(This post is part of a larger subseries entitled Perpetual WIPs: Pre-Pub Authors. To see the rest of the questions posed, click here.)
What kind of say do you have in things like your cover art, title change (if applicable), and marketing/publicity plans? Or, if it hasn’t yet been discussed, what kind of input do you hope/expect to have?
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I think there’s something in my contract that says I must be in-the-loop for title and cover decisions, but I certainly don’t expect to be contributing much at all. I totally trust the Creative department, and I’ve been careful not to wed myself to my title or to dream up a cover in my mind. Although…if my publisher “whitewashed” characters on covers–which they don’t–my input would be very vocal because I really, powerfully disagree with that practice.
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I have a say in my cover art!! That’s very exciting. I don’t expect I’ll have much input, but I know I’m in capable hands whom I trust.
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I get the final say on my title and cover consultation (I love my agent for negotiating that!). They’ve tossed around the term “lead title” a few times, so I expect there will be decent marketing support. The details of what that will entail are still TBD.
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One of the advantages of working with a small press is that an author is consulted on many of these factors. I’m kept in the loop on almost all of these decisions and my opinion is actually solicited and desired as part of the process. We aren’t at the marketing/publicity stage as of yet, but I anticipate it will be very similar to my experiences thus far.
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I got to weigh in on cover art before they started it. (mostly I said, “this book really isn’t right to have a girl in a ball gown on the cover”). I got to weigh in on it when they sent it to me (which was mostly, “I can’t believe it and love the hell out of it”). I was bummed when they decided to change my title, but did understand the logic behind it, and I was the one who came up with the new title. As far as marketing/publicity, that hasn’t started yet (except for what I’m doing) so I’m not sure. I have some ideas and i hope that they’ll just let me roll with it. My publisher has been pretty easy going about me so far and I’m not exactly a shrinking violet 🙂
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I haven’t really had any say, but luckily I like the direction we’re headed in so far.
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One of the joys of a small press is that I will be involved in all aspects of the book design and promotion. Luckily, we kept my original title (which I’m so happy about because I loved it!). None of the design work has begun yet, but I will be present for the cover shoot and hope to be involved in the creation of the marketing plan when the time comes.
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I don’t know too much about how this process is going to work for my book yet. But I would love to have input in all of the above—especially the cover art—though I’m aware authors don’t usually have much say.
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I have rights to input (it’s in my contract) but ultimately the publisher has the final say if we can’t agree.
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I don’t know what say I’ll have. From what little I’ve heard, I think I won’t have much say in the cover at all but will probably have some say in the title change. I have no idea about the marketing plans. This is fine with me–I wanted to go with an established publisher because they’re professionals, and I trust them to know what’s best (though I would say something if I really hated the direction they were going!).
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So far, it’s been a very inclusive process, but I’m very early in it, so we’ll see. I’m hoping to be included in publicity planning, so that I won’t feel totally powerless in the run-up to the book being released.
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My publishers are keen to involve me in all the processes that go on with producing my book, so I am consulted on the cover art, title etc. It’s great to have such a big input and to feel involved in it all.
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The Daily Dahlia 