Announcement: My book cover is here!

Thank you again to everyone who offered feedback on my book’s front cover! After a few revisions, the final version is here!

Check it out:

Why this cover?

This was a very hard decision. All three cover options provided by my designer were beautiful and reflected a different facet of the book.

Of the three options, a lot of people liked option 3 (the face portrait). Personally, I liked its gentle colors and the straightforwardness of the text combined with the watercolor texture of the background.

Meanwhile, I loved the simplicity and hopefulness of option 1 (the pearl). As one follower commented, the pearl conveyed beauty coming out of hardship—a major theme in the book. In one early chapter, I use a pearl to symbolize just that.

That said, after much thought, prayer, and discussion, I chose to move forward with option 2 (the zip line). I felt like it was the most “me”. The image was more personal than the pearl yet more specific than the portrait. It conveyed the idea of launching out in faith, communicating both risk and hope. And it’s based on a scene from the book, so it clearly ties into the storyline. A lot of people liked this one as well.

Here’s the original:

What did we change?

While the original version of the zip line cover grabbed me, it needed some tweaks for readability and clarity.

Over two rounds of revisions, I asked my designer to:

• Adjust color(s) to make the title easier to read.
• Have the rope meet me a bit higher (in reality it attached to the harness near chest level) and/or show my hand holding onto it, to make the connection clearer/stronger. Showing me holding on also ties into the faith metaphor.
• Remove the extra line on the right. It looked like it attached to me, but in reality there were no other lines attached to me.
• Reduce the number of horses in order to open up the landscape so the viewer’s focus travels easily toward the “unknown” of the horizon. Horses are significant in the story but not the story’s focus.

I think the designer did a great job!

What’s next?

Now that the manuscript is edited and the front cover is finalized, the book will move to the interior layout and typesetting phase. Once that’s done, we’ll have a final page count and can address the back cover and spine design.

We don’t have a hard-and-fast release date yet. My project manager thinks the release will be in January. We’ll have a better idea of a date after the layout phase.

Just Megan will be available on Amazon and the Redemption Press online bookstore. And it will be available for other online and brick and mortar stores to order through Ingram (which I think is also accessible to libraries).

I’ll post book information on my “Books” page when I have it, and announce the release date here and on social media.

Stay tuned, and thank you for joining me on this journey!