Debut Book Cover Revealed!

I can’t wait to hear what you think! Many of you have posted comments over on facebook, but feel free to repeat anything complimentary here. 😉

One big surprise, if you’ve followed along my writing journey, is the name of the book. All along (see labels on the bottom left-hand side of the blog if you don’t believe me) I’ve referred to the book as Undiscovered. What?!? Turns out–and I knew this from my years of studying the industry–that publishers almost always change the names of books. If you’re pursuing publication, don’t stress over your title or become too attached to it. Most likely, your book will be released under another title anyway.

The interesting thing to me is that Moody changed the title to The Familiar Stranger before I even saw the contract! Somehow my book ended up on the fast track, so the title had to be decided upon quickly for the cover design process to begin. Despite other books on amazon sharing the same name and–how should I put this?–being of the spicier variety, I love the play on words. I’ll just hope and pray my mother-in-law doesn’t accidentally order the wrong one!

I really can’t say enough good things about the way Moody has treated me. As a debut author I expected to have 0% input in the cover design. Instead, the marketing manager spent an hour on the phone with me to capture the feel of the story with pictures. This beautiful modern cover was the sixth cover they showed me. And that wasn’t because I wasn’t pleased with the earlier efforts, but that Moody wasn’t satisfied. Disclaimer: there is a small chance the cover might change because of a technicality I found out about yesterday, but I’d promised to share the cover with you. If it does change, it will be another part of this crazy journey I can share with you.

Next post: Guess what wacky thing happened next concerning my contract with Moody. DON’T post if you already know. Let’s keep it a secret until I reveal the laugh-out-loud, yet cry-inside moment.

10 Responses to Debut Book Cover Revealed!

  1. Ashley Weis February 4, 2009 at 5:13 pm #

    Christina, HOW COOL!

    I bet you are SOOO excited. Love the cover! Can’t wait to read it. When is the release date?

  2. Susan J. Reinhardt February 5, 2009 at 7:02 am #

    Hi Christina –

    The cover and title are PERFECT! I like the way his picture is out of focus.

    I guess you could steer your mother-in-law towards Christianbook.com. The seamy books wouldn’t be on there. 🙂

    Blessings,
    Susan

  3. Jessica February 5, 2009 at 7:23 am #

    Great cover! You know, I don’t what this book is about. From the cover and name it almost sounds like a suspense. Is it? I’ll have to look around your site and see.
    I never thought of Moody as a possible publisher for fiction, but it looks like they’ve done a great job.
    Congrats Christina!

  4. Tammy Bowers February 6, 2009 at 10:29 am #

    Oh Christina, I am so happy for you. The cover looks great and very intriguing. The look on the faces of the man and woman along with the title, just make you WANT to read it! I love it and the play on words in the title.

    Praise God for giving you the desire of your heart. We serve such a great Abba Father who knows how to give good gifts to His children. Amen!

  5. Christina Berry February 6, 2009 at 2:49 pm #

    Ashley, sometimes I about burst inside out with the excitement. At other times I see all the work ahead of me and buckle down. 🙂

    The Familiar Stranger will release in September! Not too early for people to get autographed copies for Christmas. 😉

    Susan, you might find this hard to believe, but my MIL doesn’t even have internet! She’s afraid of getting horrible jokes from her BIL.

    Jessica, I love that you got all that from the title! It’s just contemporary, but it does have a lot of intrigue, which the cover captures.

    Tammy, you are such a sweetheart. You’ve seen me working through the years, so your joy in my “success” makes my heart glad.

  6. looksgoodinpolkadots February 6, 2009 at 5:43 pm #

    Love love love the cover. It grabs attention in a caution tape kind of way and makes you want, no need to read what’s inside.

    What I love best is seeing your name in print on the cover! Woohoo girl!!!

  7. Christina Berry February 7, 2009 at 10:30 am #

    Jaime, your caution tape observation is excellent! I never really thought about what the yellow and black letters looked like, but it does add to the feel of the book.

  8. miriam February 11, 2009 at 6:12 pm #

    I second looksgoodinpolkadot’s comment. That’s YOUR NAME on the cover. Yippee!! Kudos to you, and I have feeling this is only the beginning … 🙂

  9. Lori Benton February 18, 2009 at 5:35 am #

    Christina,

    That’s so great Moody gave you input on the cover design. Being an artist as well as a writer, I think that would be the icing on the cake (the cake being a book contract!).

    And it’s a classy cover, too. Congratulations!

  10. jenness February 19, 2009 at 4:44 pm #

    Love the cover. So happy for you!!!