December 11, 2007

If you're like me, you've probably dreamed about your first book cover. I've pictured it so many times in my mind...despite those dreaded words: The author has no say in their cover design.

Not even the big names get a choice in that matter. And I'm no Stephen King. Heck, I'm not even Joseph King (aka Joe Hill). So you can imagine my surprise when Julie emailed a JPG titled "Total Constant Order cover."

I checked it out. Naturally I had a few questions about it. I asked my graphic designer friends to give me the right words to express myself. I spent the weekend, wondering how to write an email back to my editor. Or if I should dare.

Surprise! Julie called this morning. I was sitting at the computer, still decked out in my bathrobe, still sweating over what to write.

"Of course you can give feedback," she said, laughing. "But we have to get things rolling."

I'll say it again: Julie rocks.

So does my agent, Kate. I emailed her first, just to make sure that I didn't sound like a diva in my letter. No problem, she said. I made sure to focus on the specifics (like "font" or "composition") instead of vague comments such as "I like this" or "don't like that." Then I hit: "Send."

In my letter, I included a link to this article from Print magazine, which talks about book cover design:

The Girls' Guide to Writing and Publishing

We'll see what happens next.

In the meantime, we're still talking about publicity. Julie suggested that I join The Class of 2007: a website for authors who are publishing their debut novels next year. I had already emailed Greg Fishbone about it a few months back...but I didn't have my exact date of publication at that time. Today Julie spilled the beans:

Total Constant Order will go on sale December 11, 2007.

That's a week before my birthday next year. Happy birthday to me and my book!

Of course, that's too late in the year to join the class of '07...so I asked Greg to keep me in mind for the following year (Geez, that seems so far away.)