Cover story - Karen Bush

I love this cartoon; it's a rough prepared by my friend Claire for a little joint project we hope to get under way at some point in the not-too-distant future. I've known Claire for over twenty years now: she used to illustrate a lot of my stuff when I was writing for PONY magazine, and when a publisher accepted a book I'd written and asked me to suggest a suitable illustrator for it, I immediately thought of Claire. She has a slightly dark, sometimes rather edgy humour that appeals to me - although she does also produce work in other styles. Since that first book she's gone on to illustrate several other books for me, as well as for others, putting that range of styles into good practice. Naturally, when it came to producing a cover for my Kindle book, I asked Claire to do it: I simply don't have the time or technical know-how, let alone the artistic bent for it. Knowing what you do and don't like is one thing, but producing something suitable from scratch is far more difficult. And although I'm excited to be able to be in complete control of the writing side of things for once, I've found from long experience that some things are best left to others more competent and better qualified for the task.

Claire had a think about it, and came back with a cover which was totally different from what I had expected - not a drawing for a start - but which I think is absolutely perfect: I not only really like it but for some reason I'm far more excited about it than when I've seen any of the covers on previous books I've written (some of which I didn't get any say in at all). She's even had interest expressed in the book as a result of people visiting her website and seeing the cover which is exciting - and a good reminder of just how important a cover is, whether it's for a paper book or ebook.

I'd have liked to have been able to announce that my ebook is now finally available, but although it's now finished, I've had to put it on hold for a little while as I've got a fairly pressing deadline coming up for a commissioned book which has to take precedence. Once it's sorted I'll have time to turn my attention to the matter of Kindling ... but meanwhile I just can't wait to show off my lovely cover, so here's a sneak preview ...

And if you're interested, you can view more of Claire's work at http://www.colvincartoonz.com/