A COVER! TWO COVERS!
It can be a long, slow process putting a book together. At least when you’re writing it, it’s in your hands. However, the actual cover is definitely out of the writer and subject’s hands, and there’s a certain amount of faith in the publisher needed as we don’t get to be hands on. Do we make suggestions? Of course. But in the end, it’s the designer, working with a variety of people, including the sales team, that put together the finished project.
The cover for Gibby: Tales of a Baseball Lifer was finished first, and the complication was finding the actual owner of the photo that the fine folks at ECW Press found and loved. Eventually, we figured it out, and it’s a sweet cover.
With The Woman Who Would Be King: The MADUSA Story, Debrah Miceli knew what she wanted and fought hard to get it. She hired a photographer for a private shoot with all the props, and then submitted her favorites. ECW Press played around a lot with ideas — once the title was decided upon, and that was a process in and of itself.
A STORY WITH SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
This article was a LONG time coming — it’s a lengthy feature at Sports Illustrated about Rocky Johnson’s five unacknowledged children, which ran on June 30, 2022. In the story, you’ll meet Lisa, Adrian, Aaron, Paula and Trevor. They are all half-siblings to each other, and to Dwayne, Wanda and Curtis. It’s quite the story, one I worked on for more than a year. You can read the article — Finding Rocky’s Family — and check out the complimentary story that I wrote up at SlamWrestling.net: Mat Matters: Hard truths on Rocky Johnson.
LEARN MORE!
I have been at this writing thing for a long time. Use the menu at the top of this page to learn about all my work in professional wrestling, writing about hockey, even the two kids books that I self-published!