Hello, friends! It’s been a minute since I wrote an update, and there’s a lot going on right now, so I figured I’d give you the latest.
I’ve recently finished my final edits to The Love I Could Have Had, which is being published July 8 by Joffe Books. It’s so satisfying to have another beach read coming out this summer, one year and one week after Joffe published my debut last year. I can only hope that this one does as well as The Love of My Other Life did! I’ve been amazed by having gained so many more readers than I ever imagined, thanks to the stellar marketing efforts of my publishing team.
And so it begins again, as the title of this post says. Now that the edits are finished (although it will go through one more proofreader, it’s now out of my hands), it is time for the marketing to ramp up. And now that I’ve been through it all once before, I know what to expect!
First off, the cover is currently being designed. I’m sooo excited about what it’ll be. Given that the pink/blue split cover of my debut (see left) was so well received, and given that Joffe Books’ individual authors’ covers tend to have a consistent look and feel, I’m assuming it’ll be a similar deal. Like my first book, The Love I Could Have Had is also a split-narrative, parallel-universe tale, so a split cover would work equally well for this one. Maybe in two new colours? That’s what I’m hoping for right now! But at the same time, the very talented cover designer Lisa Brewster may have some fresh ideas to blow us away! I mean, just look at her gorgeous work, pictured left and stolen from her stunning Instagram page.
Once the cover is done and revealed, which should all be in May (eeek!), we can start the social media and other promotion in earnest. This is such a fun part of the process for me. I’m unhealthily addicted to creating social images in Canva, and when I have the cover to play with – and its associated colours! – I can just go to town. I’ve already created a series of moodboards of the two main characters and locations included in the story. These are not yet for public consumption, but are right now just a collection of images that are or could be in Wilmington (where the book is entirely set), or the interior of one of their homes, or the nearby creek, or the beach restaurant, for example. I’ve sent them to both Lisa the cover designer, and Joffe’s talented social media guru Sasha, so they can be inspired!
One of my absolute favourite things that Sasha created last year for The Love of My Other Life was a truly fabulous promo/cover-reveal trailer video. My first time watching that was 20 seconds of pure joy. I actually cried! It made everything seem suddenly real. Even though I may be a little less weepy this year, I’m still deeply hoping that if Sasha can capture The Love of My Other Life so perfectly in a 20-second video, she’ll be able to do the same for The Love I Could Have Had. I can’t WAIT to see what she comes up with.
Added to that, there will be audio clips, quotes from the story, author Q&A graphics, a Spotify playlist (like my last book), tonnes of moodboards and vibey content… It’ll be so much fun to do this all ahead of the launch. Then, the launch itself is a whole other matter in terms of content, promotion, and general fanfare.
I hope you enjoy what’s to come! I know I will. 🙂
CJ Connolly 