Tony Brasunas

The results are in! To all of you who voted in the poll, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts.

It turns out one cover won both polls — the public poll I held here on the blog, and a smaller informal poll I carried out with two dozen people in the publishing industry.

And the winner is…

The cover that features a photograph shot in Tiananmen Square…

The cover that depicts the political events in Chapter 7…

So, yes, this is the cover I am refining and enhancing now with my cover designer!

The truth is, this choice was one of the hardest I’ve had to make during this entire journey to publication. It isn’t easy to choose a single image to represent an entire book. A proverb suggests that a picture is worth 1,000 words, but like many books, Double Happiness has over 100,000 words! At first, I was split, and favored another cover, the one listed as #5 on the poll.

But I’ve come to like this one far more over the last month. I find it bold and iconic, and it manages thematically to balance depictions of both a sedentary and a peripatetic traveler (me), a narrator who is neither just a backpacker on the roads, nor just a teacher in a classroom. I’m a young man, adventurous and curious in a changing China. It also looks great in thumbnail, which is how people who shop online for books these days see the cover first.

Not far behind, taking second place in both polls, was the cover that appeared as #3 in the poll. That cover has a lot of appeal to me, too, and I know it did to many of you as well, and it is now the leading candidate to be featured on the back cover of the book. It’s a beautiful and elegant image. The issues with #3 are that it doesn’t provide quite as iconic a cover, in my opinion, and that it depicts the book as perhaps solely a story of backpacking, when in fact nearly half of Double Happiness takes place in Guangzhou where I am a teacher in a high school.

Yes, the cover is getting there. One final question for you, if I may:

Are you, or do you know, an author or a book reviewer who might be interested in reading or reviewing Double Happiness now, with the possibility of a quotation of theirs appearing on the cover?

I would be delighted to communicate with them about any terms they might have. I have one quote ready for the cover and would love to add another.

A final time, my gratitude! Thank you so much for your thoughts and contributions. These are exciting times, and Double Happiness will be in the world very soon.

Kickstarter is gloriously finally complete, and I’ve switched gears to making the book. I’m working with a professional cover designer, and we have several designs that I believe have great potential. Can you help me by voting below for the image that you think has the best potential to be the Double Happiness cover?

Imagine an Eat, Pray, Love meets Into the Wild type of journey. Which cover would draw you in? Does the cover need to inform you that the story takes place both in a classroom and outdoors on a long backpacking journey? Do you prefer simplicity? Do you want a photo of me on the cover?

Note: All the covers are of course works in progress and will improve once we choose the best one (or two) to focus on and enhance.

Essentially, I want to present a great image to attract people who would enjoy and benefit from this story — as well as to draw in those who might, you know, judge a book by its…

Vote below. To vote for your favorite, just click on it. To vote for more than one, tick the boxes and click ‘Vote.’

[[POLL CLOSED]]

Also, please leave a comment below to share why you voted the way you did.

If you don’t think any of the images are any good, and we should go back to the drawing board, do tell me that.

And for those of you who helped me choose my author photo in another poll, thank you! That photo will likely grace the book’s back cover.

Yes, thanks to all of you, we kicked the Kickstarter. We are making this book!

We raised $11,808, far surpassing my goal during the official Kickstarter term, and then eight last minute pledges came in, and the Double Happiness Kickstarter finished with an amazing 183 backers and $12,048.

I will publish Double Happiness and share the story with the world. I’m overwhelmed and inspired. Words fail me.

Thank you!

I’m now moving into the exciting (and completely different) phase of making the physical and electronic book. I’m assembling a Double Happy team of a cover designer, interior designer, illustrator, and proofreader.

I am also attempting to somehow express the depths of my gratitude to all of you. I’m planning and creating all of your rewards. Most rewards, of course, won’t ship until September, when the book is complete, but a select few will ship in the next few weeks. For now, all of you Backers at the TEACHER level or higher: You will be receiving a survey from me so I can gather the information I need to complete your rewards. Please complete your short survey when you get it, so I can move forward on schedule. Thank you!

