When something is so incredibly important to you, it’s so hard to make decisions, isn’t it? You feel like you for sure are going to make the wrong one. Currently, my poetry book cover is my issue. The publisher initially sent me the first draft, and I was less than thrilled. It’s interesting because they listened and took all of my suggestions, but it fell flat for me. I can’t imagine myself jumping up and down over any cover because I’m so nervous that it’s not perfect. But so is life.

We make choices and move on. But a book cover—it’s the holy grail and what makes people pick up the book. I have to get that right, but in some ways, luckily, it’s sort of out of the author’s hands. Most publishers take your suggestions and design something, keep those in mind, and create what they think fits. My novel’s publishers design a few covers with my input, and then I chose the two I liked best. Next, they have a social media campaign where readers pick between the final two. How cool is that? And perfect, I’m free! It’s someone else’s fault if it bombs, but then there go my dreams. It’s quite the dilemma, but hey, good things are happening, so I’ll take the good with the unknown.

And look at that—just as I’m writing this, the poetry publisher sent me another attempt. I’m sort of digging this one, and if I wasn’t, I’m not sure it would matter anyway. Let me know what you think.