One such story is hidden in the cover of my book.
Part of my work in the self-publishing process was to choose the cover for my book. WestBow sent me a link to a site with cover art and I could choose an idea for the design team to work with in the cover art. I had a difficult time with the decision, because I needed something that would encompass the entire book. While it is a book to be read during the Advent season, the lives I studied move past those of the traditional Christmas faces. I wasn't sure how to embody the full scope while still honoring the idea of a Christmas book.
At last, I chose a cover and submitted it with the rest of the book information.
I received an email a short time later saying the particular cover I'd chosen wasn't usable because of some copyright issues with that image. I went back through the site again, searching for a new cover, and I couldn't find anything I liked. I didn't want to hold up the entire process for the sake of the cover, so I tried to figure out what to do.
Last Christmas, I went all around the house and took pictures of my decorations (I'm a little ridiculous about them) for my blog. As I flipped through the pictures, hoping to find inspiration, I found a couple of pictures I'd taken of my grandparents' family Bible and a ceramic holy family:
If you look closely at the Holy Family, you'll notice the Baby Jesus has a broken arm. As in...completely dismembered. I do need to invest in some super glue. But I figured a cover designer and some Photo Shop magic could fix about anything. So...I sent the pictures. I wasn't sure they could use them, because they weren't terribly high quality. (The author photo I sent had to be reformatted by the photographer into a really high quality file.)
They moved forward with the book production, so I assumed what I sent had been usable.
I was thrilled when I saw the cover for the first time. I thought they'd done a beautiful job with it (and many people who have seen the book have commented on the cover, actually). And what I loved even more was that through this disaster-at-first-glance, my grandparents' family Bible is now the cover of my first book. Complete with the little tear in the page.
My grandparents both died before I graduated from high school, but they were both amazing influences and encouragments to my life. I'm so glad they can be honored in this tiny way!
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