This past week my publisher sent me five drafts of my new book cover.  Five!  Oi vey, no mean feat to choose just one I can tell you.

Unlike for my first book where I had a crystal clear idea of what my cover design was going to be – the photo of my dad with a snake wrapped around his neck that he’d caught in the cane fields early 1950’s when he was working in far North Queensland.

Afterall, he was the catalyst for me rethinking my life and totally reinventing myself after his death in 2011 and truly set me on the path of enlightenment and change.

No better tribute to him than to use one of my favourite photos of him on the front cover.  Incidentally, the photo I used was one we had on a side table at home when I was growing up and after his passing my sister Glenda was dividing up the photos between the siblings and asked me if I had any photos (there were very few) that I really wanted.

It was always going to be the one that I wanted most, and although not a big photo in terms of size it held a nostalgic significance for me as it reminded me of his fearlessness and strength.

Yes…more than just his ability to be a snake charmer!  🙂

So when I had my call with the design team two weeks ago I gave them very pretty specific direction in terms of the “look and feel” of what I’m looking for, and at their request I sent them a handful of images that I thought might fit the bill.

When I received five options it was a tad overwhelming to be sure, so what does any sane social media guru do but offer to any of my contacts the opportunity to weigh in on their favourite design for my new cover…of course!

Its been fabulous with lots of people getting a sneak peak at the options for the cover, but more importantly getting the opportunity to have input.  Clearly not everyone is going to like the one I finally choose, but it will be with a significant amount of input and comments from my followers and extended team that I choose the final version.

It’s awesome to be able to put my work out there and get great feedback, not only for my book but my weekly blog and photography.

Next up I’m looking for a photo editor that can help me identify the key photos for the works in my upcoming exhibition that I want to host for the launch of my new book – so If you know any experienced photo editors let me know.

Fortunately the job shouldn’t be as hard as it was for me, as I had to pare down the 30,000 photos of Italy into slightly less than 200 for the book.  Yeah, there were many rounds of cuts to get to the magic number, but it wasn’t always painful.

In fact, it brought back a lot of wonderful memories as I slowly made my way through them during my journey to select the ones that would best represent my inner most feelings for Italy.

Strange isn’t it, that I have such an affinity with Italy…although if you’ve ever visited you’ll understand why.  It just has a way of finding its way deep into your soul.

Interestingly, each of the five covers are so different in composition and nature that its hard to compare them in some ways, yet all in some way project the innate beauty of Italy, but truly there are two that speak to me more than the others.

So tonight before I started writing I sent a note to the team asking for some minor edits to see what it would look like with slight variations of these two covers.  It will be interesting to see if these edits change my perception and indeed my choice of the cover.

All I know is that it’s going to be fabulous…and that everyone I know will want to order one for loved ones for Christmas and/or the holiday season. 🙂  And for those of you who join me at my exhibition / book launch I will also have them available for purchase.  I will also be selling them in my “shop” on the Indelible Adventures website.

You’ll be able to buy via the following channels:

  • Indigo / Chapters (Canada)
  • Barnes & Noble (US)
  • Friessen Press Bookstore (US)
  • Ingram Wholesale (Europe / Australia)
  • Amazon.com
  • 35,000 retailers and book distributors worldwide

As I progress with publishing, I will announce both the publishing date as well as the location and timing of my exhibition. For those of you who live in Toronto I will be extending a warm invitation to the exhibition opening.  Still working on the venue, oh and don’t forget I need the name of a great photo editor if you have one.

I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who continues to support Indelible Adventures – I wouldn’t be where I am today without your love, support and undying encouragement.

Thank you!!!