Mari Mancusi has written a ton of YA novels, the latest of which are the Blood Coven series [
read those Cover Stories]. Her very first Young Adult book, though, was
Sk8er Boy. Now it's out of print and she's got the e-rights, so she was able to create her own updated cover. Cool, right? Here's Mari with the story:
"You never forget your first. And for me, that was
Sk8er Boy. My first true love and the title of my first young adult romance, published in 2005. Perhaps the most autobiographical book I've ever written, it's a sort of Romeo and Juliet with text messaging.
"I originally sold the book to Dorchester, a romance publisher who had just introduced a new line of young adult books called Smooch. I had done one other romance for them, but this was my first teen book. So you can imagine how excited I was to see the cover.
"It looks pretty silly now (right), but you have to remember, at the time, those iPod commercials (see below) were really big and so I guess the artist felt it would appeal to a teen crowd. Still, though I knew it was trendy, I never felt as if it captured the feel of my actual book. It's not romantic, for one thing. It's not sweet. You don't get a good feel for the plot or characters. Oh and I hate the girl's purse! At the time, everyone had hobo bags and large purses--hers looks like something out of the late eighties. As does her outfit...
Read the rest of Mari's Cover Story at
melissacwalker.com.
I've got a new copy of Melissa Kantor's
The Darlings in Love, and she's here to share the Cover Story! Here's Melissa:
"I had a
fantasy of the cover, which might be different from an idea. When I was a kid, there was this book
Forever, by Judy Blume. On the cover was a locket with a picture of a girl's face, and when you opened the cover, you saw more of that picture--the girl's whole body, the boy she was standing with, etc. It was this amazing reveal. Well, since pearl pendants play a big role in the story of the Darlings, I wanted the cover to picture a chain with a pearl on it, and when you opened the cover, you saw that the pearl was actually on a girl's neck and that girl was standing with her two best friends. There's a name for that (a cutaway? something like that). But my editor said that covers like that tend to snag and rip and that's a real problem. As happens with so many things in life, reality intruded on fantasy.
"Once the pearl necklace idea was nixed, I think we discussed there being three of something, to symbolize the thee Darlings. The only thing I
didn't want was three cupcakes. There are a lot of cupcake covers out there."
"When I first saw my cover, I
hated it. I am not exaggerating. I remember calling my editor and making it clear that I was
furious. I was like, This is the
worst cover! What were you thinking? I
hate this cover, etc. She's a very calm, rational person, and she tried to get me to be specific, so I more or less listed everything about the cover (from the font to the color to the cookies) and said why I hated it..."
Read the rest of Melissa's Cover Story at
melissacwalker.com.
You guys, I'm reading
Miranda Kenneally's
Catching Jordan right now, and it's filling my
Friday Night Lights void! Yay! Here's Miranda with her Cover Story:
"I imagined my main character, Jordan, lying head-to-toe in a patch of grass with her best friend, Sam Henry. She’d be holding a football and he would be playing with some white clover.
"[My publisher] didn’t ask for input, but I couldn’t have been happier with the first options I saw.
"There were three options, and I didn’t have any comments other than, 'I love them!'
Read the rest of Miranda's Cover Story, and see previous cover tries for the book, at
melissacwalker.com.
Diva Holly Cupala was here to talk about the cover of her debut novel,
Tell Me a Secret. Now, her second novel,
Don't Breathe a Word, is out this month, and it has a cover that manages to convey both darkness and sparkle! Here's Holly with the Cover Story:
"After the gorgeous cover HarperTeen put together for
Tell Me a Secret, I knew to expect something fantastic for my second,
Don't Breathe a Word… though it came about in a completely different (and for me, much more nail-biting) way…
"The original working title was
Street Creed, which is what the design team initially had to work with. The first cover concept was… steamy (below). It featured two gorgeous creatures, probably Italian models, who met as if by chance after a swirling, beaded-dress-bedecked night for an almost-kiss. Sigh.
