My Fake Boyfriend... in Paperback!

Meg Cabot says of Kristina Springer's latest novel: “Irresistible as a fluffy kitten. I laughed out loud and so will you!" My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours was a Scholastic Book Club Bestseller and a YALSA Quick Pick. Kristina calls her cover "perfect," and now the paperback is out, with not one single change. Here's the cover again, and her original cover story. MFBIBTY

 

KS is running a giveaway on her site through 1/15, and here’s what the winner will get: • A $20 gift card (Starbucks or Amazon, your choice!), • Autographed copy of My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours, • Fake Boyfriend Emergency Kit, and a • Variety of bookmarks/stickers from all of Kristina's books

Check out the book here.

Self-Publishing: Little Chicken's Big Christmas

lcbcI am always curious about marketing and different ways to get attention for books of all shapes and sizes. Katie Davis does an amazing job with promotion for all of her titles, and her latest effort in self-publishing is especially timely and fascinating. I interviewed her about Little Chicken's Big Christmas, a companion to the traditionally published Little Chicken's Big Day, written with her husband Jerry, and she had some great ideas to share: MW: What made you want to go the indie route with Little Chicken's Big Christmas? Katie: Suddenly I started seeing Little Chicken in a Santa hat kind of almost covering his eyes. Just as suddenly in mid-October I told Jerry we should do a Christmas book with Little Chicken. You can only do an indie book that fast! And if we were going to publish that quickly, why not try to help other writers, too, and do it as a marketing experiment? It's a reciprocal opportunity. Other writers are learning how to launch their own books, learning from my mistakes, missteps, and successes, and it's a three-part process, as the first part in an effort that will be repeated for my next indie eBook, the second edition of How to Promote Your Children's Book: Tips, Tricks, and Secrets to Create a Bestseller. I've re-written it with new content, a bunch of additional chapters and information. I'm launching that on all my social media platforms: my SiteFacebookYouTubeTwitterGoogle+My Podcast and it will again have a limited signup time, just like this one did. (The third segment of the experiment will happen in the spring for my traditionally published young adult novel, Dancing With The Devil, published by Diversion Books.)

Jerry: The Christmas story is related to the indie route. We had to get an enormous amount of work done incredibly fast and we knew we'd make ourselves crazy getting it done. Now, Little Chicken has attitude and I love that. He does go along with his mom's running around and Christmas errands, but he *is* a kid and gets impatient! And from that kid point of view, the holiday season and all that hustle and bustle is crazy! The kids are focused on the presents. Little Chicken is impatient at times, but is enjoying the traditions despite himself. Spoiler alert: in the end we learn that Little Chicken's impatience is from a completely loving and selfless place so we get to underscore the importance of giving and expressing love and family during the holiday season, no matter how crazy things get. What better reason to make our own selves crazy getting that indie book out?

MW: Was it easy to upload/format? Katie: It was more important to get the book done than learn how to format it ourselves and since we were under the gun time-wise, we interviewed a bunch of places and finally I found a woman we paid to do it. Sometimes you need to hire people to do stuff you don't have time to do. My Launch Team will have access to the entire process, and so will the next team, which I'll open up when I'm ready to launch the next edition and vastly expanded How to Promote Your Children's Book: Tips, Tricks, and Secrets to Create a Bestseller. People can already sign up for that team by clicking here.

First I created a mailing list and within a week had well over 125 people signed up. I announced it on my blog and explained that I was having an e-book come out Thanksgiving and that sales would be over by December 26. I thought it would be the perfect marketing experiment in a bottle. My launch team members would learn all my methods and then be able to use them for themselves. They'd be able to use my strategies for their own launches, repeat my successes, and (bonus!) avoid my mistakes!

I sent each team member a review copy and ask them to post an honest review on Amazon. It was very important that it had to be honest or it would mean nothing. I asked them to social media-ize it, too. I, in turn, would show my appreciation by thanking them with awesome thank you presents. There will be a raffle for a guest spot on my podcast and since I get an average 2200 impressions per episode, it's good promotion for the winner. They could also swap that for an hour of my consultation services. There're also other thank you gifts that members received just for posting their reviews.

