Countdown to Rainbowland: An interview with our cover designer!

Words from Jenny:

Okay, I have a little confession to make. I've been stalking our cover designer for a long time. There, I feel better now. She's done covers for several of my friends and I always drooled over them. And there were also two different pre-made covers that I would have KILLED to have, but just wasn't publishing those books at the time. So when we decided to publish RAINBOWS AND RAINDROPS, I knew who I wanted. Rachel had already taken a fabulous picture, so we knew our next step was having Allie turn it into a cover.


I waited with baited breath for the first mockups to come in, and when they did I was... let's just say it wasn't my vision. But that's the thing. What was my vision? I had no clue. LOL. And when I tried to convey it to Allie, I'm pretty sure I sounded like Chicken Little when he gets hit by the acorn. But that's what's brilliant about our cover designer. She took Kelley and I's broad ideas and turn them into our cover. When she sent our new mockup a few days later.

And I was like...

And this was Kelley...

We both fell in love with our cover the minute we saw it. Allie took all the gobbley-gook we told her and she turned it into our gorgeous cover. Okay, enough from me. Here is our interview with the amazing Allie.

Thanks so much for being willing to tell us about yourself and how your cover artist skills really helped capture the essence of Rain’s story!

First, what is your name? (First name is fine J) And the name of your business.

I’m Allie, owner of Makeready Designs and Publishing Services.

When did your business start? What gave you the inspiration and drive to pursue this career?

That’s a hard question to answer. I’ve been dabbling in cover design since I wrote my first book and people liked the cover. They asked me who did it and when I said I did it myself they began to ask me to help them out. Slowly I started charging for it and expanding beyond friends and now here I am with a for real business. It was a pretty slow progression. I’m trained in Graphic Design and Fine Art. I’d originally really wanted to be a filmmaker, and sometimes I still do, but once I found book covers I knew it was my primary home.

How do you begin designing a cover for a client?

I usually start by getting as much information about their book that I can. Synopsis, character sketches, the tone and feel. If I’m unclear on how to begin I’ll ask the author to send me a list of their favourite book covers so I can get a feel for their tastes. Then I proceed to scour every stock site and photographer I can to find the right images. The goal is always to find a great balance between what’s best for the book and what the author will like.

What’s your most favorite part about designing a cover?

Typography. I love words and letters. I like sculpting them and finding the perfect place to put them. I suppose that’s not a shock being a writer as well.

What do you think about the final cover?

Rainbows and Raindrops was a super fun cover to work on. I got to stretch a lot of design muscles, which is always fun for me!

What types of things do you do when you’re not creating covers?

Mostly care for my one year old. But I write, hike, ski, snowshoe, read and have multi-hour Netflix binges on yucky days.

If people want to inquire about using your services, how should they go about doing this?

It’s easiest to reach me through email at makereadydesigns@gmail.com or through the contact page on my website www.makereadydesigns.com

Thanks again SO much for bringing Rain to life.

Thanks so much for having me.

I can't wait to see what Book 2 in the Rainbowland series looks like. I'm sure Allie is going to do an amazing job!