I'm often asked if I 'get much say' in my book covers. None
whatever, I gaily reply. In fact I rather suspect the number-one
objective of any cover-design team is to keep the author well
clear.
An aspiration I have a lot of sympathy with, actually, having
worked in marketing and PR for many years. Oh, the times I've put a
painstakingly-briefed and time-consumingly visualised piece of
artwork in front of colleagues, only to be met with: 'I don't like
it.'
Not: 'I'm not sure this will appeal to our target market, or: 'I
doubt this will really stand out on the shelves', or even: 'Is this
really the image we want to convey to our customers?' but simply:
'I don't like it.'
Back when I was a business student, our marketing lecturer
warned us: 'When it comes to advertising, it's all too easy to
degenerate into pub-talk.' Which means, everyone has an opinion and
no one has really thought it through.
So, I always assume my cover design teams in their respective
markets know what they're doing. They know their readers, they know
how the crime genre works in their market, they know what will
stand out on the shelves. I trust them to make the right decisions
for me and my books, and I always, when asked, say that I like what
they've come up with.
(Well, nearly always. There was a case not too long ago when I
simply couldn't bring myself to say it, so I maintained diplomatic
silence)
I never have to pretend, though, when the Transworld team are on
the case because She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed becomes
She-Who-Will-Accept-Nothing-But-The Best. Each cover Transworld
have produced for me has been better than the one before and their
first was fabulous. Their latest quite simply takes my breath away.
I wouldn't have thought it possible to convey menace, violence and
terror on a book cover, and still make it as gorgeous as a work of
art, but they've done it. Behold (and you saw it here first): the
hardback jacket design for Now You See Me.
It deserves a minute's silence, in my view. Especially as the
artwork on the rear is every bit as good.
The male figure in silhouette is Detective Inspector Mark
Joesbury, of the Scotland Yard's SO10 division, making his way
through the Camden Catacombs. Joesbury is one of the most
successful and respected undercover officers in the Metropolitan
police force. He loves the excitement and danger of his job; or at
least he did, until he met young Detective Constable Lacey Flint.
And the woman on the front? Can't tell you that, I'm afraid. That
would be a spoiler of epic proportions.
If you've never heard of the Camden Catacombs and want to know
more, either Google them now, or keep checking my website in the
coming weeks as we get closer to the launch and I try to contain my
excitement about unleashing my latest offering on the book-world. I
know authors, like mothers, aren't supposed to have favourites and
I genuinely love all my pen and ink children but Now You See
Me is the book I feel I was born to write. And yes, the cover
most certainly does it justice.