The book is in the publisher’s hands. The cover art is done. And now, it looks like we have a cover! Font choices — who thought it would be so hard? Yesterday, 75 emails blasted between the four of us. 75!!! (Actually, it was more than that. We had hit 75 by the time one of the writers got home from her regular work. We went WAY past that, by the time the day was done.)
Most of them dealt with font. We are extremely lucky to even have a choice in all this. We do understand that. I think that’s why we worked so hard at it. But the things you must think of, when choosing a cover. How to get people to SEE your book (even the spine) when they are scanning hundreds of books at a bookstore. How to get them to come back to yours — and pick it up? Possibly read the back. Maybe even open the cover to read the first page….
I watched an interesting thing happen in Montreal at the Con. I was at the Edge booth, lending a hand, so I had a chance to watch how people choose what books to pick up. First, they scan the whole table. If they are NOT looking for a specific author, they look at every cover. Then, they come back and pick up the book with the cover that intrigued them the most. Our cover for Seven Deadly Sins catches eyes. I watched a number of people do the scan and choose thing — and many of them picked up 7DS first. I was elated. It means we are on to something, concerning covers.
So, now, we will see if this happens with our next one. It will be out at the end of October, just in time for the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose. I will be watching Edge’s table like a hawk, to see if we guessed right again. By the way, there are a few changes that need to be made, and then I can put the picture of the cover up. That will happen in the next few days. I’m getting excited!