Today I have to do my art sheets for the book I’m working on. A question I’m often asked is how much input do I have on my covers. Do I get to choose the people? Do I get to choose the background? If I don’t like it, will they re-work it? No. No. And no. My input is limited to filling out and submitting art fact sheets. Harlequin publishes over 90 books per month and the art fact sheet is a way to let the art department know what’s going on in your book. (Believe it or not they can’t read all 90+ books and then design covers for them. :O)

So, what’s involved in an art fact sheet? It’s a standard form and the author fills in the blanks. First, I let the art department know what the tone of my book is–sensual, sweet, very sexy, home and hearth, etc. Then I let them know if it’s developed around any particular holidays or events that could possibly play into cover development. Next, I submit a one-page story synopsis. Then it’s on to the characters. One sheet for each character that might be on the book cover. I fill in age, hair color, hair length, eye color, body type, build, the way they dress, characteristics. Next I give them three scenes–two specific to the book and one generic. For each scene I give the art department info such as setting, time of day, mood, what characters are wearing, what they are doing in that scene. I’ll tell you, my art fact sheets are a whole lot easier and less complicated than the ones my SuperRomance and Intrique friends submit. On the section that asks, “What are they wearing?” My answers are usually, “A sheet.” or “A towel” Makes it so less complicated when they spend most of their time undressed. So, now you know how much input we have on our covers. Trust me, I’m always holding my breath, and hoping the cover gods have smiled upon me, until I see what they’ve come up with for each book.

Woohoo!! My galleys for DARING IN THE DARK arrived while I was blogging. Galleys are last chance, do-or-die opportunity to double-check the book and right any wrongs before it goes to print.

Quick infomercial on stages of a book. I write it and send it in. My editor gets back to me with revisions. I slave over revisions and make suggested changes, or not, and usually find my own changes to add to hers and slave some more. Send the revised copy back in. Copy editor goes through and looks for inconsistencies, bad word choice (they usually tell me to clean up my language if I haven’t edited most of the *earthy* language out :rolleyes:), word reptition, awkward construction, time lines, etc. I think being a copy editor would be a horrendous job. So, the copy editor writes all over my manuscript and then sends it back to me. I go through the copy edited version and makes notes on any changes I disagree with. This can be a very painful process. After I’ve gone through a manuscript and flagged it–there are usually at least 100 flags. Then I look back over the flags and decide what changes I can and cannot live with on the book. I put together a form that includes page number, line, and proposed changes. I don’t see it again until I get the galleys and go through for line edits. Now, I see if the changes I asked for at the copy edit stage have been made. I read the manuscript line by line for any typos, inconsistencies, problems, etc., using my handy-dandy little flags again. Then I put together another document similar to copy edit document delineating page, line, change and send that back to my editor.

I’ve got a super busy week-end, so not sure when I’ll get through my galleys, but as soon as I do, I’ll get the first chapter of DARING IN THE DARK up on the web site! Probably in the next week. Keep an eye out for it and I hope you like it! :rolleyes:

Jen