Exciting times!
I am getting ready to send the second book in the Spy, Interrupted series to the editor and then to the printers. So many decisions to make! This time around, I have a little experience but a lot more angst. With the first book, I just jumped in and made decisions fearlessly, happily oblivious to the consequences. After all, the book would and should speak for itself, right? Wrong! From the title to the cover, it is a fine balance between what you really want and what will actually sell.
First of all how should the title be listed? Should it be (1) The Perfect Candidate (Spy, Interrupted Book 2) or (2) Spy, Interrupted: The Perfect Candidate? I like (2) because it is consistent with Book 1, Spy, Interrupted: The Waiting Wife. But the danger is that both the books start with the same “Spy, Interrupted: The ” and might not show up as distinct listings on book sites if the titles get truncated. So I will end up listing it as (1) though it offends my sense of symmetry.
Next, the cover. As anybody in the publishing industry will tell you, the cover is almost more important than what’s inside. For Book 1, I was advised to put a buxom young thing on the cover, the sexier the better. After all, I was told, the protagonist of The Waiting Wife is a young woman on the run. But that was not my mental picture of Nina at all. She’d probably slap me if I put her in a slinky little top and tight leather pants and splashed her on the cover. She’d rather be seen standing on a soapbox hectoring the crowds to be of some use in this world. But who’d buy that book? Anyway, I really liked the photo we chose, the one my husband took in Jaipur, of birds in flight. For me, it captured the mystery, heartache and uncertainty at the core of The Waiting Wife.
For The Perfect Candidate, I am still debating the cover. We are leaning toward a minimalistic, highly stylized cover. Should it continue the bird theme from Book 1? Should we hang on to the same font? We’ll have to decide soon.
And we haven’t even got to formatting the interior yet!
But the process of creating a physical book is like building a house. So many decisions, so much debate, so many setbacks and course corrections. Yet, when it comes together and you behold the finished product…it is a thing of beauty, joy and great pride.
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