"But it didn’t feel like my book.
"
Don’t Breathe a Word is the story of Joy, who runs away from home to escape an abusive relationship to the streets of Seattle. She finds allies who have secrets of their own, including Creed—a homeless boy who dreams of making it in the music industry.
"There is a steamy relationship (and Creed is swoonworthy!), but there are no beaded dresses. In fact, the only scene where that dress could have appeared was at a fundraiser party where Joy meets her boyfriend Asher—the dark reason she has to leave. Also, I was worried with the final title, it would look like 'Don’t Breathe a Word about that naughty thing we did after the prom.' No. Oh no..."
Read the rest of Holly's Cover Story at
melissacwalker.com, and read about her
amazing launch contest too!
Eileen Cook has been here before, sharing Cover Stories for
What Would Emma Do?,
The Education of Hailey Kendrick and
Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood (all awesome tales, btw). Her new release is
Unraveling Isobel, and there's a rainbow Cover Story to tell:
"When I finished this book I was certain I knew what should be on the cover. I pictured a creepy gothic house perched on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. I’d been imagining the house in the book for so long I could imagine it perfectly. I’d even drawn floor plans of the house when writing the book. Of course the problem with having this type of clear vision, it’s really hard to find something in the real world that matches.
"I’m incredibly lucky to work with the team at Simon Pulse. They always invite me to participate in the cover design process. They talk to me not only about what I imagine the cover looking at, but also the feeling I want the cover to impart. My cover designer, Cara Petrus, wanted to make sure that the cover had some of the creepy gothic feel, but also wasn’t too dark as the book has humor too. Cara picked up on Isobel’s interest in art and also her feeling of being trapped..."
Read the rest of Eileen's Cover Story, and see the other color scheme possibilities, at
melissacwalker.com.
Sarah Beth Durst has shared the Cover Stories for her novels
Enchanted Ivy and
Ice, and now she's here to tell her perspective on the scintillating cover of
Drink, Slay, Love."Creating the cover for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE was a traumatic experience. The problem began when the vampire hired to pose as Pearl came to the photo shoot hungry. She drained three assistants before someone had the presence of mind to pass her the bottle of donated blood that you see on the cover. The photographer snapped shots of her as she sated the last of her hunger with the bottled blood. Though they'd originally planned for a panorama, he was forced to do a close-up due to the carnage that littered the studio behind her.
"Okay, that's not true. She only drank from two people and both survived..."
Read the rest of Sarah's Cover Story at
melissacwalker.com.
Regina Roff designs book covers for Bloomsbury/Walker, and she was the one who created the final version of Lauren Baratz-Logstead's
Little Women and Me (read that
Cover Story from Lauren's POV).
Now Regina's here to share her side of that cover's story, and share a few other covers she's been working on (like that gorgeous one at left):
"When I came onto
Little Women and Me, it was already started by another designer. It was one of the first books I worked on at Bloomsbury/Walker, so it was a really exciting project for me. The art director explained the story to me loosely and showed me a few of the original cover comps (like the one posted below, right). The team liked that direction but they also wanted to see some other options.
"So, I sat down and read the story, to get a feel for the tone, mood, etc of the novel. I was instantly transported into the world that Lauren Baratz-Logsted created! I wanted to capture the feeling of being from the outside looking in on this classic story of LITTLE WOMEN. At first, most of my cover comps were similar to what had already been tried: they featured images of girls reading, etc. Then I thought it'd be interesting to see the main character sort of 'spying' on the characters in LITTLE WOMEN. I had a few options where a girl pulled back a curtain on a scene of LITTLE WOMEN, but they didn't have the impact I was hoping for. After looking and looking for more 'spying' images, I ended up finding the image on the final cover, the girl popping through a piece of paper. That's where everything started coming together, with the original LITTLE WOMEN artwork and the modern girl coming through the page...."
Read the rest of this Cover Story, and see more of Regina's great designs, at
melissacwalker.com.
