Lately, many of you have inquired as to how I came up with the final cover for my novel ‘ROGUE WAVES’, and if I personally posed for the photo.
As much as I would like to take the credit and tell you the gorgeous woman on the cover is me, I can’t. The true owner of that awesome body actually belongs to my very dear friend, Tashablu. Tasha is not only one of my closest friends, but she is my daily source of support and encouragement, keeping me grounded and pointed in the right direction at all times. Even though she is fairly new to the tattoo modeling scene, she has already made a big impact on it and has been internationally published. I am truly honored that she has agreed to allow me the opportunity to use one of her photos.
Although it may seem odd to many that a tattoo model and an author would find common ground, Tasha and I actually have quite a bit in common and over the years have formed a solid bond.
As a bit of background for you, I travel with Tasha as often as my busy schedule will allow to many of her photo shoots in and out of the state. I serve not only as her travel buddy, but as her driver, a source of moral support, pseudo agent, gopher, tote and fetch, fashion and idea coordinator and president of her fan club, but also as her unofficial amateur photographer. I take tons of unedited photos of her, in the background, during her actual photo shoots with professional photographers (it’s yet another artistic hobby of mine) so she can have teasers to post on her social media account prior to the professional photos being released.
After I had gotten the content of “Rogue Waves” in polished format, then came the difficult decision of what should be on the cover of the book. I agonized over how it should look, knowing I wanted something a little edgy that revolved around a woman and water and it had to be able to grab a reader’s attention. Everyone will tell you that you can’t judge a book by its cover, and that is true, however, everyone I have ever talked to admitted that at one time or another they picked up a book to read for one of two reasons. One, the title of the book intrigued them; or two, the photo, drawing, graphic or whatnot on the cover caught their eye. I knew I didn’t want the same run of the mill stock photography photos or graphics used by so many now a days, and that just made my decision that much harder.
One day while organizing and flipping through literally thousands of photos I had taken of Tasha, I came across the one that is shown on the cover and it was like a light bulb going off. I knew immediately that that was it. And the rest, as ‘they’ say, is history.
I am proud and happy to admit, that it just so happens, I personally took the photo that appears on the cover of my novel. It was taken behind the scenes at one of Tashablu’s outdoor photo shoots here in Florida. The photo is unedited and appears just as I had taken it. Below are several other photos of Tashablu that I had taken the same day and am proud to show you. Please note that none of the photos below have been edited in any way. If you are interested in seeing more of Tashablu you can follow her on instagram @tashablu_
As always, thank you for all your inquiries and interest in my novel. Your comments, reviews and suggestions are always welcome and I love hearing from you.
Sit back, relax and enjoy the read! ~ J.A. Anderson
J. A. Anderson, Author 