Bible Study Cover Images

My latest angst related to my writing life relates to the cover/titles of my upcoming Bible Study.

First.for those of you not familiar with the wonderful world of publishing, the author doesn't get a whole lot of say so about the cover art; if you're lucky you'll like it.

And as far as the title goes, don't get married to that either, because it will probably change.

I don't know about you, but I do judge a book by its cover, and I had something really different in mind.

This Bible Study was conceived over three years ago, and I wrote the first version after it was accepted for publication in my favorite writing spot, Roatan.

My original title was, "UnDoing Church: Not Your Mother's Bible Study." I guess I have a pattern of being a bit too edgy in my writing, it's what bought me the re-casting and softening of 66 stories with my most recent manuscript.



This study is decidedly about following Jesus, not being a good church woman who puts on a happy face on Sunday and then goes back to the same old same old the rest of the week; or the church lady who is the self appointed women's ministry leader who is anything but humble in her service. I have met one or two like that, and must say, I am not drawn to them.

So, imagine my surprise and dismay when I saw the first cover, in which the study had also been re-titled. It is not a study about worship, rather about faith. I was also hoping for something more generic and small group appropriate, not just targeted to women. Sigh.

I must give my publishers credit for wanting to work at it and make it right and they went back tot he drawing board and came up with the second version. They did make it "Discovering Faith" (better) and did eliminate the words "for women" on the cover. They decided to make the UnDoing Church a brand name logo, to make room for further studies in the brand, for example, Discovering Prayer, Worship, Service, etc. But they put the "Not Your Mother's Bible Study" on the back.


So, what do you think?
I think she ought to have some sassy glasses or something that lets the reader know they may get a taste of sassy or edgy when they start to read.

I admit to getting a bit worked up over this, as I have some amazing endorsements from folks like Shane Claiborne, Brian McClaren, Dan Kimball and Leonard Sweet...that I am not 100% sure are in sync with the pretty young lady on the cover, but this is probably also a lesson in trust...if I keep saying I am done shoving square pegs through round holes, then I need to let this one go too,and figure that God has an audience, and perhaps it is the tight-fisted luxury car driving control freak church woman, or the woman who may have gone to church for years but still not know Jesus....

One of the challenges of writing is that we become pretty attached to these babies of ours, and we have hopes, dreams, goals and expectations that don't always (usually?) jibe with what the decision makers have in mind. The only way the author gets to be the decision maker completely is if they self publish, and that is wrought with its own set of obstacles... sigh. All the stuff we don't know...and some people end up selling their souls for in publishing circles.

So I am making peace with how this study is being cast...I'd love to hear what you think.

Peace.