Today I had a meeting with a couple of models my photographer suggested. While I’m nowhere near needing them yet (I have till summer before I really have to push for anything) I also have to say I was disappointed. The girls were lovely, thin and picturesque, but I was hoping for athletic, not anorexic. The photographer & I are still ironing out what the cover should look like. It’s a creative & PITA process. I don’t have the visual acuity she does, but I also want the cover to at least represent something germane to the story, not just be a pretty girl in a skimpy dress. [Not that I have any problem with pretty girls in skimpy dresses, quite the opposite is true] We also disagree about-face/no face – but that’s one I won’t let go of.
I know that if I get a ‘traditional’ publisher, they are going to want their own ‘cover’ but I am going to try to have some say in it, and having a sample of what I am looking for will help. That and I am going to set up support web sites and will want additional content there, to help build the book’s value.
The advantage is that they will work , and they will work for a budget I can afford. . I have reached back out to my original model, and am in hopes that the new time frame will work out and she is interested still. I am ready to override the photographer to use this model.
So the real question here is I am being too ambitious on my first book? I know there are some parts that maybe edited out to help it fit in a genre, I can even accept those. I also know what parts I WON’T let come out even if it ends up making my book die on the wayside or requires me to find another publisher.
So is trying to have someone on the cover that you look at and think “She must be a runner” and not “Eat some food already” one of those things I am willing to compromise on?
Follow my Attempt to Change to an Author 