I might be a little off topic, but this time I want to let you all know that I’m pretty excited, and if you’ve read the subject title you will have a good idea of why. Many months ago I entered a writers contest, and my latest book, The Path To Piney Meadows, is a finalist. That’s pretty exciting because this contest is sponsored by the largest organization for Christian writers in Canada, The Word Guild. One of the rules is that you have to be a Canadian citizen to enter, and that’s me.
As I’m getting ready to release my next book, The Best Man’s Secret, it’s been fun to go back and check out my previous one, and it’s been fun to see new reviews that people have posted. Now that the cover is out on Amazon I can start telling people about it. At the same time I thought I’d share a little about what goes into the cover design of a book.
The publisher will ask the author for some suggestions, and one thing many authors miss is that the cover isn’t for authors to show part of the story, it’s to show the reader, who hasn’t yet read the book, not the story (the back cover blurb is for that purpose) but instead, the cover is to show the potential reader what the book is about.
It was important to me to have one or both of the chickens on the cover. What I expected was to see people on the cover, with a chicken or two, but instead, the cover portrays one of the chickens, and I think it’s Waddles (you have to read the book to get the reference) and Chad’s laptop, which shows the diversity of cultures, that is one theme of the book.
Is this picture Blinkie or Waddles? What do you think?
Gail Sattler is the award winning author of over 30 novels and novellas, with more coming! Gail lives in Vancouver, BC where you don't have to shovel rain, with her husband, 3 sons, 2 dogs, and a lizard who is quite cuddly for a reptile. Besides being a writer, Gail plays bass for a local jazz band, and acoustic bass for a community orchestra. When she's not writing or making music, Gail likes to sit back with a hot coffee to enjoy a book written by someone else.
The cover is also a promise to the reader. I hate it when the cover has nothing to do with the book, or when the people on the cover look nothing like their descriptions. I like the chicken.It’ll make people pause and say “What?” Best of luck!