ABOUT

Because the title is so long, the client liked to make it the central focus of the cover. In other words, the title itself is the cover art. Choose a font that aligns with Western/Literary Fiction. An axe head needed to be driven into the letters, buried in them, and the handle of the axe curve down and reach the author name. This would be a 19th-century woodcutting axe. The letters of the title where the axe head is sunk should look like they are split apart, with half of the axe blade sunk into them. The axe and the handle will partially obscure some of the titles, but that is what the client wanted.
As far as colour schemes and other details, I needed to keep in mind that the book is gritty, violent, has aspects of romance in it, and takes place through the fall and winter.