Marketing Information Form, part two

Captain’s Log, Stardate 05.26.2006

Blog book giveaway:
My Monday book giveaway is A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND by Kristin Billerbeck.
My Thursday book giveaway is LIFE INTERRUPTED by Tricia Goyer.
You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned.

Continued from Marketing Information Form, part one:

More stuff they want to know about my book:

Other covers: What styles, fonts, colors? This is one area I didn’t really think about, but I listed the few covers that I thought conveyed the sort of atmosphere I wanted for my book:

WHAT A GIRL WANTS by Kristin Billerbeck. The cartoon design is fresh, cute, clean.

SASSY CINDERELLA AND THE VALIANT VIGILANTE by Sharon Dunn. This book, more than the other Ruby Taylor books, conveyed Ruby’s character—her vibrant red hair, bohemian dress, sassy post-modern attitude.

THE TROUBLE WITH LACY BROWN by Debra Clopton. This book doesn’t have people in it—just Lacy’s signature pink car. It’s drawn in a way that communicates the funny, fresh atmosphere of the story.

People, scenes, objects, places: Which would be great for the cover? Well, for me, duh the heroine and hero. I picked a few cute, funny scenes that would describe the wacky humor of the book, a few objects—like a volleyball and Lex’s beat-up Honda Civic—and a few places that might be unique and distinctive.

Characters: What do they look like, body type, clothing, personality. All you writers out there—if you have a picture of your characters, you’re one step ahead of the game, because your marketing department will probably want that pic. Also pictures of any unusual items or places in your book.

Book information: They need a blurb (just like a pitch), a short summary like back cover copy, a 2-page synopsis (yes, the dreaded S-word), and the first chapter. And here you thought all that yucky S and P words went away after you sold!

Now, I’m not positive, but I think this is in addition to the other stuff I needed to get to them, like the one-page synopsis, and my bio.

So for you pre-pubbed writers, stuff like this might be good for you to think about after you finish that novel. Wouldn’t you want to have all this ready to go when you get the Call, rather than scrambling to get this done in the two weeks before your deadline?

Comments

Catherine West said…

I want my covers to look just like Karen Kingsbury's.
Seriously.
Whoever does that artwork is amazing. I love them.

I can imagine your to be more quirky - like the gals sitting outside a sushi bar for instance...
:)

Fri May 26, 12:42:00 PM 2006

Cynthia said…

Hey Cami,
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Your visit and your opinion mean a lot to me. You wrote as a comment on my post "It makes me feel kind of stupid to be writing chick-lit when there's so much pain in the world." Girl, I often feel like the opposite with myself. I often wish that I can write humorous stuff that anyone can laugh at. But I think that the second hardest thing to do is make people laugh since everyone has a different sense of humor. #1 is following your talents and your dreams. So you go girl!

BTW, I love how you help other writers in your blog, especially in this posting. I actually saved the article in my labtop :)

Hugs!
and keep on writing!
Cynthia

Fri May 26, 12:49:00 PM 2006

Winter Peck said…

I was actually thinkin about this last night before bed. What type of cover would work well for my RS. If they keep my title I could picture a downed barrel in a dirt arena. Or a pic of my heroine with a rodeo scene in the background. It's so hard to say.

I'm glad you posted this, it's something I need to keep in mind when the Call comes.

Fri May 26, 02:17:00 PM 2006

Sabrina L. Fox said…

I love Dee Henderson's O'Malley series covers. I love being able to flip the book and "see" the character. I also like Kingsbury's. And Diann Hunt has really fun covers on Hot Flashes and Cold Cream and RV there yet?

I'm sure your cover will be great. Can't wait to see it on the bookshelves.

Fri May 26, 07:51:00 PM 2006

Anonymous said…

I thought I commented yesterday but I guess I didn't. At any rate it was a crazy day on which my tolerance for noise just ran over. I also still have that questionnaire to finish. Wanted to do it so I could send it yesterday but with the way the morning went, I just didn't have any brains left for serious thinking and writing.

I'm definitely still enjoying the look into a writer's life. Did I tell you that I donated some copy-editing to Brenda Novak's Auction for Juvenile Diabetes? Since I have no "name" I'm not expecting any large amount to come in but any contribution is better than none.

Sat May 27, 02:39:00 PM 2006

Ruth said…

I meant to comment on this post earlier. I think you have some great ideas -- I love the covers you listed. To me they say fun, sassy, spunky, entertaining -- I can't wait to read your book!!

Sat May 27, 08:47:00 PM 2006

Unknown said…

This is interesting, Camy. Thanks for sharing.

Sun May 28, 04:08:00 AM 2006

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Lady Wynwood #7 early release Kickstarter