Keris Stainton was here last year to share the
Cover Story for Della Says: OMG!, and now she's back with the tale of
Jessie ♥ NYC!
Here's Keris:
"I didn't really think about the cover when I was writing the book -- I'd made a collage so I just pictured that... although it did have the Empire State Building smack bang in the middle!
"After I'd delivered the book I actually dreamed the cover and the title. I told my editor and she asked me to send over the details, so I made a few mock-ups and she loved them.
"The first version I saw was black and white (right) and then the next one was gold, but not as fabulously shiny as the finished product...
Read the rest of Keris's Cover Story at
melissacwalker.com.
The amazing Robin Wasserman is back to share the story of the cover--and title!--changes for her latest trilogy. Here goes:
"The last time I got to pontificate on this blog, I talked about how much I loved the cover my publisher had come up with (true) and how much we’d struggled to come up with the right title for the book (also true), and then ended with this: 'My editor promised me that after a few weeks of looking at SKINNED on the cover, I wouldn’t be able to imagine the book being titled anything else. She was right.'
"As they say…famous last words.
"Because fast forward three years later, and these books are getting brand new covers. And brand new titles to go with them.
"And I couldn’t be happier.
"Not that I didn’t like the original look for the trilogy, but who doesn’t love a makeover? (You’re talking to a girl who spent all of high school convinced that if she whipped off her glasses and shook out her ponytail in just the right way, she might become homecoming queen.) (Didn’t happen.)
"My editor first contacted me about the repackage about a year and a half ago (which means before the third book in the trilogy even came out!), and as I had the first time around, I jumped at the chance to weigh in:
'I'm so excited about the idea for new covers for these books! I'm the first to admit that I'm visually/artistically challenged, to put it mildly, but since you kindly asked if I had any thoughts on the subject, I took a look around to see what jumped out at me, and actually, I found that everything I gravitated toward had a sort of similar look, so I'm sending them along to you, in case anything sparks your imagination. You'd mentioned you were thinking iconic, which I think is a cool idea -- and I'm wondering what you think about using the *body* as a object, so to speak (ie instead of a chair or an apple or whatever), since that really gets at the heart of the trilogy.
I'm not talking about headless girl parts, so much as something like this - or even this.
In a sort of similar vein.
"We were all agreed that we wanted to move away from the photographic look of the original covers and find some kind of object that would really capture the theme of the trilogy. My editor and designer weren’t sure my idea of using the human body would work, so they suggested we try to find objects the evoked the same feel. I loved the way they were approaching it:
"'We’ve been talking a lot about the ideas of frailty v strength, something beautiful masking something unnatural, rebirth, etc—all with an iconic approach.' ---my awesome editor
"They told me they were going to look around from some stock photos of things that might capture this frailty/strength, natural/artificial divide, like cracked eggshells, frozen flowers, and silhouetted fruit.
"Which I thought was a great idea…but not as great as the idea they sent over a couple weeks later..."
Read the rest of Robin's Cover Story at melissacwalker.com.
Back in 2009, Nina Malkin talked to me about the gorgeous cover for Swoon, and now the sequel is here with another enticing cover image.
Here's Nina:
"Writing is intensely present for me. With SWEAR I was so in the moment of the action and emotion as it unfurled, no way was I thinking about the cover. I was lucky if I thought about lunch. Besides, it’s such a privilege to be able to publish, I trust the pros at Simon & Schuster to do what they think is best for a book, and that includes the cover. After all, once you deliver a novel it’s no longer this magical collaboration between your conscious and your subconscious—it’s a product.
"Of course, I didn’t always have such a laissez-faire attitude. My first novel, 6X: The Uncensored Confessions, was about a band. Unbeknownst to me the publisher did an expensive photo shoot—too bad the girl on the cover looked more like a cheap hooker than rock chick (right). I threw some major hissy but got nowhere. And if I thought that cover sucked, the next one was worse. That’s when I realized the novels weren’t 'mine' anymore; I had to let them go..."
