Wednesday, August 8, 2007

PG Forte - Waiting For the Big One


Let's talk with PG Forte about the beautiful cover for her book- Waiting For the Big One.

Nikki - Did you design the cover? Did your publisher design the cover?

PG - Neither, actually. My publisher assigned the artist who designed it. I had no idea what she was going to come up with until I saw the finished product.

Nikki - Did you get to give any input about the cover design?

PG - I filled out a cover request sheet with a lot of details including the type of feel I wanted for the cover, descriptions of the main characters, key story elements I wanted included, etc. But the artist very wisely ignored most of my suggestions. LOL! Actually, that'snot true. I had suggested that my heroine, Gabby, might be portrayed in a Yoga pose and she is. So I guess you could say I had some input there, but it came out much, much better than anything I'd imagined.

Nikki - Is there an interesting story behind the cover design? If so, please share the details.

PG - Well, I wouldn't know, would I? LOL! Although the artist did tell me that she'd picked this shot because she felt it illustrated the idea that the heroine was waiting. Personally, I think the model on the cover seems to be waiting a tad more patiently than my character. But there is one serendipitous little fact (that I've kept to myself up until now) I'd like to share with you.

When my husband opened his first fashion photography studio in midtown Manhattan, shortly after we were married, he commissioned a logo and a business sign from the graphic arts/sign shop that happened to be in business right across the hall from us. The shop was run by an older married couple. I think they got a kick out of the idea that they were mentoring us about business and about marriage and about combining the two. The sign they made for us without a lot of input on our end was blue with white type and the font was identical to the font on the cover of Waiting for the Big One. We used that logo for years. It was on our stationary, business cards, everything. So when I first saw the cover blue background, white type, same font I swear I got chills. It might not be huge, as far as omens go, but it was definitely a deja vu kind of moment. And I choose to take it for a good sign...no pun intended.

Nikki - Who is the cover artist?

PG - The very, very talented April Martinez. http://art.aprilgem.com/artist.html who is also the Art Director at Liquid Silver Books.

Nikki - Are you happy with the cover?

PG - Absolutely. I'm ecstatic. I think it's gorgeous and very classy. It reminds me of something Conde Nast would put out.

Nikki - If not, what would you change and why?

PG - Well, obviously, I wouldn't mess with perfection. But... this is book one in the LA Love Lessons series, and there's one person on the cover. The cover of book two has two people on the cover. I think I have a little OCD because I'm quite concerned that I'm not going to be happy with book three if there aren't three people on the cover... which doesn't quite fit the story line. But I'm sure April will think of something wonderful.

Nikki - Tell us what you think is the best part of the cover.

PG - I think it's all perfect, but, I guess, if I have to pick one thing, I'd have to say the setting. Even though none of the action takes place at the beach, I've always secretly thought of this story as my summer beach read book. So maybe April's a mind-reader as well?

Nikki - Is there anything else about your cover that we need to know? Feel free to share.

PG - I've gotten permission from the artist to use the cover art on various promotional items including postage stamps some of which I'll probably give away as contest prizes.

To be entered to win readers need only subscribe to my newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Oberon_Chronicle/

Please provide your website link. http://www.pgforte.com

What is the link to buy your book? http://www.tinyurl.com/25rpy6
Thank you for coming to visit us PG. In ending, I have to share PG's tagline with you all. Its
"PG... it's a name, not a rating".
This is the link to an excerpt from Waiting For The Big One

1 comment:

thewriterslife said...

Beautiful, beautiful cover. It's interesting how much input we get to have when choosing a cover for our "baby," and it's interesting that no matter what we suggest, it's usually something completely different from what we intended, but in PG's case, it didn't hurt her a bit. Beautiful cover. Yeah, I'm procrastinating, Nikki...too hot to do any work!