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The cover reveal and beyond!

By on April 6, 2018   /   Book Lists  

Okay, I guess I’m dating myself because I remember when cover reveals weren’t really a thing.

My first sale was in 1998, and it was middle grade series. When it came time for me to first see the covers—they came in the mail. Yes, that’s right. Actually, it was DHL.

I remember jumping up and down and showing my husband and my toddler son. It was a thrilling moment to see an artist’s take on my characters.

I didn’t mail around the covers –- since I only had one copy of each cover in the series. I supposed I could have color copied them but I didn’t think of that.

Fast forward to publishing today. And the importance of the cover reveal.

When an author reveals via her cover on blog and or social media, it’s an exciting moment that helps build momentum and excitement about the forthcoming book.

Last year was the first time I ever did a cover reveal. I posted about my middle grade Pumpkin Spice Secrets on my own blog and then advertised the post via social media. It felt a little weird, since I assumed that you needed to be a big name author in order to generate interest. And the truth is that, while it didn’t generate a social media storm, I did get some nice feedback on Facebook and Twitter and lots of comments on my blog! My publisher, Sky Pony, also diligently retweeted.

Nevertheless, it didn’t feel like a proper cover reveal. I guess because I announced it on my own rather peripatetic blog.

However, next month-–drum roll–I will have what feels like my first, actual cover reveal for my chapter book series about the antics of second grader Ellie May on Tara Lazar’s blog.

Most cover reveals focus on the cover. They can also focus on content. “For Star-Crossed, the cover was a very big deal given the subject for a middle grade,” says Author Barbara Dee, “So I asked my editor to add a paragraph on the cover art and the design concept. For my other books, I’ve pretty much focused exclusively on content.” Dee’s book focused on a same-sex crush in middle school and the excitement generated around the cover reveal was palpable in the blogosphere

Since most authors are not also illustrators (also some of us are), it’s challenging to talk too much about the covers, except to gush, unless we interview the illustrator, the art director or the editor.

I’m definitely planning on doing that for my Ellie May books. However, I decided not to do a formal cover reveal for my forthcoming middle grade, Apple Pie Promises (Sky Pony, October 2018), since the book cover is already up on Amazon and independent bookseller sites. Instead, I made a very short video featuring the cover and posted on Twitter. It was fun and I got a wonderful response to the cover on Twitter. With the video, I didn’t call it a cover reveal. Instead, I used it as a moment to announce the book’s targeted birthday.

So you can truly have a cover reveal sort of moment without formally calling it that.

In fact, Author Beth Ain decided to indeed call her Nerdy Book Club post for The Cure for Cold Feet a content reveal. “I tried to turn the cover reveal on its head by calling attention to what’s inside the book and why that matters right now,” she said. “As far as I know a content reveal is not yet a thing, but I’m hoping it shall be!”

Hillary Homzie is the author of the forthcoming Ellie May chapter book series (Charlesbridge Fall 2018), as well as the forthcoming Apple Pie Promises (Sky Pony/Swirl, October 2018), Pumpkin Spice Secrets (Sky Pony/Swirl, October 2017), Queen of Likes (Simon & Schuster MIX 2016), The Hot List (Simon & Schuster MIX 2011) and Things Are Gonna Be Ugly (Simon & Schuster, 2009) as well as the Alien Clones From Outer Space (Simon & Schuster Aladdin 2002) chapter book series. She can be found at hillaryhomzie.com and on her Facebook page.

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Experiencing the National Museum of African American History and Culture

By on April 4, 2018   /   Book Lists, Diversity, For Teachers  

Last year, my multi-racial extended family and I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Washington, D.C. We planned our trip around a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. This experience was profound.

Visitors enter on the ground floor and descend three levels. The bottom level, which covers the forcible removal of Africans and transport on slave ships to the colonies, has low ceilings and tight corridors and dim lighting to simulate the passage. The next level documents what life was like for enslaved people in the Americas. It’s less physically confined than the lower level but equally intense with many artifacts including a cabin from the years of slavery. The next level begins with the Civil War and ends with the Civil Rights movement. It includes a devastating and gutting memorial to fourteen-year-old Emmett Till.

At this point in the experience, you are back on the main entrance level, and you proceed up through three more above ground levels. How different these are than the lower levels! Light enters through the scrollwork covered windows. Everywhere is sound and color and exuberance. These three levels are a joyous celebration of the contributions African Americans have made in technology, sports, science, music, art, dance, literature, politics, and culture. It makes you want to sing and dance and cheer. It makes you grateful for the richness African Americans bring to our cultural experience.

All of us were deeply affected by the museum, and I was reminded that both kinds of African American stories—those of tragedy and those of celebration—are equally important. Not just for black and brown kids, for ALL kids. We often talk about books being mirrors of and windows to a wider world… Well, let’s do it!

Build empathy with Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes and The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate with Young, Gifted and Black by Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins and Black History Flashcards by Urban Intellectuals

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRAVEL TIP: I recommend the museum to everyone visiting D.C. If you can, I suggest dedicating two days to the museum, one for the lower three levels and another for the upper three. Tickets are hard to get so check the website for details.

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