Read the rest of Nina's Cover Story at melissacwalker.com.
Beth Kephart has shared many Cover Stories in this space--for Undercover and House of Dance, for Nothing But Ghosts and for The Heart is Not a Size. Her latest novel is high in my pile, and it should be in yours too! I dare you to read a Beth Kephart book and not sigh at the beauty of her words. She's truly a poet (check out her blog for proof).
Here's Beth talking about the cover of her new novel, You Are My Only:
"For many months I have wondered just how I would write this cover story. In some ways, I still don’t know quite what to say.
"Should I start with the title, You Are My Only, which sets the mood? And if I start with the title, then aren’t I really starting (or shouldn’t I start) by thanking my agent, Amy Rennert, and her colleague, Robyn Russell, who helped me toward knowing what the title must be during a week of grave uncertainty?
"You Are My Only, then—a title that I was helped toward. Words that struck me once, and strike me again today, as singular and brave.
"To create the image, we turned, of course, to Neil Swaab, who had designed the gorgeous cover for Dangerous Neighbors [read that Cover Story on bn.com], and who seems to get books the moment he reads them—seems to settle on that symbol or scene that obsessed the writer or, in this case, kept the writer going. Both of my protagonists—Sophie and Emmy—are caught inside worlds, trapped in places they should not be. Both look out through windows on people and places just out of reach. What might symbolize that? What single image might tell the story of two young women separated by time and place and hurt?"
Read the rest of Beth's Cover Story at melissacwalker.com.
Hi, look at that cover. The title alone intrigued me enough to want to red
Jen Violi's debut, but that cover? I love it!
Jen's here to share the Cover Story:
"I did indeed have my own cover idea, and revealing that will also reveal why I’m a writer and not a designer.
"So, when I was little, my parents had quite a record collection, and I loved listening to so many of them, from
The King and I soundtrack to Vicki Carr or Frank Sinatra or, my absolute favorite:
Aunt Carmela’s Italian Favorites. So many gems on there,
my favorites from Lou Monte. And the cover, priceless. Which of course I have to show you here. Please note the fabulousness of Aunt Carmela, right.
"Believe it or not, as I was writing
Putting Makeup on Dead People, I had a distinct vision for the cover to feature Aunt Carmela. As an enlivened corpse. Basically, my vision involved Aunt Carmela, sitting much like she is on the chaise lounge on the album cover, but instead, on a coroner’s metal slab, with a white sheet draped over her body, sitting up and grinning out at us. Why, one might wonder, would I think that was a good idea?"
Read the rest of Jen's Cover Story at
melissacwalker.com.
Cynthia Leitich Smith is a huge supporter of the YA writing community who truly rocks. I recently wrote a guest post for her awesome blog, Cynsations, about writing "true" vs. "likeable" characters. She also happens to be the New York Times and Publishers Weekly best-selling author of the Tantalize series: ETERNAL, TANTALIZE, and BLESSED, Gothic fantasies from Candlewick. TANTALIZE: KIEREN’S STORY, illustrated by Ming Doyle, is a graphic edition in which Cynthia re-envisions her dark fantasy through Wolfish eyes. How cool is that?
Here's Cynthia with the Cover Story for TANTALIZE: KIEREN’S STORY:
"I anticipated that the cover would nod overtly to Kieren’s identity as a human werewolf-hybrid. We often see this with books that involve a shape-shifter protagonist. I tend to prefer those in which it’s more subtle, like Vivian’s wolf shadow on the original cover of Annette Curtis Klause’s Blood and Chocolate (right).
"Usually in shifter books, the transformation is a powerful moment in the story, and as a reader I prefer to experience that in my imagination rather than to be offered a visual up front. However, in my story, because Kieren is a hybrid (and has some issues with that), he doesn’t shapeshift as easily or completely as, say, his mother who has no known homo sapiens heritage.
"I was wary of the idea that the cover might suggest that Kieren would go full Wolf and managing that more delineated duality would be the book’s focus. The story is more of a murder mystery with strong romantic elements than a straight-up creature feature, though certainly creatures abound.
