EVERYONE! My cover for A Phở Love Story is finally up (Thanks, Book Riot!) and the book is available for pre-orders. It would mean the world to me if you, your family, or your friends bought a copy. More pre-orders help retailers determine how many copies they should have in stock.
I am in love with this cover! I have to pass along my thanks to designer Laura Eckes and illustrator Alex Cabal. They did a tremendous job. And all my thanks to my brilliant editor and champion Jen Ung for making sure the cover captures the essence of my novel.
When I showed it to my mom, the first thing she pointed out was the colander/basket, or “rổ.” And then the Vietnamese herbs! Ha! I adore the male protagonist’s lean and the girl’s smirk especially!
Cover discussions are one of my favorite processes of publishing because it’s translating words into images. Usually the editor pitches a vision at a cover meeting that includes the art directors, publisher, editorial director, associate publisher, managing editorial, and sometimes the designers who either make the covers themselves or take on a freelancer. It helps to bring in comparative covers (covers with similar subject matter and “feel”). I also like to pass along excerpts of the novel so that the designer can get a sense of its tone!
A few weeks after that, the draft cover is shown at a jacket meeting. Sometimes there are multiple options that work, and sometimes there’s the one that everyone just loves. That’s when the author gets a look.
In my case, after three rounds of minimal editing, the cover was finalized.
After my cover went up, I’ve received hundreds of likes, comments, and re-shares from kind strangers. I opened up my email (apholovestory@gmail.com) to people who wanted to drop a note about my novel. I’m amazed by the emails, especially from fellow Vietnamese-Americans. One person who pre-ordered wrote: “Seeing these kinds of stories of Vietnamese characters by Vietnamese authors especially when it comes to romance (which is my favourite genre) makes me so so happy because a lot of books by Vietnamese authors are about war. Though I’m aware that these topics are important as well I just don’t want to be constantly reminded of that. We deserve happy stories too which is why I’m so exciteeeeeeeed!”
I’m also connecting with other Vietnamese-American storytellers, which is thrilling! There’s a lot of us out there 🙂 These past two weeks have been exhilarating. I’m grateful. I’m ecstatic.
Order a copy today!
Stay tuned for more exciting news about my novel!
Note: While I have your attention, maybe you can give Black Stags Matter a follow?
Loan Le 
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