Cover me beautiful.....

SUGAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE:

Nicola of Nicola Books in Ann Arbor, Michigan reached out to me with this: "It might be of small comfort to you to know that we do not segregate our African American authors, we categorize books based on genre and author, not ethnic background of the author.

Nicola

I say: Bravo, Nicola!

Pictured here is my novel SUGAR (swathed in a brown Amazon.com shipping box) sitting in the mailbox of my friend and fellow Author, Margaret Johnson-Hodge.



Thanks Margaret!

I'm still waiting on YOUR photos picturing you buying your own copy of SUGAR. Send them to: bernicemcfadden@hotmail.com and I will post them here.


So it seems that my publisher will honor my wishes and create a new book jacket for SUGAR. I'm excited about this, and can't wait to see the final product. When the publicist asked if I had anything specific in mind, my response was: Create for me what you would create for one of your non-AA authors. A cover that is beautiful and welcoming to ALL readers.

Now, don't get me wrong - I was mad for the first SUGAR cover:



The woman in the photograph is beautiful and the muted colors and subtle shadows offered a hint of....mystery.

But, when it comes to the current cover............I dunno - it was not a favorite. The one thing that was interesting though was the fact the young girl holds an eerie resemblance to my best friend. Weird, huh?



Back in the day the book covers were simple and mostly free of art work. People bought a book based on the title, the copy on the back and the opening lines.


(Triangle Books reprint circa 1928)


(The Scribner Library reprint 1959)


You know they have entire groups of experts who advise publishers as to what types of covers sell the best. What color patterns are most appealing to the human eye. Apparently, black folks have different types of eyes than white folks do. LOL

The experts also say that books with white covers don't sell. Well, I guess sometimes the experts are wrong.

Bernice L. McFadden