"My first thought when I saw the cover was, He’s a boy. Definitely a boy..."
Read the rest of Cynthia's Cover Story at melissacwalker.com.
PS-Read the original Cover Stories for
Eternal and
Blessed.
Kirsten Hubbard's Like Mandarin came out in the spring to great buzz. Read bibliophile brouhaha's review for taste of that. The cover always intrigued me for its use of white space and pastels. I think it's lovely.
Here's Kirsten to talk about how it came to be:
"I've always felt like the most iconic images in Like Mandarin are wild girl Mandarin Ramey's long black hair, and the Wyoming badlands where the book takes place. My publisher did offer me input, and I made note of a few covers I really liked, and described the sort of black hair, badlands scene I'd always imagined on the cover of Like Mandarin.
"There's a part in Like Mandarin where Grace's thoughts blank out, then come back as a series of exclamation points instead of words. That's pretty much what happened when I saw my cover. It was taped to the bookshelf in my editor's office the first time I met her. I didn't expect to see it -- nor what I saw! It contained none of the elements I'd suggested, but it was so strong, and simple, and beautiful.
"Interestingly, my editor pulled out the image of another cover they'd been working on: a dark-haired girl from behind, against a backdrop of badlands. If I remember correctly, it was in black and white, and the font (a different one) was some bright color, like pink. It looked like an album cover, while the cover we went with looks almost like a movie poster -- just stronger overall..."
Read the rest of Kirsten's Cover Story at melissacwalker.com.
Andrea Cremer shared the Cover Story for the hardcover of Nightshade last year, and since then I have eaten pizza with her and can confirm that she's as awesome as the books she writes. Seriously.
And now she has a newly redesigned paperback! Plus, the second novel in the Nightshade trilogy, Wolfsbane, was just released. Here's Andrea to talk covers:
"I didn't have a specific idea for the cover, but it always involved wolves and blood.
"When I first saw the new covers, I was thrilled. To me the new covers depict Calla perfectly. The new
Nightshade cover (right) drew on the poem that inspired Calla's character. The poem is one of Margaret Atwood's and its first stanza is 'Not you I fear but that other/she who walks through flesh/queen of the two dimensions.'
"The
Wolfsbane cover: First of all it's green! My favorite color! I think it continues the theme of depicting Calla's strength. The concept is that she is crouched under the moon about to shift into wolf form. I love it!
"There were some small tweaks - usually about getting the color of Calla's eyes just right..."
Read the rest of Andrea's Cover Story, and see the original series covers, at
melissacwalker.com.
Jennifer Echols has a new book out--yay! She stopped by on her GCC tour to talk about the cover for Love Story. (Check out her previous Cover Stories for Going Too Far and Endless Summer.) Here's Jennifer!
"I asked for [my character] Erin in the foreground, looking over her shoulder at Hunter at a desk writing in the background. My publisher doesn’t ask me for my input--I just give it, LOL! I didn’t really think they would follow my advice, because my covers are all from stock photos, not photo shoots, and a cover as specific as the one I asked for would have been hard to find. So I also sent them pictures of what the characters should look like. And I asked that above all, the heroine should look happy.
"When I first saw the cover, I thought, 'The heroine is happy! Hooray!' and also 'Why does the heroine have a diamond stud in her nose?'..."
Read the rest of Jennifer's Cover Story at melissacwalker.com.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed lots of girls-in-grass covers (my own included) and I mentioned fellow Contemps author Lisa Schroeder's latest, The Day Before, of which Booklist says: "Readers will find plenty of appeal factors in this outing... delivers a punch at the novel's end." (I love an end punch.)
Now she's here to share her Cover Story! Take it away, Lisa:
"I don't think about covers much, mostly because I've learned that it's not good to get attached to anything since who knows what you'll end up with. However, I really thought the cover would be a beach scene of some kind.
