ALL THOSE QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS
Monday

[Forward]

The people I meet who aren’t writers, whether they are readers or just curious acquaintances, have lots of questions about what it is writers do. Before I was published, people would ask questions like ‘how many books have you finished?’ or “How long have you been writing?” Now that I have a couple of books under my belt, the questions have changed…but everyone still has questions.

The most commonly asked question I get is “Who is that guy on the cover? Did you get to meet him?”

The answer is I haven’t a clue; they didn’t ask for my opinion…but I’m really happy with the results.

Authors with most publishing houses are not given the opportunity to provide input on their cover. Publishers have an art department and a team of trained professionals whose job it is to put together an appealing image that conveys the tone or “feel” of the story. Sometimes the hair isn’t the same color as in the story, or the cowboy’s hat is white instead of black, but that doesn’t matter all that much--at least, not to me. What matters is that the reader who picks up the book has a good idea of what they’ll find between the covers.

I’m happy to say the art department at Kensington (my publisher) got it right twice, for TOUCH OF TEXAS, my first book out in 2007, and for TOUCHED BY LOVE, coming out in November. The covers they designed for me are amazing, and should definitely sell books. And that's the business we’re in: selling books.

Tracy Garrett
www.tracygarrett.com
TOUCH OF TEXAS – Available now
TOUCHED BY LOVE – November 2008