Cold Cruel Winter (Part 1)

People think that once a writer has finished writing the book, the work is done. That’s far from the truth, of course. In many ways it’s just beginning. There’s still the wrangling with the editor, sometimes fight for something as trivial as a word (swear word or otherwise) until the text has been agreed upon.

Is it finished? Hardly. Wait a few months and there’s the cover copy to be settled, which can mean more to-ing and fro-ing. Once that’s out of the way there’s the cover itself. The publisher might have two or more to choose from delivered by the artist, including style of letting, where it’s placed and so on. This is where I am right now. The cover is set for Cold Cruel Winter, and very good it looks took, quite bleak and chilling. The placing and style of the lettering keeps the “brand,” which is a good thing. Now there’s the sub (for want of a better phrase). Currently in there is ‘A Richard Nottingham historical murder mystery.’ I’m probably wrong, but the words historical murder mystery always manage to sound fluffy to me, and this book is anything but that (I hope). So the publisher and I have been going back and forth, and it seems as if we’ve compromised on ‘A Richard Nottingham mystery.’ It might not seem like a great difference, but it feels like one.

And what next? There will be the final cover, going through the proofs, and then publication. For those writers better-known, or whose publishers have deeper pockets, that’s when the book tours and interviews begin. For me…well, that’s over three months away. A great deal can happen in that time.