That’s it for now.

Towards double happiness,
Tony

Here are 3,000 words expressing my gratitude to you.

Tonight is it! If you would like to take part in the creation and launch of a labor of love and tale of transformation, this is it! Your great and final opportunity to participate and receive a pre-release copy of Double Happiness is now. I would love to have you on board.

The Kickstarter campaign ends tonight at midnight Pacific Time, 3am East Coast Time.

    >> www.DoubleHappy.be/kickstart << Words cannot express my gratitude to all of you for following this campaign, for reading all my emails :-), and for -- so many of you! -- becoming Backers and supporting Double Happiness. We've reached 10k and 11k, so the Double Happy Book Tour will visit at least: San Francisco, St. Louis, Washington DC., and New York, as well as Claymont, WV, my childhood home, the place featured in the book's Prologue. If I can reach 12k tonight, I'll add the West Coast cities of LA, Seattle, and Portland! The Double Happy Tour:       9k - [Happening!] San Francisco Bay Area     10k - [Happening!] St Louis, MO     11k - [Happening!] New York and Washington DC (+Claymont)     12k – [Not there yet] Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland

    >> www.DoubleHappy.be/kickstart << Words cannot truly express the depth of my gratitude. But of course I'm a writer, so I'll try. I feel as if I set sail on a boat alone, not knowing how long it would take to reach a distant shore, or whether I would make it. You were the strength in my hull and sails that sustained me, you were gusts of wind that propelled me, you were enormous unexpected swells of the ocean that carried me all the way into port. My deepest gratitude to you, Tony

Making the book, going to St. Louis, and closing in on the East Coast: It’s your generosity that is making all of this happen! Thank you!

If you have not yet become a Backer, please consider doing so now! Just 32 hours remain, and I could still add New York to the Double Happy Book Tour. Everything ends tomorrow night at midnight! I would love to share this huge moment with you, to have your support, and to send you a pre-release copy of the book the hot moment it’s published.

      >> www.DoubleHappy.be/kickstart << If you have already become a Backer, and are inspired to send me and the ideas of Double Happiness to New York, please consider increasing your pledge! Let me send you another sweet reward…

• A trade paperback copy of the book
  (ADVENTURER, $30 or more)
• An invitation to the Book Launch Party & Celebration, which will take place in late September or early October at a gorgeous urban winery in Jack London Square.
  (PATRON SAINT OF HAPPINESS, $50 or more)
• Your name in the acknowledgements printed in the book.
  (PATRON SAINT OF HAPPINESS, $50 or more)
• A hard cover copy of the book.
  (GRAND HERO OF THE TAO, $75 or more)
• A second invitation to the Book Launch Party for your guest
  (SILVER SAGE OF LEARNING, $150 or more)
• A trip to China!
  (EMPEROR OF EAST & WEST, $5000 or more)
• And that’s not all….

    >> www.DoubleHappy.be/kickstart << From the bottom of my happy heart, thank you! I’m delighted to be making the book I dreamed of making. I wrote Double Happiness to share a difficult and beautiful story in the hope others might find it useful and find remarkable paths to their own happiness. Now I dream of marketing the book and talking to others all over the country. If you’re inspired, I’d love your support in the next 32 hours!

Meet me in St. Louis! New York area Backers have pulled into third place, and the Double Happy Tour looks currently like this:
    9k – San Francisco Bay Area [Happening!]
    10k – St Louis, MO [Happening!]
    11k – New York and Washington DC [Not there yet]
    12k – Los Angeles and Portland, OR [Not there yet]
    13k – Chicago, Atlanta, Boston or ? [Not there yet]

New Reward! To celebrate the launch of the Double Happy Tour and to thank Backers who might be unable to pledge at the Adventurer level, I’ve set up a new Reward: TEACHER ($22 or more). Claim this if you like, by clicking ‘manage my pledge’ and adjusting your chosen reward or pledge.

    >> www.DoubleHappy.be/kickstart << With ever unfolding joy and gratitude, Tony