The Face of my Book Baby

The final copy edit is done, so it's time for the BOOK COVER BRIEF. I promised to keep you posted about what happens after the book contract is signed, and I'm now at a stage where it's seeming really real because it's time to design a book cover -- ie the face of my book baby.

This is just my experience with my publisher, Pan Macmillan so it may be different with other publishers. When asked to let them know what sort of ideas I had for a book cover I pretty much blanked out. Then I remembered I've been collecting book covers I love, like and 'not so likey' for some years now. So that became my inspiration. I advise you to start doing the same thing if you're writing a book!

But it's still a bit of a mission because there are so many options. Am I right to prefer covers without images of people or not? Don't people buy people or is it best to let the reader imagine the character in their own minds? To have a logline on the front or keep it simple and save the words for the back? To use bright, bold covers or keep it mostly white and minimalistic?

Luckily there's a designer to help me with all of this, and they come up with a design based on my and my publisher's thoughts. I get to see a design and then feed back what I'd like to alter. But I have a feeling, just as when I'm editing, that I'll never be finished with tweaking and wanting to improve it somehow--and the doubts! Oh, the doubts!

Once upon a time, an experienced author told me this: "Even after you have a publishing contract, even when you're about to launch your fifth book, you'll still be filled with doubts - about the story, the characters, the writing, the voice - and the book cover. Accept it, and move on." So I'm going to take that author's advice - and go make the best cappuccino ever, and curl up with someone else's book - knowing they probably had doubts too.