So – this is the new me.
My official brand spanking new author photo which is to appear on the jacket of the German hardback edition of my debut. ( Recipes for Melissa is to be called “Fur alle tage die noch kommen” over there….which means “For all the days to come”.)
Oh Gawd! Can’t tell you how much I agonised/panicked over this. As soon as the email popped into my inbox via my agent, I was in meltdown. A new author photo? For a book jacket? Seriously?
Now - for someone who worked for twenty years in television, I must confess that I am surprisingly uneasy when it comes to having my photograph taken. Especially as the years roll sneakily by!
The truth is I always worked in live news as a reporter and presenter and the beauty of live television is you don’t actually have to watch yourself.
Not that I’m ungrateful – mind. It is, of course, hugely exciting to me to think of any publisher wanting to put my mug on a book jacket …but, all the same, the pressure of my very first “author photo”? What does an author headshot even look like? What pose? What outfit?
I decided to boost my chances of success by booking a slot quickly with a lovely and very talented local photographer in Devon called Claire Tregaskis. I gave her the brief. “I just need to look like someone who might write”…
I booked a haircut. I tried on a zillion outfits. I posed and smiled and Claire, to her credit, displayed the patience of a saint – especially as I was worried that smiling too widely would make me look too piggy eyed. “Bigger smile, Teresa” she kept saying. “I’ll have no eyes,” I moaned.
In the end, we did just fine. Smiling and yet eyes not too piggy for an old bird. A medal to Claire. Whether or not I look like an author, I have no idea. But the German publisher seems happy.
Phew
My official brand spanking new author photo which is to appear on the jacket of the German hardback edition of my debut. ( Recipes for Melissa is to be called “Fur alle tage die noch kommen” over there….which means “For all the days to come”.)
Oh Gawd! Can’t tell you how much I agonised/panicked over this. As soon as the email popped into my inbox via my agent, I was in meltdown. A new author photo? For a book jacket? Seriously?
Now - for someone who worked for twenty years in television, I must confess that I am surprisingly uneasy when it comes to having my photograph taken. Especially as the years roll sneakily by!
The truth is I always worked in live news as a reporter and presenter and the beauty of live television is you don’t actually have to watch yourself.
Not that I’m ungrateful – mind. It is, of course, hugely exciting to me to think of any publisher wanting to put my mug on a book jacket …but, all the same, the pressure of my very first “author photo”? What does an author headshot even look like? What pose? What outfit?
I decided to boost my chances of success by booking a slot quickly with a lovely and very talented local photographer in Devon called Claire Tregaskis. I gave her the brief. “I just need to look like someone who might write”…
I booked a haircut. I tried on a zillion outfits. I posed and smiled and Claire, to her credit, displayed the patience of a saint – especially as I was worried that smiling too widely would make me look too piggy eyed. “Bigger smile, Teresa” she kept saying. “I’ll have no eyes,” I moaned.
In the end, we did just fine. Smiling and yet eyes not too piggy for an old bird. A medal to Claire. Whether or not I look like an author, I have no idea. But the German publisher seems happy.
Phew
- · By the way RECIPES FOR MELISSA can be pre-ordered for Kindle from my UK publisher now at discounted price of just 99p CLICK HERE (No author photo!! Double phew)
- PS Just heard this week that the novel has also sold to Korea....my sixth country! I'm wondering now just how far this photo may get to travel :)
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