writer
ebook readers, fans of paranormal mysteries, particularly cozies
Cover design for an ebook. Book title: Nice Girls Don't Bite. Other text on cover: Joan Sween (author) & Minnesota Nice Sprouts Fangs (small kicker).
The book is a campy paranormal about two Minnesota antiques dealers who inadvertently become vampires. They're horrified. "I absolutely refuse to go all ugly and crazy and bite people!" The humor arises from them trying to hide their powers and lead a normal life. One funny visual is them clapping their hands over their mouths when they accidentally "fang out." There are smuggled diamonds in a Czechoslovakian costume jewelry necklace. They are shot with no harm. Crossbows are taken after them. In the end they have to behave like real vampires in order to help police stop a Colombian drug cartel. I plan this to be the first of a series, (Nice Girls Don't _____) each book goofy, goofy, and then a final smack of serious vampire business.
I like bold color and contrast and one dramatic element (less is more)--something that implies both humor and deadliness. I'm going to be fussy about that—not a totally funny visual and not a totally horrific visual. I want you to work magic.
I don't want cartoonish, a plethora of detail, or dark and murky.
I think I need a layered RGB file in Photoshop PSD or Fireworks PNG format, and a JPEG version.
Later: The guy who's going to be helping me launch says my cover art specs are:
900X600, 167dpi, preferably jpeg format.