Cover Stories

The Cardinal Divide now has a cover.

The cover has a story.

Someone who doesn’t know anything about selling books once said that “you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Tell that to the millions of people who buy books every year. Stroll through a book store and let your eye wander over your favorite sections. What attracts your eye? What makes you want to pick a book up off the shelf? The title? The name of a favorite author? A name you recognize from a radio or TV interview? But as likely as not, the cover design will attract your eye.

The cover of a book says a lot about what’s inside. The cover reflects the mood of the book. It reflects the genre. It reflects the tone of the book.

The first cover design for the Cardinal Divide left me feeling disappointed. The title and my name were both in the current vertical arrangement, but the size and font left them nearly impossible to read. The colour was pretty drab, and there was no blood red image. I feared that possible readers would not be able to discern what the book’s title was, let alone pick it up off the shelf to read the back cover.

I love working with the book’s publisher NeWest Press, and didn’t want to ruffle any feathers, but I also really want the Cardinal Divide to sell well, and want to be proudly able to promote the book myself, something I just couldn’t do if I didn't like the cover. I asked Julian Hall and Jason Meyers for help, and got some great ideas.

But this really became clear when Jenn and I were on the ferry last week, sailing back from being in Alberta to Victoria. We sat in the bookshop and just let our eyes range over the books. Jenn asked, "what attracts you?" We made a list. I provided some feedback to NeWest based on this.

Because they are a great little press, NeWest took this feedback seriously, and sat down to redesign the cover. The end result is much more striking. Still vertical, too reflect the idea of a “cardinal divide”, the new colour and starkness of the blood red landscape really speaks to the tone of the story.

I’m going to be very proud to promote this book.