Bill Amatneek’s ‘Heart of a Man: Men’s Stories for Women’ Win BAIPA Cover Design Contest

There were many deserving book covers at the contest, and I am fortunate and honored to have won.

I’ve always felt that the title of a book is the sizzle, and the subtitle is the steak. Originally the title of the anthology was Passions of a Man, but a number of my women beta-readers suggested that the book was more about Heart than Passion. I saw they were correct, and went with that. The subtitle, “Men’s Stories for Women,” is as simple an explanation of what’s inside as I could come up with.

The Eugene Karlin cover drawing has been sometimes controversial. A social media post I promoted was banned after some 500 imprints. Incredibly, showing too much flesh in the drawing was their problem. And on the evening of winning this contest, I showed the cover to a woman who was making a film about women’s rage. She said it was the image of a man assaulting a woman. To me, it’s an image of love.

My thanks to BAIPA for this contest and for all they do, and to Becky Parker Geist for her leadership.

GO BAIPA!