"I was surprised, because there wasn't a grain of sand to be found. I thought it was pretty, but I wasn't sure that it conveyed what the book is about. Although, more and more, I'm not sure that's a cover's purpose, necessarily..."
Read the rest of Lisa's Cover Story at melissacwalker.com.
As you know if you read this blog, I'm kind of into covers. So when it comes to the subject of my own covers, I feel especially, um, assertive. I like to give inspiration images, write random things down, and generally insert myself to a point that might be annoying.
When my editor Caroline asked me if I had any cover ideas for
Small Town Sinners, I sent her this email:
"I'm going to attach some images and give a little explanation of why they're in the mix for me.
"If we show LACEY: I picture her sort of like an early Sissy Spacek:
"The FEEL: I love the late sunset, dusty, small-town feel of the NYLON cover, the 'portrait' (really small, sorry), and that GUARDIAN ANGELS book. The color and tone of these images is really appealing to me.
**I do really love the close-up on one girl kind of cover, and an American gothic 70s feel seems right to me.
I spent my weekend curled up with Dana Reinhardt's The Summer I Learned to Fly (finished last night) and it's just an enchanting summer story. Here's Publisher's Weekly's starred review. Read, read, read!
And isn't that cover just all twilight and fireflies and wildflowers and good things? Here's Dana to talk about it:
"I never have any idea of what my covers should look like. I fully recognize that it’s not what I do—I’m not a designer, I’m a writer. I do have strong opinions, though. I know what I like and I know what I don’t and I’m usually pretty good at articulating why.
"They typically ask me if I have any ideas and I typically say no. Then I hold my breath and wait to see what they come up with and hope that I think it’s on the right track. If it’s not, they’ve been great about listening to my reaction.
"With this cover, I fell in love. Immediately. This hasn’t always been the case, but it was absolutely the case with this particular cover. It’s just perfect. And it obviously doesn’t hurt to have Markus Zusak’s name on the cover. In fact, it might even be better if they just took mine off…"
Read the rest of Dana's Cover Story, and see all of her original covers (which have been redesigned!) at melissacwalker.com.
Elana Johnson's Possession has great buzz. For example: “Emotion pumps through every scene of this thriller. Given all the urgency and action, the novel’s ending may surprise readers as the heroic adventure turns into a tragic love story.” –School Library Journal
The book also has a simple but captivating cover. Here's Elana to talk about that:
"I didn’t dare dream of a cover. That way, if it wasn’t what I’d pictured, I wouldn’t be disappointed. And luckily, someone much smarter than I am designed my cover—and I love it!
"I got to give input after I saw the design, and something I suggested actually got changed. It was something little about the font on my name, which used to be a much tighter, more Zaner-Bloser, type of cursive. I didn’t like the cursive at all..."
Read the rest of Elana's Cover Story at
melissacwalker.com.
Carolyn Mackler's Tangled has a new paperback cover, and it's out this week. So I had a chat with her about the changes (and also how she came to write with Jay Asher)! Here she is:
"My publisher had the vision for the hardcover jacket - the blue and pink tangling hearts, and also this new paperback cover. I love its energy, especially with the butterflies since they strangely showed up in three of my four characters' stories.
"Harper was wonderful about including me in the development of Tangled's paperback cover. They wanted to do a photo shoot with models, and I got to look over several headshots and pick who I thought would work on the cover. The girl is Jena for sure, but in my head the guy is a mix of Dakota and Owen. They're brothers, so they have the same basic look. And Jena DOES kiss both of them. Surprised? Shocked? If you read the book it'll all make sense..."
Read the rest of Carolyn's Cover Story, and see the original hardcover, at melissacwalker.com.
The lovely
Amanda Ashby is here to talk about the cover of her latest book,
Fairy Bad Day (read
a review from Supernatural Snark), which, as you can see, has tons of personality.
"I had no idea of what the cover would be like when I was writing it (hahaha—most of the time I was pretty sure it would never even reach the stage where it would have a cover!)
