Sticking With The Story

Listen. I holistically get it. What appears on the cover gets bought first; be it person, place or thing. If it looks good on the outside, and especially if it doesn’t, will determine whether or not to touch it. 

Going back to something still lingering in my mind... is a blogger who years ago wrote about CRINGING when looking at some book covers. Imagine that. ...especially when we writers were sometimes working with a team of only one, and often just a sketch pad where we actually heard our files traveling (while downloading) over a dial tone. 😂😅 I STILL laugh. I know (and knew then) exactly what gave the blogger that buzz.

Now, I admit to being pretty good at detecting quality. My problem resides somewhere between patience, desperation and hope. Because I’m usually taking a break from writing when selecting books to read, my patience tends to run low, leaving me a little desperate hoping the books I’ve selected (to read) will be keepers; stories I can pass on and on, and still stay with me forever. It’s why I respect it when I hear, “if ‘readers’ can’t find (‘see’) your book, how will they ever read it!?!”

All that and here’s the real deal.

Scooting in my lane, wearing both my avid reader and writer hat, a good book… whether traditionally or independently published… or whether the cover is high-end or half-ass, or whether the book pops up on everyone’s dashboard or is hidden behind layers of virtual walls, there is a primary (not so private) reason I stay stuck on my square, reluctant to select books based on covers, or accept offers (even the free ones) to upgrade my own covers.

As for the books I read (mostly mems/bios), I treat like jobs I’ve accepted. I hope to get in there, like behind the cover, however it looks, and the experience be worthwhile.

And as for my book covers, my answer is similarly simple. I LOVE THEM! They are raw. Unique. And frankly, not only one of a kind, but my pride and joy. Seriously, and respectfully as can be phrased, but outclassing my book designs, (particularly for those published in the past couple of years), requires having read the book…or my mind…and even then it’d be a long ‘East to West walk’ if I would agree. Point being, READERS READ. My primary focus. Beyond that, I do brush over my covers... you know, like make sure there's no dust on them. Okay, try not to laugh too hard.

Alrighty… just finished reading ‘Not Without My Daughter’ by Betty Mahmoody, ‘Coming Home’ by Brittney Griner, ‘Around the World in Black & White’ by Alana Best,  and ‘A Man from Another Land’ by Isaiah Washington… (Thoughts here, here, here and here… respectively). BTW, the irony was not missed, though realized after reading one book after the other and honing in on similar messages, despite these memoirs being published decades apart.

#ReadersRead #WritersAmuseInspire&Educate #SellReading #WalkingtheTalk #JustBlogged