My forthcoming book on Ireland proved tricky to cover. Which image should I use? Would it be too clichéd? Were I to choose an image representing modern, wealthy Ireland, would I have something strong enough? Should I use cloth? Should I indent the image? None of this was going to work. I needed to sum up what the book was about as easily and quickly as possible.
I could only make progress on this once a title was chosen. I tried all sorts. Couldn't settle on anything that didn't sound naff and stereotypical.
I woke up yesterday knowing that I would call it Many Happy Returns. Once I'd settled on that ideas started flowing. It had to be a map with text over lay. And I've already been using archival tape to hand write text on my Passerby books so was nearly there.
Initially I thought I would build up textures using torn strips of maps of areas covered in the book.
This is messy. And it's not clear at all that it's Ireland. Unless you know the country well and squint to read some place names.
So then I came up with this version which shows the shape that many people know immediately as being Ireland. But the fold in the middle created a tension I didn't like.
So I figured I would play with that angled line and align the tape text accordingly and make a feature of it. That removed the tension and bingo - a cover that meets with my satisfaction and would be easy to reproduce quickly.
All that remains for me to do now is prep the caption sheet that I will install in my usual way and some introductory text.
If you'd like to be keep informed as to the progress of this book and its release, please signup to my email list below.
Thank you.