I approved the final ebook cover design for my Viet Nam memoir, HOTEL CONSTELLATION: Notes from America’s Secret War in Laos.

Damon Freeman and the designers at Damonza.com are now working on the print cover (with binder and back cover). I expect they will present something early next week.

The final ebook design is a variant of the Chopper concept.

I invited feedback, and about 20 readers responded. Most favored the Chopper concept with the Window idea a distant second. Almost no one (except me) liked the Bullet design.

I liked the bullet design because, with the three war photos, it said war, death and destruction to me. A larger number than I would have expected said it made the book look like a work of fiction. Live and learn.

On the Chopper design, I requested four changes: Different chopper and people photos, larger subtitle and bolder line drawing of the border. The first two were for authenticity; the other two were to increase legibility of the thumbnail version.

True to my inability to perform good design work, three of the changes actually detracted from the overall design, so I asked to go back to the original and made one final change – I got rid of the people with the conical hats.

Overall, I think the final version says “Viet Nam war”, “secrecy” and “Laos.” I can only hope the buying public will be intrigued.