It's been a fascinating experiment, and one I'm still monitoring. I wanted to see how reviews - that is, social proof - effected buying. However, this experiment won't mean anything until the results come in from the second and third experiments, because this is only part one. This being a picture book, it will be a much different result from the guide mentioned above, and a novel (my young adult novel, Dancing with the Devil). And of course, this is still all kind of subjective, since the team members will be different (pb peeps v. marketing guide peeps v. YA peeps) AND they're all MY books and MY efforts. Someone else would have a different book to promote, do the promotions differently, have different ideas, and different outcome.

MW: What "creative marketing techniques" did you try? Which worked best, as far as you can tell? Katie: As I said, we won't know the true effect until later in the month when the sales figures come in and even later after parts one and two are done. And again, because this is a picture book I will only know part one of the results - rather, one aspect, really.

But basically the entire idea was to see the effect of social proof. When people see that you have over 100 reviews they may think that book must be really good book and perhaps decide to buy it. Social proof is kind of like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. Imagine you're on the street and you see a crowd of people all hovering around something and you hear cheers and oohs and aahs - you want to go across the street and see what they're all looking at ... social proof is the same idea. That's why I went for the reviews.

Another creative marketing technique is The Write Your Own Coloring Book promotion. When a buyer submits his or her receipt to me at support@katiedavis.com, he or she will be sent a link to download the entire Little Chicken's Big Christmas in coloring book form - but without the text, so the child can create an entirely new narrative. This is very cool because not only will the buyer benefit by getting a gift with purchase, but the child receiving the gift will, too, as will I, by building my mailing list and know who is interested in my work, and I can keep them updated when more books come out.

MW: How did you decide on the price for the book? Katie: I simply looked at the prices of other books. I actually didn't do this for the money - that is for next year - this time I wanted to see what would happen if I did this or that. I wanted to sell a lot of copies, so I priced it low in the beginning. Every time I raised the price I offered an incentive, like the coloring book example, above. I've made some really stupid mistakes, too! The phrase "epic fail" doesn't come close! I will be sharing those and my numbers with my teams and I'll be comparing the numbers to the launches of the guide and of my young adult book, Dancing With The Devil. Because that one is traditionally published I won't have any say over the price but these are three such completely different kinds of books, so I think the comparison between them will make for a super interesting experiment in the end.

MW: What advice would you give to other authors who are considering this route with books, children's books especially? Katie: I try to coach my marketing clients to be creative, and fear no failure! There's nothing we can't do now. You're only limited by your imagination and your lack of trying.

Cover Stories: In the Blood

In the Blood - Hantz[1] Sara Hantz was here in 2008 to share the original cherry cover of her debut, The Second Virginity of Suzy Green. She's back with a very different book and a very different cover. In the Blood is the story of Jed Franklin, who has a normal life until his 17th year, the year when his father is charged with the abuse and murder of four young boys... and normal becomes a nightmare.

Here's Sara with thoughts on the cover:

"My publisher sends out a cover art form, though my input wasn’t very useful as I couldn’t think of anything other than I don’t like cartoon characters! I’m not a very visual person.

"When I first saw my cover, it brought tears to my eyes--it made me so happy. It was better than anything I could have imagined. I love the newspaper headlines on the body of the guy and also how dark and brooding he is."

Thanks, Sara! The shadow of the newsprint is my favorite part--so cool.

Bonus: Enter the giveaway on Sara's site to win a KINDLE loaded with a copy of In the Blood!

Cover Stories: Open Mic

open micOpen Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices is an anthology in which ten YA authors use their own brand of humor to share their stories about growing up between cultures. Edited by acclaimed author and speaker Mitali Perkins, this collection of fiction and nonfiction embraces a mix of styles as diverse as their authors, from laugh-out-loud funny to wry, ironic, or poignant, in prose, poetry and comic form. Debbie Rigaud is one of the contributors to the anthology, and she's here to talk about the cover design.

