The Excitement of Choosing a Cover

From www.lastarkey.com

For those of you who have kids, you’ll get this.

I’m wrapping up my last “reading” edit on my first Soul Keeper book and moving into working with 99design to have some brilliant graphic designer create a cover for the book. The cover, to me, is one of the most important elements of the whole project. It’s the advertisement. It’s the “come and pick me up and see what I’m all about.”

As a people who are visually stimulated and warped by “judging a book by it’s cover” this part of my journey feels extremely important.

It feels almost like naming my kids. The cover I choose will define my “baby” or work of art and draw people in or turn them away quickly. I went to a class this last weekend for something related to my job and the woman teaching it named her children Freedom and Justice and where I believe in both words in conceptual form, naming your child that just seems a little excessive.

I would honestly not be able to date someone with either name, call me what you will. Can you imagine looking for him in a crowded store and yelling out his name? Everyone would think you need rescue and a scene would occur every time you lost your spouse.

I digress.

Back to the book cover. These people on 99design are just incredibly talented and I could’ve have spent my money any better. There are several covers that I honestly love and would grab me from the soft whisper of the crowded bookstore to pick them up and check them out.

The level of excitement I felt last night getting my first few submissions and thinking to myself, “this is really going to happen” was quite palatable.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no extreme dreams of grandeur and am way to entrepreneurial to be locked down to just one trade, but to have my kiddo’s put on their shelves a book their mother wrote is something that really brings me a sense of pride and accomplishment.

I’d recommend 99design to anyone who needs some assistance in any form of graphics for logos, book covers, t-shirts or business cards. They do just about anything and the price is fair and reasonable. Great business model by them – just wish I’d of thought of that myself!

Choosing the cover – like naming my kiddos – exciting, scary and such a blessing.

LS