SKIB cover concepts

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

I am fortunate to know the fabulously talented Hannah Jackson.

Hannah, owner and artist at Hannahbird Illustration, is doing cover art and interior illustrations for SARAH & KATY AND THE IMAGINATION BLANKETS. About a week ago, Hannah sent me eight cover art concepts to review and select one.

One. Just one. Even though I loved all eight.

My initial reaction was to give up on choosing and go do math. (Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate math. Math is hard … but narrowing down one of those eight covers was harder.)

The math was calculating the cost-effectiveness of publishing eight editions of SKIB, each with a different cover. Just think: collector’s editions!

Then reality set in. First of all, I can’t afford to pay for eight covers. Second of all, the book should be published and (hopefully) generate a fan base before a collector’s edition or two or eight could be printed.

So I gave up on math and went back to choosing a cover.

After a couple hours of deliberation and comparing lists of pros and cons, I narrowed my choice.

To four.

(Maybe the math would work for four editions?)

[THE FINAL FOUR]
No1No2No3No7

Except I really wasn’t in the mood for more math. I work better in letters, not numbers. So I began making more lists.

After a couple more hours, I had the choice narrowed to two, at which point I carried the printouts over to the cat, shoved them in his face and said, “Which do you like better?” He smacked one of the pages out of his face, so I interpreted that as his vote.

When the husband got home, I pretty much repeated that routine, minus shoving them in his face. He’s a bit more agreeable (and intelligible) than the cat about answering questions, so I just set them in front of him.

He pointed and said, “I like this one best.”

He voted for the same one as the cat — that was two votes in its favor.

After more deliberating, I decided I liked the same one the husband (and cat) chose. I sent word to Hannah about which we selected, and she since has started work on the full cover.

So which concept did I choose?

You’ll just have to wait for the cover reveal next month to find out.

ABOUT THE COVER

Each concept features Sarah and Katy on a magic carpet, which is one of the four adventures they imagine with their blankets in the book.

Hannah Jackson created eight thumbnails indicating size and placement of cover elements. The final cover will be a refined, detailed version of one of the four shown above.

Posted in SKIB | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Mother knows best

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

I never meant to be a children’s author.

Before Sarah & Katy and the Imagination Blankets, I had not written children’s fiction since I was … well, since I was a child.

As soon as I reached junior high, I began writing YA fiction. In high school, I began writing literary fiction. In college, I branched into mainstream and women’s fiction, with a twist of magical realism. My tendency was to write toward my own age group.

The manuscripts piled up. A middle grade tale of a princess embarking on a quest. A YA novel about a junior high girls basketball team. A women’s fiction novel about a woman mourning the death of her husband and believing the dog that turned up on her doorstep is him.

None of those books were published, though. They still line figurative shelves on my laptop’s hard drive, collecting figurative dust.

Mom lamented the shift in my writing for years. She was my biggest fan, with drawers stuffed full of old wide-ruled notebook paper with misspelled words in crayon. She never hesitated to tell me she missed the days of my children’s stories that were full of talking cats and wizards and dragons and children transformed into animals.

Oh, and then there was that story I wrote in grade school called “The Witch Sister,” in which I cast my older sister as a witch. Mom still loves to laugh about that one.

But as a preteen, teenager, and adult, I thought I had outgrown that stage of fiction.

Mom tried her best to change my mind, but I continued to work — sometimes half-heartedly — on my adult fiction.

Then Sarah and Katy entered the picture.

(Do those names sound familiar?)

Sarah and Katy, my oldest sister’s daughters (currently the only kids in the family), are 8 and 7 years old. Both can read, and both love books (almost) as much as I do. Both are imaginative, and intelligent, and sincere.

Their love of reading made me want to write a book they would want to read.

(I cheated a little by starring them as the main characters. Just to guarantee they’d be interested.)

SKIB includes all of the elements back from my childhood days of writing children’s fiction. There are magic carpets, pirate ships, ghosts, dragons, talking cats, and magical “imagination” blankets.

Mom’s wish came true. As it turns out, the first book I was able to finish and launch is a children’s book.

Mom was right. As usual.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment