Today I'm taking some time for a little self-indulgence. Some space, too.
I've discovered that the next best thing to receiving a box of author comp copies of your new book is that first peek at the cover of your latest offering. Yesterday was such a day. And it's so good to have those types of days when you're slogging towards a deadline.
I've been so fortunate in having an artistic team assigned by Berkley Prime Crime to create each cover. They get it. They have a true sense of the books and this shows every time. All they need from me is a brief description of the plot and my own suggestions for a cover. They don't always follow my suggestions entirely -- sometimes the sales department has its say as to what will work. But with each cover, I've never been disappointed and I can usually find at least a grain of my original idea in the finished product. Most time, more like the entire kernel.
That's the wonder of this business. Sometimes an author hits it right with a publishing team that is open to input, even welcomes it, and is charmingly easy to work with. In those cases, it makes it easier to accept suggested changes made by the editorial team.
And, if the author is really lucky, the publisher gets behind his or her promotional attempts, lending support in many different forms.
Writing is not for sissies, someone once said. How true; it's hard work. But the payoffs are amazing (and I don't mean the royalties kind).
So, please allow me to present the cover of book #4 in the Ashton Corners Book Club mysteries, by Erika Chase, that will appear next fall.
Looks great! Another superb read on its way.
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