So pretty! So shiny! Hard covers! With dust jackets!
Yesterday, I received a very welcome surprise—a box of my WHERE SHE BELONGS author copies! We never get mail delivery on Sundays, so that was a surprise in itself (well, it was actually a courier). When I took the box from the delivery guy, I thought it was the custom door hinges we’d ordered (long story). Then I saw that the box was torn open, and, wow, not one single author copy was destroyed.
My husband signed off for the delivery while I carted the box to the kitchen table and carefully finished opening it. My Five Star contract calls for ten author copies. I received 19—as many as would fit into the box. Wow, thank you, Tekno and Five Star!
I was very excited to receive the author copies, because I hadn’t expected them to arrive until January. But they arrived before the release date (this Friday). Never mind that this is the first time I’ve received more than two author copies of a book for either my name or Penny’s name, but I wasn’t quite prepared for the reality of seeing my book in hard cover. The ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies) were in trade paperback, and all my Cindy and Penny books have been published in trade paperback up to this point, so trades have become second nature to me. But this is my first (and for all I know, only) book in hard cover. Everything was as I expected—strong, bright white internal pages with readable font, durable library-edition binding with the cover image embedded, like a trade paperback. But I did not expect the book to feel thicker and heavier in hard cover (although it makes sense that it would), and I dimly had no clue that the books would come with dust jackets.
My first dust jacket!!
Months ago, when I was filling out the publisher’s information sheet for “front and back flaps,” I somehow thought it was just another way to say “back cover.” However, instead of the story blurb being on the back, it’s on the inside dust jacket “flap.” And my author picture and bio are on the back cover “flap.” (I look kinda cute, too). The quote from Publishers Weeky and an author quote from award-winning author Mary J. Forbes is on the back cover. And reviews for previous books and mention of this book’s Golden Heart finalist status are also on the back.
Receiving author copies is always exciting. I tell you, it never gets old. But receiving these author copies in particular has made the publishing process very real for me. Living outside of an urban center in Canada, I’ve never had a chance to see one of my books in a bookstore or a library. The only experience I’ve had seeing one of my books “on the brick and mortar shelves” was when I placed copies of HEAD OVER HEELS on consignment with a now-defunct local bookstore.
So, hard cover, dust jacket, internal author photo and book blurb—this book looks like a smaller version of hard covers I have on my personal bookshelves. I am totally thrilled with the quality.
There’s something about seeing one’s name on a book cover…and I haven’t had a new Cindy release in several years. My publishing efforts have been focused on Penny. And that’s great. I love seeing Penny’s name on book covers. But this is MY name. And this MY book.
I tell you, it never gets old.
