Barbara Jean Weber lives in Skagit County with her husband and two daughters, where she works as a speech and language therapist. Her novel, The Welcome Sign, was inspired when she was gifted a mermaid welcome sign. The more she studied the sign, the more her story evolved. She is currently an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Visit her website at https://www.barbarajeanweber.com/.
Tell us about your book! What inspired you to write it?
The Welcome Sign begins when Molly Parmell's grandmother mysteriously disappears. She and her mother travel to Cape Cod to take ownership of the house they inherited and begin to discover unusual things about the grandmother's sudden disappearance. What they discover is more dangerous and life changing than they ever imaged. When Molly and her mother find a beautiful mermaid Welcome Sign in
the attic and place it on the front door strange events start to happen and they are flooded with visitors who claim they knew the grandmother. They soon find out that the mysterious Welcome Sign comes with powerful magic and secrets are slowly revealed as Molly learns about her grandmothers involvement with a secret organization working to keep balance between the magical realm and the real world. The magical realms placed an invisible veil of secrecy over the world to hide their true identities from the human world allowing them to live among the humans in secret. An angry rebel group of magical beings, tired of living in hiding is tearing down and destroying the magical cloaking fabric between the two worlds. If they are not stopped the magical realm will be revealed and will no longer be safe from the rest of the world. As Molly and her mom embark on a dangerous and magical adventure throughout the magical realms to help stop the rebels, she learns of her own unique powers and her strong family heritage connected to the Welcome Sign. Along the way, she teams up with new magical friends helping to keep the realm of magic safe from the eyes of the world and discovers that her grandmother was right all along. The world she thought she knew no longer exists, but an amazing world of magic woven into their world has always been hiding in plain sight.
The Welcome Sign's creation began when I received a beautiful mermaid Welcome Sign as a gift. I love mermaids and my parents had found a lovely sign with a mermaid on it. The store was going out of business so they purchased the sign for me. After I received it as a gift, I had several amazing dreams about the origin of the sign. Those dreams were the inspiration and basis for the "The Welcome Sign."
In school I was always interested in creative writing and was excited when we received new assignments to write something new and interesting. Having an interest in creative writing from an early age allowed me an outlet for writing about things that really interested me. I had written short stories for assignments but had never tackled anything quite like this. Writing a book someday was always something I had dreamed about if I found the right story. I've always had a fascination with mermaids and magical realms so when I started having the dreams about the sign, I began writing the main ideas down, put them in outline form and started creating characters, events, etc. As it evolved, it became a fun adventure story that I was eager to share with my family and others as I felt they would also enjoy reading it. A project that once seemed overwhelming and daunting was replaced with the joy of creating magical worlds, interesting characters, intrigue and battles between good and evil. It's fun to believe that my metal mermaid welcome sign might really have a magical origin story. You just never know. The Welcome Sign was written as the first book in a series of three. The second book is written but not published and the third book is still being developed and is in outline form.
How did you choose the title for your book? Did it come to you right away, before you started writing it, or did it come later?
Both the title of the book and concept of the story started as a result of receiving the metal mermaid welcome sign as a gift and from the dreams that followed. There was no doubt about the title of the book. I knew from the very beginning that the title would be The Welcome Sign.
Tell us about the cover design process. Did you have a basic idea of what your book cover would be like?
I had a basic concept of the cover. I wanted a mermaid Welcome Sign featured on a door since that was the basis of the plot for the book. My daughter expanded it from there. We discussed the concept and she made various versions of the artwork.
Who is your cover designer and how did you find him/her?
The cover design and concepts were inspired by artwork from my oldest daughter. I had a basic idea of what I wanted the cover to look like but my daughter expanded it from there. She is very talented with all sorts of art and I knew I wanted her work featured for the cover. The artists with Bookbaby, who published the book changed the artwork just slightly from my daughters original work to prevent any trademark issues from the original metal welcome sign design.
What has been the readers’ response to your cover?
People seem to really like the cover design and are impressed that it was inspired by my daughters artwork.
What tips would you give to authors who are looking for a cover designer?
I would recommend finding someone who's art you like. If it's a family member or friend that makes it more personable. If you don't have someone like that, then look at book covers in the genre you are writing in, look at similar art on line to see if something fits your vision and reach out to them directly if possible. I went through BookBaby publishing company and they have artists that work on the covers, so you can work closely with them to make your vision come alive.
Anything else you’d like to say about your book?
The Welcome Sign is a fun, magical story for young-middle teen readers who enjoy hidden worlds of enchantment, magical powers, interesting characters, strong friendships, adventure and imaginative and emotionally engaging stories. The Welcome Sign is a balance between personal growth and magical adventure. It is full of good versus evil, intrigue and action. This book will delight and entertain readers who enjoy unique and magical characters, secrets to be revealed and discovering amazing new places. The Welcome Sign aligns with readers expectations for middle-grade fantasy. I am working on finishing book three in The Welcome Sign series.
I look forward to your feedback and am happy to write back to you. Please check out my website: www.barbarajeanweber.com and I can also be reached at author@barbarajeanweber.com.
Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know me and more about The Welcome Sign. If you like fun, adventure stories with lots of action, this book will be a fun one to read.