"The title as an illustrated microphone is just perfection. I’m liking it! But that’s not the initial detail I noticed about the cover. First thing that jumped out at me was the color—as yellow as that early Coldplay song. It made me think of the cover for my romantic comedy PERFECT SHOT (read that Cover Story!), which was also unexpectedly of a yellowish hue. The funny thing is—ready for this?—that for generations in my family, yellow was deemed bad luck. I’m talking bad as the devil on Halloween! We think it all started back over a century ago when my great grandma wore a yellow dress on a day that turned out to be her very worst. Well, my obedient mom took the yellow-ban to heart and kept it going. Growing up, the worst thing you could do was hand her a yellow Mother’s Day card with a bouquet of daffodils. How wacky is that? But all along, I (the rebel that I am) was drawn to yellow, thinking it a bucket of cheerful golden goodness. So, it’s all good to me. Thankfully, with my generation it’s a new day for yellow. Currently, my favorite flower is the sunflower (they were the first flowers my husband gave me), I’ve been published in two yellow-jacket books and the experience didn’t sting (pun intended), and I’d welcome another sunny book cover on my author shelf in the future. Let the sunny shine on!"

Debbie also asked Open Mic editor Mitali Perkins about the cover, and she said that she loves that the cover image isn't a face that's tied to a gender or other identifier. And interestingly enough, Mitali tweaked the title to fit the artist's design. The original title was OPEN MIC: TEN RIFFS ON GROWING UP BETWEEN CULTURES.

I love these takes on the cover, which I think is simple and eye-catching and loud in a subtle way (not easy to pull off).

Debbie's short story, “Voila,” is the tale of Simone. Thanks to overprotective parenting, Simone’s elderly great aunt Ma Tante has more of a social life than she does. But one afternoon, Ma Tante’s social scene awkwardly intersects with Simone’s in the unlikeliest of places.

Check out the book!

Cover Stories: UnSoul'd by Barry Lyga

UnSould_smBarry Lyga's UNSOUL'D is about a mid-list author in his 30s who sells his soul to the devil for the promise of fame, fortune and fans. It's actually my life story but Barry changed the main character to a guy. KIDDING! But, um, I can relate to the protagonist's impulse. The book is also published by Barry himself, so he had complete cover control. Here's his tale:

"I tend to like very simple, stark covers. If you look at books like BOY TOY or I HUNT KILLERS, they really have single overriding images or big, potent type treatments. I love those covers. So for UNSOUL'D, I was always envisioning something incredibly simple: Just the title on a white background, to make you really think about that word. And then I screwed it up a LOT before I finally got it right.

"I know just enough Photoshop to be dangerous, so I sort of put together a quick mock-up of what I wanted. And I hated it. So, instead of text on white, I tried text on black. That looked a little better, so I tried adding some flames at the bottom. It still didn't look right, though. I realized that my poor Photoshop kung fu wasn't up to the task, so I talked to the woman who did the covers for I HUNT KILLERS and GAME, but we weren't going to be able to coordinate things in time.

"Fortunately, I had just met Lisa Amowitz at a bookstore event. She's a debut YA author, but also a professional cover designer. When I mentioned UNSOUL'D, she said she'd be happy to do the cover.

"I gave her my pathetic mock-up and said, 'But, you know, GOOD.' And she went to work.

"I was really stressed out. I've had input into covers before, but now, for the first time, I was 100% responsible. There was no editor to say, 'Nah.' No agent to tell me what worked or what didn't. No marketing people to offer suggestions. It was exhilarating to be out there on my own, but also frightening. If I said, 'That's it,' then that was it -- no one would or could overrule me, and the book would rise or fall on my tastes alone.

"Lisa did a slew of different variations on that original mockup (see two below), and they were all perfectly fine, but there was just something gnawing at the back of my brain and I couldn't figure out what it was. Then Libba Bray looked at the eight or nine mockups Lisa had done and said, 'You know, these are really dark. And your book is dark, but it's FUNNY.' And the proverbial light bulb went off.

Unsoul'dcompRound3.1  Unsoul'dcompRound4.1

"I called Lisa and said, 'Look, you've done some cool covers here, but I want to try doing one in white instead of black.' Which, you know was the original plan before I mucked things up by playing around in Photoshop. 'Can you try one like the words are burned into paper or something?'

"Within less than twenty-four hours, she sent me the final cover. And it was just perfect. I could have saved her a lot of work and me a lot of stress if I'd just told her my original idea from the start!

"I love the cover! Absolutely love it. It harks back to my very first idea, but Lisa took it in a totally new direction, making it tactile, giving it heft and dimension as opposed to just flat text on a white backdrop. Now it's simple and bold, but without being dull or generic.

