Yes, Maybe You CAN Judge a Book by its Cover

It’s hard to get published. Duh. There are oodles of writers out there who are (regrettably) slaving away on manuscripts that will never land at a bookstore near you. And a common piece of advice offered by many published authors is that there is no magic trick to expedite the process because when it comes down to it, “it’s all about the writing.”

Yeah, turns out that advice is only true when landing an agent and an editor. Once your book sells, the letters can practically drip off the page like alphabet soup because it’s all about the marketing, folks.

Clever titles catch readers’ eyes. Pretty covers get primo placement in bookstores. The words inside? Eh, leave that for the critics who will only review your book if it has a pretty cover and catchy title. Or if it was written by a celebrity.

Worst part about it? Authors have zero influence over the glossy image that graces the manuscript they practically bled on. We don’t even get much of a say in our own title. Seriously.

We sit, panicky, in front of our computer monitors waiting for that email with the cover art and praying that we don’t hate it. Because if we do, oh well. Too bad. The sales team loves it.

I’m currently waiting to receive the cover image and final title approval for the third book in my series. I’m praying that I love it (Is there a patron saint of graphic designers? Font choices? Color schemes?).

So, here’s hoping it’s as awesome as my first book cover, which I LOVE. You’d be surprised how many single guy friends ask me if I can introduce them to the gorgeous model. Pervs. She’s, like, fifteen! And no, I don’t know her. Though I would love to randomly run into her on the street one day.

Hey, this is a MySpace world. The girl probably has a page somewhere. So if you’re reading this and you’re my cover model, totally leave a comment! I’ll even put you in my top friends. :-)


POP-CULTURE RANT: Tom Cruise

So did you guys see his two interviews on Oprah? He’s totally sane again! I’m so happy. He acted almost like a young Tom Cruise, circa A Few Good Men. He and “Kate” (as he calls her) seem so happy. And talk about a piece of gorgeous property. Never been to Telluride, but I’m so adding it to my list. And didn’t you love how he leather-bound all his scripts with his hand-written notes. I’m already thinking about doing that with my manuscripts, though I doubt they’d catch as much at Sotheby’s as his would. Cheers to Oprah for asking the hard questions we’d all want to ask, and cheers to Tom for answering them!