#AuthorLifeMonth Day 5: Comp Covers

Honestly, I had no idea what a comp cover was until I did this challenge, but as far as I can tell it's a cover design or draft that didn't make the final cut. Interestingly enough, I actually have one of those! Check out the first cover design for Duskfall:

I quite liked it, initially. That's a depiction of Knot and Winter on the cover, of course, and what I imagine to be the Sorensan Mountains in the background. It's more or less a classical fantasy novel cover. To be fair, it was the first time I'd seen my name on anything resembling an official book cover, and I think I would've been over the moon about it no matter what it looked like. After a discussion with my agent, however, we came to the conclusion that this didn't really represent the tone and brand of what we wanted the series to be, and my publisher was gracious enough to go back to the drawing board, where they came up with the official cover that we all (or at least I) know and love:

                          

And, seriously, I love that cover. But that'll actually be the subject of another ALM post, so stay tuned :-).