In my last letter, I revealed the title of my upcoming suspense from Canary Street Books, EVERY SINGLE SECRET. Now I’m back to reveal the cover. What was the hold up?
The art, my friend. The images, the fonts, the colors! In sixty books, I’ve been through a lot of difficult cover decisions, but this involved months of backing and forthing between art department and sales department and my editor, agent and me.
Right from the beginning everyone wanted a lighthouse. Why? Because…well, read the excerpt.
In fact, when I had Assistant Judie draft up a temporary cover, this is what she created:
Maybe you saw it on the website and it intrigued you. I hope so!
Because this is my first hardcover in five years, I waited anxiously for my publisher to put forth their best effort, and at last, these two landed in my inbox.
My reactions:
What is with that weird greenish-yellow color?!?
And…
We already have a blue cover with pink lettering.
It’s one of my favorite covers, but it’s been done on POINT LAST SEEN, and beautifully.
Also, when I showed Jayne Ann Krentz cover #2, she said, “Too phallic.” 😂
I love my friends. So #2 got ditched immediately
Weeks went by. Weeks and weeks and…finally, my agent and I received the next batch of covers.
I almost dozed off looking at these. I’d asked for movement, a sense of a threatening storm, and neither worked.
We went back and forth, comparing the three non-phallic covers, and finally I said, “That greenish-yellow could work with the right tweaks.” My editor went back to the sales department, who said, “Absolutely not…well, maybe.” The art department went to work and I don’t know what they did—I’m an author, Jim, not an artist—but they tweaked it into a cover I…well, I don’t exactly love it. The colors remind me of looking up at the Texas sky when a tornado is forming. This cover makes me jumpy, uncomfortable, threatened…in suspense.
So this is the final cover for EVERY SINGLE SECRET:
Of course, I set up a survey so you can tell me what you think.
Love it or hate it, you gotta admit it’s going to pop!
What’s EVERY SINGLE SECRET about? I’d send the blurb, but this letter is already too long. 😊
You can read about EVERY SINGLE SECRET here.
You can add EVERY SINGLE SECRET to your Goodreads to-read list here and Goodreads will let you know when the publisher does an ARC giveaway.
You can pre-order EVERY SINGLE SECRET at every online outlet and independent bookstore, and thank you very much for that! You know I only write books I love to read, so I love all my books, but occasionally one stands out for me. EVERY SINGLE SECRET is that book.
It is absolutely a romantic suspense. It’s scary romantic suspense, it’s a woman’s story of bravery in the face of loneliness and terror, but the hero is all the things we want: brave, strong, willing to sacrifice himself for honor. I can’t wait for you to read it!
Christina Dodd
New York Times bestselling author of
FORGET WHAT YOU KNOW: Out now! “…a touch of magic, a dollop of mayhem, a drizzle of psychosis, a large splash of obsession, and just the right amount of sweet romance.”
—Publishers Weekly
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
