So, after many drafts and iterations, this is the cover for the...

So, after many drafts and iterations, this is the cover for the book.  Here’s the reasoning behind it:

The book is about Special Agent Dagny Gray’s hunt for a criminal who starts with the smallest crime possible, but builds towards the biggest crime imaginable.  His first crime is the theft of a pack of gum, but he works his way up to murder.  Even after he has killed people, the press refers to his as The Bubble Gum Thief, because it’s catchy, and because that’s the kind of thing the press does.  And part of the book is about what the press does in cases like this.  So that’s why I named the book The Bubble Gum Thief.  

My first agent wanted to change the name of the book, and so did a lot of other people, and they had good reasons for this.  The Bubble Gum Thief sounds like the title of a children’s book.  It’s not a children’s book.  In fact, although there are some comic and satiric elements, it’s a dark thriller.  Bad things happen to people in this book.  

My publisher, Thomas & Mercer, didn’t ask me to change the name of the book, which is surprising, except that their core mission is to trust their authors and defer to their judgment.  When they asked me for my ideas about cover, I told them that it ought to convey the darkness of the subject matter, and present a stark contrast to the title.  I suggested several ideas based on scenes from the book, and that there ought to be blood.  They came up with some concepts, and I submitted my thoughts on them, and we went back and forth a few times until we came up with the cover above.

I don’t think anyone who sees this cover is going to think it’s an Encyclopedia Brown book.  I hope people will look at the cover, wonder how it could relate to the title, and want to read the description to see what it’s about.  That’s the secret to this whole writing game—everything you do should make a reader want to read more.  The cover should make them want to read the description; the description should make them want to read the first page; the first page should make them want to read the second, etc., … and the last page should make them want to read the next book.  If you can pull all of that off, you’ve got a career.

I don’t have a writing career yet, but I have a cover, and it’s a pretty cool start.