Even though I’m a
graybeard, and have lived long enough to know better, sometimes I take ‘cute’ too far. Have I
done so again with this artsy-fartsy text design? It’s for the back cover of my
new novel, A Different Country Entirely.
My hope is that the shape resembles a spear point or an arrowhead (but NOT a Christmas tree), since both are relevant to my story, and the blurb is to
entice a shopper to buy the paperback, of course.
In
a dusty
corner of
Texas Ranger history-
The Callahan Expedition.
The year 1855 - the edge of Texas.
Indian savagery vs. the Rangers’
Colt pistols
Apache flight to sanctuary across
the Rio Grande
Pursuit by Callahan’s Rangers
into Mexico.
Battle between Texas Rangers
and Mexican lancers
at Rio Escondido.
Torching
the town
of
Piedras
Negras
So, what do you think? Is the spear point/arrowhead okay, or too cute? If it stays, I've no doubt the shape will be refined by Karen Phillips, the talented graphic designer who does the cover art for my novels.
As to the text, would it tempt
you to buy the book? Back cover blurbs are hard to write because of their brevity,
but every shopper looks at the back cover to see what the book is about. So,
wise authors don’t take the back cover content or its appearance lightly.
Here, I
worry that this bare-bones description doesn’t include a word about the characters, only the
historical action. The novel certainly includes complex relationships and romance among the characters, but I'm intending to market A Different Country Entirely much more from the the historical angle than I have my Captain McBee Civil War series.
Again, what do you think?
Please do email me your opinion at ptmcbride49@gmail.com or leave a
comment on the blog for all to see.
Otherwise, the draft manuscript
of my first Texas Ranger novel is done except for a bit of clean-up. I anticipate
that my next blog post in a couple of weeks will be to announce that A
Different Country Entirely is available on Amazon as a paperback or a
Kindle ebook.
I think it does look like an arrowhead but I think the text can be worked on a bit. When I see the text arrayed like that, I think of poems so maybe get those lines to rhyme some how.
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