Dance of Shadows Blog Tour: Yelena Black's Take on the Cover

Today I'm thrilled to have Yelena Black, author of Dance of Shadows, stop by my Once Upon a Bookcase for her blog tour to discuss her thoughts on the cover.

‘Behind the Cover’ – Yelena’s take on the cover

When I first saw the cover for Dance of Shadows, I was shocked into silence. It’s beautiful, creepy, and brings the “dance” element of the book to the forefront. What more could a debut writer ask for?


The truth of the matter is that I’m not a cover designer. Or particularly artistic—I’ve tried to paint before, and all of my people end up looking only marginally better than stick figures, so I decided to stick to writing. I was blessed to work with the amazing team at Bloomsbury US and UK, and the cover of Dance of Shadows is something that they came up with. I never had any particular images in mind. When I was writing, there were certain ways that I saw particular characters, which helped me to write them and make sure their physical attributes came through, but I never gave too much thought to what the cover might look like. I hoped there would be a dancer on it, and that it would be something that made people intrigued about the story and eager to pick up the book.

I think this cover succeeds on both counts. One thing that I respond to personally is color, and this cover has so much of that. From the dark, sapphire blues at the top and the smoky white curls that surround the main figure to the bright red dress and the rose petals and her ginger hair … it’s all perfection. The pose of the ballerina immediately shows that something is a bit “off” (which is definitely true in the book!) and I truly could not be more pleased.

I hope that the cover makes you interested in reading my debut novel, Dance of Shadows! And for more of that beautiful imagery, you can find me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, as well as visit my website.

Thank you, Yelena, for such a great guest post. Be sure to check out her website, linked about, and Dance of Shadows, which is released on 14th February - tomorrow! But if you can't wait until then and want more, you can read an extract of the book here, and watch the trailer below!


Check out the Facebook page for the other blog stops.