I’ve had the pleasure of remaking Ray Gorham post-apocalyptic thriller 77 Days in September, which is burning up the Kindle bestseller’s list. Ray started with a homemade cover featuring a blacked-out North America (to emphasize the fallout after an EMP detonation).
Now that sales are picking up he wanted to invest in something cleaner, but without making too big of changes, so I started out with these:
But I also suggested we try something stronger – I boosted up the city, changed the blacked out North America to a starry sky, added a dark country road (signifying the journey) and made the text orange and yellow. Then I threw in some nice fonts and text effects.
If you haven’t read it yet, go check it out! Here’s the overview:
On a Friday afternoon before Labor Day, Americans are getting ready for the holiday weekend, completely unaware of a long-planned terrorist plot about to be launched against the country. Kyle Tait is settling in for his flight home to Montana when a single nuclear bomb is detonated 300 miles above the heart of America. The blast, an Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP), destroys every electrical device in the country, and results in the crippling of the power grid, the shutting down of modern communications, and bringing to a halt most forms of transportation.
Kyle narrowly escapes when his airplane crashes on take-off, only to find himself stranded 2,000 miles from home in a country that has been forced, from a technological standpoint, back to the 19th Century. Confused, hurt, scared, and alone, Kyle must make his way across a hostile continent to a family he’s not even sure has survived the effects of the attack. As Kyle forges his way home, his frightened family faces their own struggles for survival in a community trying to halt its slow spiral into chaos and anarchy.
77 Days in September follows Kyle and his wife, Jennifer, as they are stretched past their breaking point, but find in their devotion to each other the strength to persevere.
——————————–
and the final cover is…
Went with very simple, clean text – a smart choice I think.