blurbs, front pages and such

Paying attention to the front pages of a novel, the bits before the story starts has shown me how varied they can be. Previous books, acknowledgements, publisher information, dedication, bio, ISBN and so on. I think I won't include a photo of myself. I found it really easy to get an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) from New Zealand's national library. This, I have learnt is a number unique to any published book in the world. It is easily converted (Zenith/Publishme will do this for me - see earlier posts.) into a bar code which goes on the back of the book cover and which retailers link to the shelf price on their computers.

So I've put together all those front pages bits. The hard part is the blurb for the back cover. Even thinking about writing such a blurb creates an outpouring in my mind of cliches. I think it will be very brief. At the moment it is two sentences, but I am not at all sure this will be the final wording:

"Sleepless nights send Isobel off to a therapist, until she turns to a different approach to sort out the impact of her past on her present. As she starts rebuilding connections there’s an accident that somehow puts her in conflict with her partner, Iris."

I'm even thinking I might drop the second sentence. In which case the back cover will be very empty! Might have to put a photo! I notice that on some books something from the front cover is repeated on the back.

So I'm nearly design-ready. Jill, the designer, needs to get all the files on a CD and as a printout. I'll hand them over about 14 Dec and she'll check that she's got everything and can open it all and then I go away for ten days! She, meanwhile, will be doing the design and typesetting. (As well as coordinating the feeding of our cat.)