"My publisher asked for input, and I went and looked at a whole heap of covers to give me some inspiration. I found quite a few adult urban fantasy books that had headless characters who were leaning on a sword and I really loved them so I mentioned the idea..."
Read the rest of Amanda's Cover Story at
melissacwalker.com.
Leanna Renee Hieber has a set of haunting covers, and the third book in her
Strangely Beautiful series came out in May. She's here to share the story behind the cover of
The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess:
"It’s uncanny how much of what I envisioned translated onto this cover.
"Since I’ve been very active in the marketing process, I was asked early on what I was hoping for / interested in and had an in-person conversation with the art director (whom I love) and was delighted that we were all on the same page, my editor included. Once the 'look' of the series was already established with book one, and it worked really well for the series, I knew the parameters and style we were working with, so it was honestly just a matter of deciding background image and colours. My publisher has done a great job of creating a distinct
STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL series look, my three covers are gorgeous all together (see below). What I love about my books is that the covers are unlike anything else out there today, which is quite a feat..."
Read the rest of Leanna's Cover Story, and see her other covers, at
melissacwalker.com.
Elizabeth Scott has been here before to share Cover Stories (which I'll link to when melissacwalker.com is fully functional again--soon, soon!). Now, she's back with a beautiful tale of Between Here and Forever:
"I had no idea about the cover at all--when I'm writing, I never think what I'm writing will be published, so I don't think about it. I wasn't asked for input on the cover, but let me tell you, this cover was everything I had no idea I wanted--and MORE!
"When I first saw my cover, my exact thought, as written to my editor, was, 'OMG I LOVE it! It's so perfect and holy crap, the way it ties into Bloom is BRILLIANT!!!' (I tend to be very caps happy when I'm happy).
Read the rest of Elizabeth's Cover Story, and see the new paperback for her 2010 title, The Unwritten Rule, at melissacwalker.com.
Malinda Lo stopped by to talk about her debut cover for the lovely Ash a while back, and she's here once again because her latest book, Huntress, just hit the shelves in April.
Once again, Malinda has a stirring cover with a great back story. Here she is:
"While I was writing Huntress I truly didn't have any idea what the cover might look like, and I didn't even spend much time thinking about it. I absolutely adore the cover that my publisher created for Ash, and I would never have come up with that as a cover concept — I'm definitely a writer, not a designer! So I was excited to see what they came up with for Huntress.
"The first cover concept I saw was this one (right). I was immediately struck by the meditative quality of the image, which I thought reflected the book pretty well — and the snow! I loved the snow! A little known fact about me is that I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of ice. Most people want to vacation in Hawaii; I desperately want to take a trip to Antarctica. (Yes, I'm strange.)
"Anyway, a good part of Huntress involves the main characters crossing a giant glacier, and I was thrilled that this aspect of the book was reflected on the cover.
"I did have a few suggestions, though, because I felt that the girl on the cover didn't entirely reflect my vision of Kaede, the main character. Of course, I know that book covers are designed to sell books, not to look exactly the way an author sees her characters (and, you know, the girl on the cover of Ash doesn't really look like her, but I think it very nicely fits the mood and feel of the book).
"One of my main concerns in this case was that the girl looked a little too young, because Kaede is 18 in the book, and I wanted to make sure this looked like a YA title..."
Read the rest of Malinda's Cover Story on melissacwalker.com.
PS-If you're lucky you can catch Malinda on the Diversity in YA Tour this month (amazing lineups)!
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"It looks pretty silly now (right), but you have to remember, at the time, those iPod commercials (see below) were really big and so I guess the artist felt it would appeal to a teen crowd. Still, though I knew it was trendy, I never felt as if it captured the feel of my actual book. It's not romantic, for one thing. It's not sweet. You don't get a good feel for the plot or characters. Oh and I hate the girl's purse! At the time, everyone had hobo bags and large purses--hers looks like something out of the late eighties. As does her outfit...
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