by Alethea Williams
I designed the cover of my first book with the help of my editor. I thought it was beautiful. It looked so classy to me. The tree picture was free from a stock photo site. The cover color I chose reminded me of antique, yellowed, handmade paper—perfect, I thought, for a book set in the 1920s. I wanted my grandma’s passport picture in an oval frame at the bottom, because her story was the inspiration for my fictional account of an immigrant’s journey to happiness in America.
The comments I got on my perfect cover almost broke my heart. My father-in-law thought my grandmother had a mean look on her face in her passport photo. My son wasn’t looking forward to reading the book because he thought the cover indicated it would be a sad story. Everyone who reviewed the book assumed it was a true story because of my grandmother’s picture, even though I tried to be clear it was a work of fiction.
Image credit: Jargon Media LLC
One of the editor’s suggestions was that I use a cover picture of an old house with lots of sunny blue sky. When I solicited comments from family, I was told the bright sky blue color indicated cheerfulness and hopefulness. I thought it looked spooky and abandoned, not the first impression I wanted potential buyers to have of the book, and so I discarded the blue.
I thought the book would have more electronic sales than paperback, completely misjudging my audience. I thought the audience for this book would read Westerns, and historicals, and maybe sweet romance. Sales were okay for a first book, but not great.
Image credit: Jargon Media LLC
If I had it to do over, maybe I would change several things:
- Find a picture of a ranch.
- Make my grandmother’s picture less prominent, or perhaps bite the bullet and leave it off the cover.
- I think I misjudged my audience. Maybe I would try to sell the book as mainstream literary fiction, lower the price of the paperback, and really push paper sales. I don’t think the people who really liked the book read Westerns, or sweet romance, or even historical. I don’t think they own an e-reader. I don’t know how many times I heard, “My mom (or grandma) really loved this book.” If the reader was familiar with coal mining towns, so much the better. My aunt warned me she doesn’t read fiction, and she read it twice.
- Maybe I would listen a little more closely to the editor, whose opinion I had paid for and who certainly had more experience in publishing than I did.
- In thumbnail, which is how the cover is seen on most sales sites, my name is so tiny it almost can’t be read. I would make it bigger.
Perhaps part of getting published is realizing how much of our cherished illusions we’re willing to give up in order to see our name on the cover of a book. All in all, publishing my first novel was a good experience. I learned a lot. I sold the industry average number of books for a self-publisher. But, in the end, maybe I wouldn’t change anything. I still secretly like my cover best…although if I could sneak back in time and change the size of my name, I would make it bigger.
The author of historical novel Willow Vale, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Jargon Media, Alethea Williams blogs on Actually Alethea about writing, writers, and Wyoming history. Follow on Twitter @actuallyalethea, or visit Alethea Williams, author on Facebook. Comments and honest feedback always welcome!
This Blog by Cher’ley Grogg
I’m glad my man is different than me. I sometimes fall apart, especially when I am in deep grief, and he’s there to hold and support me. He grieves too, but it’s done differently.
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And please join me on my 
I am strong in other ways. I am strong emotionally and I have been brave through the years, especially when it came to rearing youngin’s . 
mostly, unless it came to spiders. If a spider got close to him he’d yell, “Kill it, kill it.” The fear in his voice gave me cold chills. Once he married, his wife saw a spider and she said to my son, “Kill it!” He handed her a shoe and yelled, “Kill it, kill it.”
beautiful little girl who loved bugs. Bugs of all kinds, if there was a spider in their house and she was present she would yell, “ Don’t kill it, don’t kill it.”
Even people, who claim to love you, may not take the time to support you. And some people, from no fault of their own, may not be capable of giving you the support you need.
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