Because of the importance of the book’s cover for both marketing and sales, Arcadia Publishing reserves the right to make all final decisions regarding the book's cover. The author can submit between 5 to 10 photographs, but it is ultimately the publisher's decision.
I sent 10 images for consideration as potential cover art for
Images of America: Rock Springs Park, including the carousel, the Cyclone roller coaster, and Virginia Gardens, but only one image fit the list of specifications – the Casino dance pavilion circa 1910.
The Casino should be fairly recognizable to area residents as it has been featured on dozens of postcards, newspaper articles and calendars. I have to admit, however, that I was a little disappointed when I gave my first book talk at Fox’s Nursing Home in November 2009, before the book came out, and the very first question from the group was “What’s that building?” in reference to the cover art. At that time it was too late to make any changes and besides the picture had started to really grow on me. I liked it!
Certain milestones in having a book published legitimize all the effort that goes into it. One is seeing the book on a shelf at a chain bookstore. Then there’s the thrill of seeing that first, albeit modest, royalty check. I even got a kick out of seeing my book in a stack of reading material in someone’s bathroom. Of course holding the book in your hands for the first time is very exciting as well, but for me, receiving a pdf of the cover proof was by far the most thrilling moment in the whole experience. I was so excited to see the cover proof that I didn’t notice one small problem with it, but my then seventeen-year old son did.
If you look closely at the two cover proofs below, you will see a slight difference between the first one and the second.
Here’s how I explained it:
Is it possible to move the picture over to the right a bit so that the three women in the foreground are completely on the front cover? It looks like it cuts off at an awkward place. It would look better if it could go just a little more to the right, because the part of the picture which ends up on the front cover looks cut off the way it is cropped now. I don’t think we would want to move it too much to the right, because I like how the trees frame the title art, just a little to the right to bring the woman on the left of the group of three onto the front cover.
It is highly unlikely that any of the folks shown on the book cover in 1910 are alive today, although just this week the last known soldier who served in WWI passed away at the age of 110, so I guess anything is possible, but the woman on the left owes my son, Christian, a thank you for saving her face from a book spine crease for the rest of history.
ACCEPTABLE COVER IMAGES
• sharp, clear, and of high quality
• wider than they are tall, with neutral space toward the top for your title
• vintage original prints, OR professional-quality photographic reprints, OR scans that meet specifications
• clearly historic
When I was still working on the book in the summer of 2009, I asked my dad about the arched Virginia Gardens ballroom sign that used to be displayed in the memorial park on the corner of Carolina Avenue and Sixth Street. At that time he thought it was still there, but it had just recently been removed due to deterioration. All that remained were two steel pipes which used to hold it place. On a return trip to Chester to meet Doug Arner at Arner’s Funeral Home, I learned that a new sign was being constructed for the gazebo, and by that fall, the sign had been hung above the entrance to the gazebo and everything had been freshly painted. The empty paint cans were still stacked next to the fence. (See Images of America: Rock Springs Park, bottom p. 122) No one seems to know what happened to the original sign, however.
Originally lumber was used to support the 3-piece arched sign. More recently, it was bolted to pipes facing Carolina Avenue. (Courtesy of Mark Gonzalez, from the April 19, 1983 issue of The Panhandle Press)
As we approach the first anniversary of the publication of Images of America: Rock Springs Park, I am writing a series of blog posts about my experience in bringing the book to market. The first post issued on Sunday, May 8, 2011 explained how the cover art was chosen. Today I provide the reader with some raw data.
In June of 1909, The Daily Times, Beaver, PA, reported that students were charged a uniform rate of 50 cents “in order that they may enjoy a more exclusive evening” on the night of their school picnic. At that time the main source of transportation to community days were trolley lines provided by the Ohio Valley Scenic Railway. Specials ran straight through to the park while regular cars required a transfer in East Liverpool. Tickets were sold at half price to all school children. These special trolley cars continued to carry picnickers to and from the park until 1934 when bus lines were then used. 
Manager C.C. Macdonald in a “gesture of friendliness toward the community” in 1932 provided transportation to Rock Springs Park via special cars at “no charge” and gave each child five free amusement tickets. He also created “Bargain Day” the day before the community picnic in which all ride tickets were half price. The Daily Times stated, “Macdonald has always had a fine reputation for handling of large groups and the park employees are men who have been in this type of work for years and are noted for the way they handle children.”
Chester’s Golden Jubilee (50th Anniversary of Chester 1957). Mom is second from left and, as my students pointed out, the only woman not wearing a sleeveless gown.
