We've all heard the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover", right?
When I go to the library, I like to close my eyes, run my fingers across the spines of books in random sections and pause. At the pause, I pull out whatever book and check it out. I aim to stick within sections I know I would enjoy :
Eating habits
Lifestyle
Empowerment
Business
Writing
Surviving adult life lol
Motherhood
Mystery
and the list continues... You probably wont find me in the history section or autobiographies. I need a mix of Boss Status and Giggle Worthy - with a dash of suspense.
ANYWHO! I've seen my share of book covers and know the importance of having something slightly attractive. The thing is, the book cover never makes or breaks it for me. Ive seen some titles that have four different covers depending on the size, shape and store you get it from.
As a reader, I just care about the inside. So sparkly foil or gorgeous font or attractive image/illustration is GREAT but it is not what makes me buy/borrow the book. As a writer, I threw this entire thought out the window. The cover made me ANXIOUS! I felt it needed to be perfect.
Sarah, my illustrator, sent four cover options. I fell in love with the pretty one first but realized it reminded me of a bedtime story more than a children's book. I showed some of my family and it was nearly unanonymous on what the right choice was.
I had a million thoughts float through my head
" Will this be good enough?"
"Would a kid want to grab this book?"
"Is this one too boring?"
"Does this one give away too much?!"
The worst part for me was the libraries are all closed and will be til nearly summer. I truly wanted to just look, hold and scan over all the titles meant for kids. I do not even know why I wanted to do this. I have read and seen hundreds upon hundreds of kids book since I was a kid and even more now with having my own kids and teaching. I don't need to stare at more books!
Covers vary from simple to extravagant in detail. I took a deep breath, let go of a false sense of perfection and chose a book cover.
I CANNOT WAIT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU ALL!
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