Writing Is The Easy Part! Part 5

Part 5 “Title and Cover Illustration are most important” “… More than my story?”

When I would think about writing – I wrote.  This was prior to my wanting to write a book.  It seemed so much easier to just write when what you wanted to was – just…write!

I always pick a book to read by its cover.  If I see a cover I like, I flip the book over and read the back to see if it is a light-hearted story that I can read in a few days.  If it has any suspense-horror-or dark plot twists to it, I put it back.

So, why was I so surprised when my Publisher told me that “The Title and Cover Illustration are most important?”

Could it be because I wrote the story and knew what it was about and I just knew that once the reader started reading it, they would be hooked.  Ahhhh…. the key is getting the reader to pick the book up in the first place.  To purchase the book.

I had an image in my head for my Daddy’s Series of Hunting and Wildlife books.  I wanted all the covers to have camo and all that would be different was the title.  My reasoning was that I could see a little girl having one of my books on her arm and then another little child saying “Oh the DADDY SERIES!  Which book is that?”

My thought is brand awareness, brand recognition.  Plus, this would be different than other books.  I also had cost in mind, mama Mia the price of illustrators and the time involved for making covers was baffling to me.

My Publisher added the uniqueness of the pink bow with black polka dots to the title, to be hung wistfully off one of the letters.  I liked that!  Each of the early books had mentioned pink with black polka dots somewhere in it.  It was my way of ‘softening’ the subject matter, bringing in some silliness.

When we looked at my third book which is entitled “Fall at Camp”, I knew I wanted those leaves to just burst off the pages.  My illustrator works with watercolors, and wow, what a medium for foliage.

I thought I might veer from the camo cover and have my illustrator do all fall leaves. My Publisher then said perhaps we stick with the camo, with the same font, with the pink bow and black polka dots hanging wistfully off of one of the letters --- and then we throw in some fall leaves across the camo.   AWESOME IDEA!

Again, this is why you need to be flexible you need someone to bounce ideas off of … being an Indie Author with an Indie Publisher works for me.  It helps that I love and adore my Publisher, someone I have known for over a decade!!