March 5th, 2009

Filed under:
Books
9 Comments »

We Have a Title, Help Us Think of a Cover

As regular readers know, we’ve been slaving away at a book on social media marketing for about a year now. It’s coming out in August of this year, and after much negotiation, we finally have a title. Wait for it:

Friends With Benefits:
Online Marketing with Blogs, Facebook, YouTube, and More

We went back and forth with the publisher for a long time. We even convened a brainstorming group of our peers to devise the perfect one. The publisher seemed to want something mundane, and we wanted something, perhaps, overly clever. We eventually agreed on this one, which I’m pretty happy with. It’s a little cheeky and memorable without trying too hard.

And Now, a Cover Image

We’ll have some input into what goes on the cover of the book. Do you have any great ideas? The publisher, No Starch Press, seems a little edgy in their cover designs, so that’s encouraging.

Let me put the kibosh on any “you and Julie in bed” ideas right now. That’s not on.

We can try out some cover ideas on FriendsWithBenefitsBook.com, which is currently just a ported version of SocialMediaReady.com, our ebook site. We’re going to leave it that way for a couple more months (to sell a few more ebooks), and then change the design to reflect our forthcoming book.

Tags: , , , ,

Comments: 9 Responses so far

alexis
March 5th, 2009
8:49 am

I LOVE the title.

[Reply]

gilliebean
March 5th, 2009
9:22 am

Remember the game chuckle-belly? Where everyone lies in a circle with their heads on each other’s bellies? Then as soon as one person giggles, their belly bounces and it causes a chain reaction. Soon everyone is chuckling!

An overhead shot of a chuckle-belly game would be glorious. It’s relevant *and* ironic.

[Reply]

Derek K. Miller
March 5th, 2009
11:06 am

Nice idea, gilliebean. The first one that popped into my head was two people’s faces (probably male and female) looking slightly sideways at one another, with expressions that could be interpreted as either flirty or suspicious. But each one is on a screen rather than really next to each other.

A reverse of gilliebean’s idea might also work: something like Reilly’s dance photos at the Northern Voice party, with people in a circle above the camera — but maybe again everyone on a screen (laptop, phone, etc.)?

[Reply]

Colene
March 5th, 2009
3:33 pm

Wow, where was I when people were playing chuckle-belly?? Sounds like a part of my childhood that I missed out on :)

I like the idea of playing up the benefits idea. Perhaps imagery of someone getting insider access? backstage? jumping the line?

[Reply]

darren Reply:
March 5th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

Totally, I had never heard of chuckle-belly until today.

As it happens, I just did a search for the phrase, and this post is fifth. Maybe it was kind of a regional phenomenon?

[Reply]

Will Knott
March 6th, 2009
4:01 pm

going with the suggestive title,

two very different feet sticking out of a bed, but the toes have finger puppets, and the puppets are holding hands across the feet.

Friends, implied benefits and a bad pun.

[Reply]

Heather
March 8th, 2009
12:29 am

Guy and gal, seated in chairs that are back to back. They’re each holding the others’ hand with one hand… and texting on their mobiles with the other.

[Reply]

gilliebean
March 8th, 2009
6:40 pm

Hmmm… I’m trying to remember whether I played the game in Texas or Newfoundland. I spent lots of time in both during my developmental years. So it could either be “East Coast Canadian” or “Southwestern”. Anybody care to hazard a guess?

I like both Heather and Derek’s ideas. But I’d love an image that has a “viral” sub-theme in it.

[Reply]

gilliebean
March 8th, 2009
6:40 pm

P.S. A massage circle from above. But everyone’s only using one hand. The other is texting or typing on a laptop. A mixture. Too on the nose?

[Reply]

Add a comment