"I don't know if it's my computer screen or my aging eyes, but for some reason the word 'UNSOUL'D' on the cover seems ever-so-slightly blurred to me. Just the tiniest bit less crisp than the rest of the cover. Which I actually think is cool for a book that's all about the gray areas of morality. I imagine it's just the way my eyes perceive the particular combination of colors and lines on the cover, but I'm a fan of it anyway."

Thanks, Barry! I love hearing how an author who had complete control navigated the process!

You can get UNSOUL'D in any ebook format you like! Want to read a big excerpt first? You got it.

Cover Stories: Nara Gazing and Shattering Gigi

MirrorMirror_CoverDiana Rodriguez Wallach was here to show off the cover for Reflecting Emmy, part one of her Mirror, Mirror trilogy (overall cover at left), and she's back today with the covers for parts two and three! Take it away, D: "I have two covers to share with you from my YA short-story trilogy, Mirror, Mirror. Part two in the series, Nara Gazing, is on sale now. And part three, Shattering Gigi, debuts in November 2013.

"The cover for Reflecting Emmythe first story in the trilogy that came out in September 2013, included a mirror and I really wanted to continue that theme. The entire series revolves around reflections. It’s a re-imagining of the myths of Narcissus and Nemesis, and as many people know, Narcissus famously died while gazing at his own reflection. So mirrors are a huge theme in my modern twist on this tale. Emmy is a paranormal secret agent who’s tasked with ridding the world of Narcissistic people by using a compact mirror to judge their reflections. So for Nara Gazing and Shattering GiGi, it was very important for me to continue the mirror theme.

"I know a lot of art departments don’t care about cover models looking exactly like the characters as they’re described within the book, but I feel otherwise. The character of Nara is being targeted by Emmy because she’s beautiful, vain and narcissistic. So Nara’s beauty is a key point in the story, and I felt strongly that it should be represented accurately. I pushed hard for a redheaded model. Nara is a strawberry blond goddess with pale skin and blue eyes and I’m glad we were able to find a cover image that reflected how I imagined her.

ShatteringGiGi_Cover"The first time I saw Shattering GiGi, I loved it! I had absolutely no changes. I loved that they gave the mirrored-image a 'shatter' effect, and I loved how the model reflected the overall look of both Emmy and her ageless grandmother, GiGi. I also loved the red dress. GiGi is a re-imagining the supreme Greek Goddess, Nyx, a powerful being believed to have been at the dawn of creation and to have given birth to many of the Gods (including Nemesis). Nyx is a bit mysterious and definitely dangerous, and I think the color red gives off that dangerous vibe.

"The first time I saw the cover options for Nara Gazing, however, I had a different reaction and thankfully my publisher took my opinions into account. Below are a couple photos that were initially suggested for the cover.

SpikyBlond WoodlandRedhead

"My publisher really liked the first image, featuring a model with the short spiky hair, but I had a number of concerns. While the photo itself is striking, as is the model’s expression, she looks nothing like any of the characters in my book. There isn’t a blond girl within this series, and there definitely isn’t anyone with a trendy pixy cut. Ultimately, I felt like the model looked too 'punk rock' for the characters in these stories, and thankfully, my publisher agreed to consider some more options.

"The second photo they sent was of a redhead, which for me was moving in the right direction, and it showed how generous the art department was being to accept my feedback. However, there was no mirror or mirrored-reflection in this image and that felt like too much of a departure from the other covers. I really wanted to the mirrored element to tie the series together. Additionally, I felt the flowers and butterflies in the model’s hair gave a woodland vibe that would have been more appropriate for a fairy character, and not really representative of my edgy Greek goddess tone.

NaraGazing"So we landed on the final cover, left. When they sent the image we ultimately chose for Nara Gazing, I loved it right away. She had red hair, she was gazing at her own reflection, she looked vain and popular, and it had a great high-school feel. It’s perfect.

"I’m thrilled with all of my covers, Reflecting Emmy, Nara Gazing, Shattering GiGi and the trilogy as a whole, Mirror, Mirror, I think if you look at them lined up, you can see how they tie together and I think each is striking in its own right. I also think they really reflect what’s within the pages, which is the ultimate goal, right? Thanks so much for letting me share my cover stories!"

