Cover Stories: Persephone in Bloom

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Origins

Persephone in Bloom and the entire Olympus Inc. series started as a brainwave in October 2022, when I was thinking about what I might write for this whole career re-launch I was planning. Wellywood Magic, absolutely, but those were novellas, and I wanted a novel series too. Something that would appeal to my readers, but maybe something in the contemporary romance space, a genre I love for its snappy repartee, relatability to modern readers, and focus on work, family, and friends as important aspects of the protagonists’ lives.

A lot of my ideas start as a vague what if in the back of my head that churns around with all the other ideas back there, picking up more details and complications. Olympus Inc sprang fully formed from the front of my brain (CLASSICAL REFERENCE).

“WHAT IF,” I thought, as I punched my pillow into a comfortable shape, “THE OLYMPIANS BUT THEY WORK AT A MODERN DAY MAGAZINE PUBLISHING HOUSE CALLED OLYMPUS INC?”

Then I went to sleep. The idea was still there the next morning. “Huh,” I thought. “Yes. Okay!”

Names

The astute will note that the name on this cover is Kate Healey, not Karen Healey.

When you’re writing romance, you get to make some choices, and one of them is if you’re going to write sweet and cosy romance, where everything fades to black before the clothes come off, or if you’re going to go more for the sweatier, steamier side of the sexy stuff.

Personally, I like writing sex scenes; they’re basically a combination of dialogue, action, and character development, which are three of my favourite things. But none of my Karen Healey work has explicit sex, and I didn’t want people expecting a fade to black and instead getting a play-by-play.

So I opted for Kate Healey as an open pen name. It’s a (slightly) different name, to signal different content, but I’m open that we’re the same person. This way, those Karen Healey readers who want sexy times can have them, and those Karen Healey readers who prefer a less erotic read can either avoid Olympus Inc, or, you know, be aware that sex scenes are there and they can just skim past ‘em.

Cover Reveal

Even before I’d finished the first chapter, I knew I wanted an illustrated cover; that’s a big deal in contemporary romance right now, and I also personally love illustration.

Fortunately, I had already collaborated with Alison Cooley on our two-person table-top role-playing game, Definitely Not Demons (you play a monk in a mysterious medieval monastery, or the demon attempting to tempt them to damnation).

As a result of that collaboration, I knew Alison was fast, skilled, and great to work with, the mythical three things people say you can’t have. Well, I could, and I did, and I can honestly say I have never had a better time working on a cover.

(As a side note: Alison and I worked out a compensation agreement we’re both happy with, discussion of which I will save for a business-and-finances newsletter later. For now, I will simply say that I firmly believe artists should get paid, and paid what their work is worth.)

I gave Alison character descriptions (apparently, the line between “hot bearded businessman” and “definitely a serial killer” is RAZOR thin) and she turned them into these four cover sketches:

Me, who has never met a floral she didn’t adore: THE FOURTH ONE PLEASE.

We went through some pose refinement discussion, and got this:

And then it was colour choices and font, and last minute changes to expression and pose and we ended up with THIS stunning piece of work, the final cover. TA-DAA:

Persephone in Bloom is now available for pre-order at Amazon (other retailers coming soon!), and I hope you will enjoy it. I had immense fun writing it, and first-reader responses are all along the lines of “I couldn’t stop reading this” and “the voice is so great”.

If I get enough pre-orders, I’m planning to create a paperback print-on-demand version for those people who like a book to hold in their hot little hands. Alison’s already done some work on the back cover.

Dang, she’s good.