Dramatic Cover Needed for Fiction Novel looking to be optioned for film

Coming Home

Mike Dowd

Mike Dowd is the author of the Lessons from the Golf Guru Series, and is a featured writer for GolfWRX.com. He has been Head PGA Professional at Oakdale Golf & CC in Oakdale, California since 2001. He has served three terms on the NCPGA Board of Directors, Chairing both the Growth of the Game and Communications Committees. He was the PGA’s 2013 Bill Strausbaugh Award Winner, and a 2016 Teacher of the Year Nominee. He has introduced thousands of people to the game and has coached players that have played golf collegiately at the University of Hawaii, San Francisco, U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Davis, University of the Pacific, Missouri Valley State, C.S.U. Sacramento, C.S.U. Stanislaus, C.S.U. Chico, Whittier, William Jessup, and Dordt Colleges, as well as on both men's and ladies' professional tours.

The story is about a young man in his early 20’s who, after being away for four years and the star golfer at a major university, is forced to return home to his small town roots after failing to qualify for The PGA Tour. Once there he is confronted with living up to the legacy of his father, an ex All-American college football quarterback and former Heisman Trophy hopeful, the return of the high school sweetheart he dumped to chase his big city dreams four years earlier, his favorite young cousin wanting to follow in his footsteps, and having to beg his old golf coach, the one he’d shunned in favor of his high profile college coach, for a job and help in his quest for redemption. He struggles throughout the book with his desire to make his own way and get another shot at the big time, versus taking over his father’s garage, and settling down with the girl who’s willing to give him a second chance even though he probably doesn’t deserve it, but who seems to want nothing more than the simple small-town life he’s spent half of his trying to run away from. It’s a story about growing up, redemption, facing regret, finding one’s place in the world, and learning the hard way what’s really most important in life.

Adults of both genders, especially those who play golf or who love sports, but anyone who ultimately loves a feel good story with a surprising but very satisfying ending.

I am uploading a sample file of cover images I like as well as images that I think would tie in well for the cover. I am looking for a cover that conveys a handful of elements. First of all, while it is more backdrop than what the story is really about, it has to convey that the game of golf is a big part of the setting. I was thinking a cover that has a split scene potentially, as in the examples of Stone Castles or A Place Called New Hope, and one of those scenes could be a small image of golf coach with a young teen boy on the driving range or putting green in the midst of teaching him in some way. The other scene would be of an old brick auto garage in a small town USA main street type setting with a sign lit from below over the garage in the shape of a football that says All-American Auto. I’ve provided some sample images for both of these scenes. At the same time, I could see the profile images of the main character and his high school sweetheart super-imposed in some way over both of these scenes (as in the LAKE HOUSE, THE THINGS WE DON’T SAY, REGRESSION, and UNFORGETTABLE examples) as they are the real drivers in the story and the resolution of their conflict is the ultimate tipping point of the novel. The novel is called COMING HOME, and I’d like the words A Novel in smaller print just below and to the right of the title as in the examples of THE NIGHTINGALE, LAKE HOUSE, and ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE. I like covers that have a bit of an ethereal quality and imply not only conflict, but a bit of mystery as in the examples of THE THINGS WE WANT, THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI, THE LAKE HOUSE, IN HIS GRIP, and THE LAST DAYS OF NIGHT. It’s a feel you get when you look at a novel that makes you want to pick it up and want to find out what it’s about. There is definitely some suspense in the novel and many surprises along the way, but ultimately it’s a feel good story so at the same time I don’t want anything that comes off as too dark. The print version will be 6 X 9, but I will also want a good image to use for the digital cover as well and some mock-ups of it in book form for my website and to be used elsewhere.

Please don't use common stock images. I need a unique cover that will not be recognizable to anyone anywhere in any way. While I think images of the main character and his high school sweetheart who are in conflict may be appropriate, I definitely don't want this to come off as a campy romance novel. It's more a coming-of-age story that is potentially being optioned for film in the near future.