Buffalo Bill’s Final Cover Process

Today has been one of those creative days in the office. I always enjoy creative days. It’s nice to switch up putting out e-mail fires and completing follow-up with creative marketing/design project or two.

One of our Spring 2010 titles is an illustrated history of Buffalo Bill, written by Steve Friesen and using the collection at the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave (in Golden, CO). The marketing team has already been having a great time getting ready for this book. We even took a field trip up to the museum this past summer to go through the collection, and get marketing schwag ideas from the gift shop. (Can you say Buffalo Bill shot glasses??)

But today it was time to finalize the full jacket with text, images, etc. I find it fascinating how a group of people can take a decent cover, throw around ideas, tweak a little text, move a few images, and really sharpen the book.

My favorite elements are –

• Quotes about Buffalo Bill from Annie Oakley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Zane Grey.
• An ornate pink lamp from the museum’s collection with Bill’s face on it.

I can’t post the full jacket yet since it’s being edited. But I’ll post the front cover. Of course we always love feedback.

What do you think? Buffalo Bill: Scout, Showman and Visionary will be published in May 2010.

Publicity of the week

I was thinking about various topics I could discuss on today’s blog, and trying to figure out which of them would be best…but I’ve decided to throw out those ideas for the moment. (I can certainly dig them out later.)

Instead, I thought I’d share my favorite piece of publicity for one of our books this week. I’m a big fan of a nicely done author Q&A, so I really enjoyed reading the interaction between Peter Wesley of BookPeople (in Austin, TX) and Ted Gioia, the author of our book The Birth (and Death) of the Cool.

Ted Gioia on BookPeople’s Blog

I hope all of you enjoy the interview. I’d be interested in your impressions. And, if you’re in the Austin area on January 14th, stop by to see Ted in person!

Sneak Peeks

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. We’re just getting back into the swing of things here in the office after a nice break. We’ve finalized our fall 2010 title list. And, since I have enjoyed going through manuscripts and brainstorming marketing plans this week, I thought I’d share a little info on some of the upcoming projects.

Of course, as always in publishing, nothing is ever completely final at this point…just a necessary little disclaimer. But here are some of the things I’m particularly looking forward to.

We’ve partnered with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in a fabulous cookbook project. I just looked through the manuscript, and the recipes sound amazing. When coupled with photos, this will be the perfect gift book for those who love traditional foods.

We’re also doing our book with Laura Pedersen this fall. Laura is the author of Buffalo Gal, which was published in the fall of 2008 and has continued to receive great responses (especially up in Buffalo, NY). Her new book is a little less memoir, and a little more history with all of Laura’s usual humor. She is a wonderful author to work with.

From our Speck Press imprint we’re looking forward to a hilarious history of hooch. (Sorry for the alliteration, but I couldn’t resist.) This will have great images to go with the intelligent and funny writing of Richard English. I’m just wrapping up my first read through the manuscript, and I’ve laughed out loud enough that my co-workers must think I’m a little crazy.

Next in the process comes cover development. Covers are always one of my favorite steps in the process. I’m already looking forward to updating the blog during those meetings!