A look inside publishing...I thought some of you would find this interesting...Tell us in the comments what you think.
I was interviewed recently on a radio show and the host, who LOVED the cover design and title of The War Outside My Window asked about them: How did we come up with the title? The design? Was it easy? Hard, etc.
I can usually come up with a title and general cover design quickly, and then marketing director Sarah Keeney and our primary designer, Ian Hughes of the UK, fine tune it.
This book was HARD.
We went through a dozen cover designs, main titles, subtitles, etc. Editor Jan Croon, Sarah, and me worked it up and down and sideways for weeks. We finally settled on one design and title "A Son of Georgia" with a lengthy subtitle (cover attached). We even mentioned it once or twice and it can still be found like that on the web!)
I spent an hour on a Sunday on the phone with our distributor debating whether it was "right" or not, how the book trade would view it, treat it, stock it, etc. Was it just a local book? Just a "Southern" book? No, and no. It wasn't right, so we went back to the drawing board.
The War Outside My Window came about from a series of ideas. The first was from Dr. Dennis Rasbach, the author of the accompanying I Am Perhaps Dying, and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at Petersburg). Dennis offered the brilliant observation on looking through a lens or window into LeRoy's private medical life. Then, our own conclusions that he was also looking out at the world, the war, politics, and more led us in the right direction.
I think we hit a home run with this title/design, frankly. We have had scores of people comment, in person and on the phone, email, etc. that they actually rub their hand lightly over the silky matte finish (we usually utilize a gloss finish) and find the cover "haunting" or "intriguing." (Try it and you will see what I mean.)
Again, thank you for all your support and interest in this and all of our titles. We have a LOT more coming on this particular book, including lesson plans, an abridged audio version, another tour of Tenn, Ga., and the Carolinas, another magazine article, and Jan is being booked now into 2020 for speaking engagements.
Oh, and I have seen the first 10 pages of a TV pilot being written on spec and have been asked to contribute.
To see editor Jan Croon and myself on CSPAN, click HERE.
Please feel free to share this post, and please leave reviews on Amazon and elsewhere. Help us make LeRoy Gresham the young voice of the Old South. It matters.
--tps