Since my publisher is in the midst of cover designs, I've been paying a lot of attention to other book covers--what I like, what I don't, and why. Unfortunately, it's not much of a science, and the why question often gets an answer of "I'm not sure."

One book that's really caught my eye in the bookstore is Dark Star, by Creston Mapes. What makes it work? Three things, I think. First, it establishes the story before you even pick up the book; this is a tale of a rock star, and, well, you can guess that just by looking at the photo. Second, the design echoes a certain grittiness and reality--this isn't a nice, neat, tidy cover. Again, that's reflective of the story. Third, there's a certain air of intrigue and mystery to the cover. I think one of the most interesting design choices is the decision to have the face of the rock star unseen--breaking off the top of the cover. Makes me want to open the cover, read a bit, and see what kind of person this is.

A great choice, I think, since it probably would have been much easier to concentrate on the sweaty, contorted face of the guitarist. Had that happened, however, the cover would have lost much of its magic, in my opinion.

Creston's next book is in the pipeline even now; it's called "Full Tilt," and I note the cover keeps that element of the unrecognizable musician intact--thereby keeping the element of mystery intact, as well.

Well, it's official. Somewhat. I handed in the final version of "Waking Lazarus" last week--the version that incorporated editorial changes from my editor--and so now we begin the final edit that will bring us to the Advance Reading Copies, or ARCs.

This provided, of course, that we don't have any major changes following my final edit. Dave, my editor, made some grand suggestions--suggestions which weren't too difficult to implement--but in typical obsessive/compulsive fashion, I used those changes as a launching pad, and ended up dramatically restructuring the last half of the novel. I'm holding my breath, hoping Dave doesn't come back and say, "What in the wide, wide world of sports were you thinking?"

Let's just say that won't happen. Now we move on to ARCs, which is a totally new process for me: softbound copies of the books to go to the press, to the trade, and to other authors/celebrities for endorsements. As I've said before, I've been writing fan mails to a number of authors over the past few weeks, begging...er, politely asking them to read my novel. And I've had some wonderful responses. In the next week or so, it will be time to start sending out printed letters to authors I have no email contact information for--usually, to their agents. I'm still torn whether I should write a letter first, asking if they'd consider reading an ARC (which is what I've done to the authors I've emailed), or if I should just send the letter along with the ARC and get it over in one fell swoop.

Then again, it feels pretty good just being able to write the words: "Dear (author): I'm writing to ask if you'd read my book for a possible endorsement."

Dave Long and J. Mark Bertrand are launching what promises to be an interesting experiment: a week-long critical analysis of Dave's 2002 book Ezekiel's Shadow. Emphasis on "critical," because they will be dissecting what they feel doesn't work in the book--specifically in terms of its faith content.

Is Dave somewhat mashochistic for doing this? Is J. Mark somewhat sadistic? Perhaps, and perhaps. But it promises to be an interesting Crime Scene Investigation of a book's publication--all the more interesting for me since Dave is the editor of my forthcoming book.

A new, and frankly, pretty darned fun, experience in the whole publishing process is chasing endorsements. You know, writing to authors you admire and saying, "Hey, would you read my book and tell me what you think?"

I've been told publishers usually do all of this, packaging up an Advance Reading Copy with a letter, then shipping it off to the author/author's publisher/author's agent. And, I know the fine folks at Bethany House Publishers have plans to send my book to plenty of authors for possible endorsements. But I've also been given the green light to approach authors myself, and I'm thrilled to do so.

I mean, come on, it's a chance to write to authors I really admire, gush about their work a bit, and ask if I can send them a book. Why would I let my publisher have all the fun?

So far, I've only sent out emails, but I'm getting great responses. CJ Box, Edgar-winning author of the Joe Pickett mysteries, and James BeauSeigneur, author of the "Christ Clone Trilogy," have already agreed to do blurbs. (Both of these fine, fine authors have previously read portions of the book, so I was more than thrilled to get their emails.) I've also received emails from F. Paul Wilson (author of the "Repairman Jack" novels) and Tess Gerritsen (author of some wonderful thrillers you may have seen on the NYT list), telling me to send along ARCs when they're available.

Odd as it sounds, it makes me feel like the proverbial kid in a candy store. I got an email from Tess Gerritsen! I got an email from F. Paul Wilson! I got an email from Peter Straub!

Okay, so the email from Peter Straub was a kindly-worded note saying he's not doing any blurbs, but...I got an email from Peter Straub!

Yes, this post is a crass commercial interruption. But I'm a crass and commercial kinda guy. Sometimes. If you see that little link in the left-hand column, you'll see that I do a drawing for a $15 gift car to an online retailer of your choice each and every month. That's right, once you sign up for my email newsletter (by my standards, not horribly crass or commercial, and only once a month), you'll be part of that drawing each and every month from there on out.

And we get ourselves some winners here. August's winner was Rita B, who selected a gift certificate at Amazon. September's winner was Michael Snyder, who has also selected Amazon. As Mike said: hey, you can't go wrong with Amazon.

So, why not sign up for ye olde TL Hines newsletter now? I don't bite.