What happens when you are working with an author who has a killer book cover, but their design violates the shopping and social media platforms?
First, you scream and yell that the world has gone soft! Then you cry because the vision has to change. Then you scream some more over the loss of time and money.
Who's Mistake?
Next, you admit your mistake because ultimately as the head of the marketing department I should have caught the problem months ago. I have over a dozen different launches under my belt and there was no reason for the mistake. To be honest with you I was just so caught up with the vision that I forgot about the rules.
Pre-Launch
The paperback and hardcover proof books are showing up and I should be hitting the pre-launch buttons, but instead, I’m getting emails that the book can’t be stocked due to the way the gun on the cover is facing.
Regrouping
After a couple of hours of focus breathing and regrouping, a big meeting about how to solve the problem happens. Listen to the author, go-rounds about not caring if he ever sells a book, it’s what he likes, and doesn’t want to change it!
Working endlessly with his artist and our marketing team to try to find a solution, but the author who in the case happens to also be my husband is adamant that his fans have an opportunity to buy his original cover.
Best Seller Book Goals
I am on a quest to make, “Victoria Villalobos: Retribution”, a #1 New York Times Best Seller. It’s like a train wreck happening right in front of my eyes. For this to happen, we have to sell a lot of books, more than we have ever done on a launch. Our marketing department can’t do that if our ads are being blocked.
Now, this is where the business side kicks in. You have to take the personal feelings out. I love my husband and want to see his vision come true, but a good book launch can take months and sometimes years of prep work.
Book Launch
This particular launch has taken me and my team over a year. Every detail has been planned out from the price to the day of the week the book is available in stores around the world. There are contracts and deadlines in place that we must meet. We are two weeks behind in his pre-launch right now making that #1 seem almost impossible.
Now, this is where the business side kicks in. You have to take the personal feelings out. I love my husband and want to see his vision come true, but a good book launch can take months and sometimes years of prep work. This particular launch has taken me and my team over a year. Every detail has been planned out from the price to the day of the week the book is available in stores around the world. There are contracts and deadlines in place that we must meet. We are two weeks behind in his pre-launch right now making that #1 seem almost impossible.
Book Cover Change
So now what? As you guessed it the cover has to change, I hate that we have to conform in order to make money; however, this is our livelihood and if our products can’t be advertised or available in stores, they will never sell. But when you have an author like Steve, who is stubborn and tells you to find a way to get his original cover in the hands of his readers, you do exactly that!
Here's the good news, you can get the best of both worlds, I’m going to place an order for a Special Edition Hardcover with a Dust Jacket. This beautiful book will include the new artwork on the dust jacket, but when you remove the cover the original artwork where Victoria pointed her gun will appear.
For those of you who have not gone soft and like Vic’s HK VP9 in the pointing position, make sure to grab the Special Hardcover Dust Jacket Edition.
