I went back to the drawing board...

Yesterday didn't quite go as planned. My team lost the Super Bowl for one. But leading up to that I burnt dinner and I had to go back to the drawing board. I've been getting up at 5:00 am for countless days straight, so being tired and burnt beans had everything to do with my bad mood yesterday. Fortunately, the schools were on a two-hour delay today and I gave myself an extra hour in bed. So I've got a little pep back in my still grumpy step.

Today is supposed to be a Monday Marketing post. I wasn't prepared, so this is just a story to give something to think about if you ever intend to publish a book.

Last week I sent out my first newsletter regarding my next book. In it, I wrote:

You may remember last year when I sent out a newsletter asking you to judge the next book cover. I so appreciate you for participating. Out of 80 something responses, two individuals voted for me to go back to the drawing board. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. I did exactly that. I did not go with either cover and I had to seriously regroup.

So thank you to my blog readers as well because one of you may have been one of the two who suggested I go back to the drawing board. 

When I went home last month, I showed my front and back cover to daddy. All he did was squint and say, "I can't read it." He may have grunted. I think I barked that the back cover text wasn't important and what I'd written was just a place-holder anyway. He handed me my laptop back and I think we changed the subject. I have to admit that I wasn't feeling it either. Christopher liked it. We were close, but it wasn't right. However, for the moment, I was going with it.

I should also note fuss that daddy didn't bother to put his glasses on.

But I went back to the drawing board for the third time based on his first impression.  I came back home and made the back cover text important because it is. 

The biggest problem I had with the original Christopher Chronicles is identifying who the book was for. To physically look at it, you would assume it was for a child. The back cover provided a picture of me and a short bio. Neither my front cover or my back cover were relevant to the contents of the book. 

This time around, who it's for and what it's about is clearly identified on the front and back cover. 

Opinions matter - try to solicit them, though. Do just go showing it to your daddy all willy nilly. He might hurt your feelings and of course, he'd be right. 

“You’ll want the first and final impression of your book to be the best impression. Test drive it on some beta readers first.”

The first time you show your book to anyone, it needs to be nearly ready. Nearly ready for me means, in the format that I intend to publish it. Beta readers and daddy glancers are awesome, just know that sometimes you might just have to go back to the drawing board. 

Take your heart off your sleeve and lock it up in a safe. When you burn dinner, take the day off.