Okay, so pretty much I feel that anything I put here now after this week's major announcement is kind of anti-climactic (not to be confused with anti-climatic, as in against the climate.) And yet, those of you know me, know that I usually still have plenty to say, so here we go...

Next Steps.
I signed the contract with RuneStone on Thursday and everything is set. They will begin a line edit of my book, which is exactly what it sounds like. A line by line edit of the book.

My editor (how cool is that to be able to say that?!?) also said that she will be sending me a cover art questionnaire. I've never seen one of those before but I'm guessing that it has to do with what I think should be on the cover or what style the cover should be. And this, folks, is one of the great things about working with a new and/or smaller press. They ask you for your input! They may or may not take it, but it's nice to be asked! That is not usually the case, at least from what I've heard, with the enormous houses in New York. So, I'm very excited about this opportunity.

It's my belief that covers can make or break a book. It is all about selling the book, true, but first it's about making people notice it and pick it up. If you're a big enough name (so not me, at least not yet!), people will notice your name on the cover and pick up the book. That's why, if you look at books by John Grisham, Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, or Laurell K. Hamilton, their names are actually as large or sometimes even larger than the title of the book. At least, that's my theory.

But for those of us who are not known by name, I think you need a good cover. And that doesn't mean expensive or fancy, necessarily. Sometimes the absence of the expected is more powerful. The whole "less is more" theory. The cover for The Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold is one example of that theory in action, I think.

The one book cover I can think of that actually stopped me in my tracks and made me pick up the book is Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. The cover (on the U.S. version of the hardcover anyway) is beautiful image of a woman, sort of in fuzzy focus, you can't see her face, but if you pay attention, you can see her tail. It's a werewolf book. So that image, combined with the title, intrigued me enough to pick up the book and read the inside flap. (Incidentally Kelley is a great writer and very nice to her fans, interacting with them through her website.)

So, I'd like to do something that powerful for my cover, something that gets people to stop and look. After all, if you don't get people to look, they won't buy. I like the theory of what was done on Bitten. That you take something pretty ordinary, a woman on the cover, and make some detail of it unusual. In the case of my book, that's pretty much a theme throughout the whole thing. The Observers look pretty much like us, except for being taller, faster and better looking than us. Plus, their eyes. They have an additional protective layer, for lack of a better word, in the eye to protect them from extremely bright situations. It closes over the pupil and iris in varying degrees, depending on the situation. And like us and the dialation or constriction of the pupil in our eyes, extreme emotion, alcohol, etc. can also affect the silver. So that would kind of be a cool thing to show, if it would be possible.

The other thing is about covers is that I'd prefer not to show faces, at least not full on. For two reasons, don't you hate it when you have a cover with a tall, dark-haired heroine on the front and then when you get into it, you find out she's short and blonde? I know about artistic license, but that's a heck of a disconnect. And second, I know what Zara, Caelan, Asha and all the others look like, but you may imagine them differently. That's part of the fun of reading. And I think the cover can establish that a character should look a certain way, and then it's hard to get rid of that image in your head.

What do you think the cover should look like? What makes you pick up a book or pass it by? Send me an email: sklemstein@msn.com

Talk to you tomorrow!