PlanetGordon.com

Cover Me

Received this revised cover image from my editor today. No word on whether this is the final draft, but I'm quite pleased with it. It's clean and simple and everything seems right to the point. The designer straightened the letters of my name, which no longer are attached to the car's bumper like tin cans. While I had liked that idea, seeing my name in a clean, straight line is nice.

You'll notice that the subtitle now reads "You're Getting Married. Read This Book." That's a change from before and one that I argued for with some insistence. My editor had suggested "You're Getting Married. You Better Read This Book." While I understood the desire to be direct and light, I felt "You Better" contradicted the tone of my book. Much like this blog, I wrote that couples are better off not listening to anyone who uses scare tactics or who tells them that they should/must/better/have to do something. While some structure is important when planning any big event, so much of the wedding industry is based on the idea that brides have to do things the "right" way or face disaster and disappointment. So my initial reaction upon seeing "You Better Read This Book" was confusion. You better read this book or else? What will happen if I don't? That wasn't the approach I was going for.

Luckily my editor finally agreed and changed the design to what you see. I must say that the subtitle was the only sticking point. Everything else in this process has been fairly painless.

More to come this week including my copyedited draft - so much red! - and the selection of an illustrator for some of the book's smaller charts and pictures.

Posted by Doug at August 1, 2005 11:52 AM