Jadeite Cover Revealed

Apprentice House has designed the cover for my new novel, The Color of Jadeite, and you could say it is etched in stone.

The Color of Jadeite is a literary thriller full of intrigue, romance, treacherous villains, alluring clues, narrow escapes, and surprises around every corner.

With sidekicks Salvador and Mackenzie, Clive Allan sets out to find the priceless artifact, outwitting their rivals at almost every turn. But between the fistfights and rickshaw chases, gunfights and betrayals, Clive’s deep connection with the treasure he seeks and his romance with Wei Wei force him to confront truths about his past and himself.

Check out the cover and learn more about The Color of Jadeite at www.EricDGoodman.com/China.html.

Evolution of a Cover (Part Two)

 Recently I wrote about my experience working alongside my publisher and designer in selecting the right cover for a novel. 

When Atticus Books hired Jamie Keenan to design the cover for Tracks: A Novel in Stories, I came eye-to-eye with the fact that, despite the adage, people can and do judge books by their covers. A good cover can draw a reader to or away from a book on display. A good cover that conveys the feel of the book is important.

When Merge Publishing hired Leslie Taylor of Buffalo Creative Group to design the cover for Womb: a novel in utero, I was pleased with the results. That said, not all of the results fit. Together, with input from me and my publisher, Leslie designed the perfect cover.

Here’s an early cover concept that, although very creative, just didn’t seem to capture the mood of the book. We were afraid it may look just a little too much like a What to Expect When You’re Expecting sort of book.

Here’s an early version of the cover, closer to the one we ended up with.

Finally, here is the cover that we went with. We all felt that it conveyed just the right look and feel for Womb: a novel in utero. Soft, slightly rounded lettering, a warm, fluid, womb-like feel without going clinical or to literal, and just the right spark of awareness to it.

Yes, you can judge a book by its cover.

Learn more about Leslie Taylor, Creative Buffalo Group, and some of their covers at http://buffalocreativegroup.com/

Evolution of a Cover (Part One)

When Atticus Books hired award-winning designer Jamie Keenan to design the cover for Tracks: A Novel in Stories, I came eye-to-eye with the fact that, despite the adage, people can and do judge books by their covers. A good cover can draw a reader to or away from a book on display. A good cover that conveys the feel of the book is important.

Jamie has designed covers for all sorts of authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Stephen King, H.G. Wells, George Orwell, Junot Diaz, David Foster Wallace, Philip K Dick, Anthony Burgess, Tennessee Williams, Jean-Paul Sarte, Rudyard Kipling, Garrison Kellior, Nick Hornby, A.M. Homes. So I was thrilled that my name would be added to his cover list.

Here are some of the early cover concepts Jamie came up with.

We all felt that the bend in the tracks evoked the “who knows what’s around the bend” feeling of Tracks. An unscientific focus group of friends and fellow writers and publishers agreed. The result is a cover I’ll never forget.

Learn more about Jamie and see some of his cover designs at www.keenandesign.com.

-->

Womb to Arrive Spring 2017

The new anticipated delivery for Womb: a novel in utero is spring 2017. The season of rebirth seems the perfect time to drop a new book like this one.

What makes Womb most unique is its unusual narrator. Set in the city and suburbs of Baltimore, the novel is narrated from the point of view of a child still in utero. He describes his own reality inside the womb, his connection to the collective consciousness, and narrates (through his own perspective) the drama of his mother’s life as she deals with her pregnancy, friends, family, and work. The unique narration in Womb has been compared to that in the novels Room by Emma Donoghue and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

I wrote the original draft about a decade ago, after reading The Lovely Bones, being impressed by the dead narrator, and looking for the challenge of a unique point of view of my own. My wife was pregnant with our second child at the time, so I didn’t have to look far for my unusual narrator.

Stay tuned for news as it comes! 

http://www.tracksnovel.com/womb.html

A Cover is Born

Special delivery! A cover is born! But a good book cover isn’t simply delivered by a stork. A lot goes into the concept, development, and design of a book cover.

For Womb: a novel in utero, there were a lot of ideas floating around. An actual picture of a child in utero? A newborn? A pregnant woman’s torso? Something along the lines of a baby shower invitation with pink and blue?

In the end, the creative team agreed that, given the unique subject matter, abstract worked best. Something that evoked the feeling of a womb, a spark of awareness, and yet was undefined.

I’m very happy with the result! But what father isn’t proud of his baby?

www.EricDGoodman.com/womb.html