Here it is! The book cover of my forthcoming work of fiction which will be released mid September 2024. How do I feel? Stunned really. This is a collection of sixteen short stories which embrace themes of movement, dislocation and all the vagaries of life lived fully in three countries. Somewhere a film maker pal created this cover and the publisher added the bells and whistles but I am still astounded. Two years labour and the pall of Covid wrestled unacknowledged emotions and histories out from me. This is how books emerge and their covers will make judgment. We do that in stores and in Libraries all the time and then there is a slick marketing team which makes decisions. Apparently 80% of book buyers are female! My insecurity made me show it to a few friends and they seemed quite stunned. The comment “wow” and ‘Mysteriously provocative’ were relayed back to me. Will the journey be noted by the reader? Or should it have had a plain brown paper cover to clinch this mystery.? Somewhere the cover locks in an entire manuscript. This is pure emotion .
Basically this will be my shortest post as all i want to do is give my loyal readers a preview and perhaps shopping incentive. It is called anticipation. It is part of the book industry. So I am guilty of the hustle but my dreams, accidents and poignant triumphs give me this privilege.
The book is on the Amazon sites plus Book chains and the launch is on October 3rd at Massey College in Toronto. Wander by and you may have the opportunity to see if you can judge my book by its cover.
I agree that “mysterious” would be an appropriate descriptive to apply to this cover. The scene portrayed is evocative of a cover for a thriller and, perhaps for a literary collection, could be useful for signaling to the reader, “Here is something you haven’t seen before and quite unusual. Perhaps you should not miss this!” Good marketing strategy.