The cover photo has been chosen

Yesterday was a fun day.  I worked with Lesley, my photographer extraordinaire, and whittled down the photos that could be possible for the cookbook cover to four.  Then I hijacked my lunch hour at work and printed out the photos.  I numbered them and then created a little cheat sheet for myself with three questions:  which photo do you like the best, which photo makes you feel the happiest, and which photo most resembles your own life and own experiences in your own kitchen?  Armed with my cheat sheet and questions, and the print outs of the four possible photos, I conducted an informal focus group with the women in my office.  It turned out to be such fun.  I would approach someone, ask if they wanted to participate and then I would lay out the photos and ask them the three questions, recording their responses. Seriously, once people started to understand what I was doing, everyone wanted a turn.  And I had to keep them separated so they would not bias each other’s answers.  But you should have seen the arguments.  People arguing that their favourite was better than someone else’s or that such and such was wrong with this photo and not another.  Or that the men in the photo were hot or not, or they didn’t like this woman in the photo’s hair or lips.  So funny.  But as always, the marketing science always pays off, and soon there emerged a clear front runner.  The laughable thing was all afternoon people would come to my desk to see if their favourite was the front runner.  Everyone was cheering for their favourite and getting pretty competitive to win or feeling sullen if their choice lost. I had a blast and so did everyone else. The best thing is I now know which photo most appeals to most people which I hope once it is on the cover of the cookbook will also translate to more people in public liking the cover and finding it appealing and so choose my cookbook over others.  I was good again last night and spent three hours working on the insides of the cookbook and with some progress the last few nights, I am feeling motivated to keep going.  I have to admit it was at times a bit of a hard slug but I would get up and walk around a bit or go make some popcorn but always forced myself to sit back down.  I can’t believe how lazy I can be or so willing to bargain with myself why I can leave something till tomorrow or put it off.  I am quite happy to run away from pain or hard work!  But I pushed through and am feeling better for it.  Still lots of work ahead of me but going back at it today!