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616, 616 East Lincoln Avenue, Book Covers, Boy @ The Window Book Covers, Mount Vernon High School ID, self-publishing
I know. It’s barely been a month since I declared that I will self-publish Boy @ The Window this year, through the most reputable self-publishing program I can find, of course (see my post “The New Gameplan for Boy @ The Window” from last month). But I had to start with something less substantial than finding old photos from the Hebrew-Israelite years of my now deceased idiot ex-stepfather and of my younger siblings, paying a copy editor to comb for grammatical errors or setting up a version of the manuscript for eBook format. So I’ve posted some book cover designs I’ve been working on these last couple of weeks. I like some, but I’m not wedded to any of these (and will likely revise in the next month or so, even without additional input).
So please take a look, tell me which potential book covers you like or hate, are boring or spark no particular feelings at all. Give me you feedback, good, bad, ugly or indifferent. I’m a big boy – I can take it!
Notes from a Boy @ The Window 
Cover number one really grabs me emotionally. The young man in that picture (you!) is so SAD, so EXHAUSTED, it’s heartbreaking. The others don’t seem to have the same emotional punch.
That said, I wonder if some potential readers might be pushed away since the picture seems so raw (at least to me). I guess it depends on what you want the cover to do.
Good luck on the decision. I’m looking forward to the book’s publication!
Thanks, Cath. It’s also raw because I’m also PISSED that I had to stand in line for over an hour to get my ID picture taken. I ended up missing my Pascal class and most of my lunch that Friday (November 8, 1985, Mount Vernon High School was when I took this picture).
You might be pissed, but check out those “samsonites” hanging under your eyes. That’s a pretty exhausted, if pissed off, kid.
Not arguing that I wasn’t tired. In fact, I was often tired during those years. Not to mention hungry, grim, gritty. But the story behind the immediate overall look was that I refused to smile when prompted by one of the idiots running MVHS.
The last one (bottom row, far right) is my favorite. It’s more subtle.
Tricia, thanks. I like that one too, but that’s the academician in me speaking. Probably need to thread the needle between subtlety and rawness.
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