When Alisha Gorder arrived at the end of Hard Mouth, Amanda Goldblatt’s debut adventure novel about a woman struggling to face her father’s slow dying, she “immediately texted [Counterpoint Press] editor Jenny Alton in all caps, and with more crying emojis than words. I was devastated by the ending,” she told Spine. “And also that the book was over.”

Beginning to End is a series from Spine following a book from writing through acquisition, design and on to publication and publicity. For our second "season," we're looking at Hard Mouth, Amanda Goldblatt's debut adventure novel. We’ve spoken with author Goldblatt, her agent, Caroline Eisenmann, and book cover designer Nicole Caputo. Next up: Jennifer Alton, assistant editor at Counterpoint Press and editorial lead on Hard Mouth.

Some titles just echo down the aisles. Some titles deserve to consume covers. Amanda Goldblatt’s novel Hard Mouth, a dense narrative told from the perspective of a tight-lipped daughter caring for her cancer-ridden father in his final days, is one such title. Hard Mouth. What are those words doing together? Where will this story take us? Designer Nicole Caputo designed the cover of Hard Mouth with Goldblatt’s straightforward, tense, and smart narrative approach in mind.

Literary Twitter can be a scary place. Twitter mobs engage in Twitter pile-ons, at the least hurting writers’ feelings and at the most, threatening to take down titles before they’re officially released. But Caroline Eisenmann, agent at Frances Goldin, argues that Twitter is also a force for good, at least in her professional life.

Beginning to End is a series from Spine following a book from writing through acquisition, design and on to publication and publicity. For our second "season," we're looking at Hard Mouth, Amanda Goldblatt's debut adventure novel about a woman facing—and sometimes fleeing from—her father's drawn-out battle with cancer. Counterpoint Press publishes the book this month. We begin the series by talking with Goldblatt.