Thank you, Diana! See all three covers together, below:

ReflectingEmmy_LowResNaraGazingShatteringGiGi_Cover

Cover Stories: Coming Clean

coming clean_compressed Kimberly Rae Miller is here to share the story behind her simple, beautiful cover for Coming Clean, a memoir about growing up with parents who were a compulsive shopper (mom) and an intense hoarder (her dad). Their house was so cluttered that a squatter lived undetected in their attic for years. Here's Kimberly to tell the story of her crisp, sparse cover: "Waiting for the cover was perhaps the petrifying part of the process for me. My memoir is about hoarding, and I know what people think of when they think of hoarding. But, at its heart, it’s also a story of unconditional love. I was so afraid that I’d end up with the book cover equivalent to an episode of Hoarders; I had imagined all sorts of dark, dirty, ugly covers with little girls covered in garbage.

care of wooden floors"My editor asked me for input, and I was completely useless. The only suggestion I had was something similar to the cover of Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles (right), only instead of wood, the profile on the cover being comprised of random stuff. Ironically, I had the same cover artist, the amazing Lynn Buckley.

"When I first saw my cover, I started laughing, and then I started crying. Which is kind of embarrassing because I was at the gym at the time. It was just such a relief, I had been expecting the worst—dank, disorderly squalor. Pink paper hearts in various stages of unfurling—it was so perfect and so light and beautiful, but really encompassed everything I hoped to convey while writing the book. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect cover.

"The only thing that has changed from inception to printing was the shading of the hearts. The digital book has a slightly lighter pink hue than the hardcover.

"From what I’ve heard, secondhand so I can’t attest to the accuracy, the artist, Lynn Buckley, was totally stumped. She called my editor and was like, I only have one idea…I have these pink hearts. The rest is history.

"I absolutely adore my cover art. It so subtly sums up the entirety of my story; paper, love, opening up, acceptance. I won’t give away the plot…err, my life…but, it’s all there in these nine little hearts.

"Also, the digital version has a three-dimensional quality, which is kind of awesome."

Thanks, Kimberly! This cover drew me in from the first--and I think a clean cover is the way to go, but the crumpled hearts convey so much. See the full jacket below:

Screen Shot 2013-09-30 at 11.39.43 AM

Cover Stories: All I Need by Susane Colasanti

cover1Susane Colasanti posted about her cover shoot over on her blog, and she told me I could snag an outtake and a quote, so I did! "Authors usually have zero input in the planning process when it comes to cover design. Fortunately, my editor asked for input before this photo shoot took place. I told her I’d love to see the models in Vans and flip-flops. Just like Seth and Skye wear in the book. After trying them out, the photo shoot art director decided that barefoot was a better look. Which totally worked out for the best. I love the heart as a tool for hiding their faces. Faces are always hidden on my book covers so you can imagine what the characters look like yourself. The endless possibilities for hiding models’ faces is astounding."

Check out her full story here. So cute.

The final cover:

Colasanti_AllINeed_PreSales.indd

Cover Stories: Believe by Sarah Aronson

cover believeSarah Aronson's Believe is out this month, and it has a simple, intriguing cover (with secret inside design). Here's her Cover Story: "In the beginning, I envisioned the word, BELIEVE, written across the palm of a disfigured hand. Now, when I think about that image, I am so glad they didn't go with it. Once the sewing subplot found its way into the story, I hoped that it would find its way to the cover.

"When I saw the cover, I was on the El Train after having lunch with Esther Herschenhorn and I had just found a vintage Valentino dress on drastic markdown. So I was in a really great mood!  Once we were above ground, I checked my phone and saw the message. Of course, my phone is slow. We were passing Wrigley Field when I was finally able to download the image. The second I saw it, I started squealing. The only other people in the car were: two 20-somethings (making out) and a guy who had just asked me for spare change. So I asked him, 'If you had spare change, would you buy this book??' It was really funny! The others stopped kissing and we all looked at the cover and predicted great things!

"I love that the cover is gender neutral. And that it doesn't overly reference the religious themes in the book. (Once in a bad dream, I pictured a pile of rubble with a hand reaching out of it.) The best part of the cover: the mood. It's interesting. It doesn't give away anything. It just creates a tone. (And I know this is silly, but I was happy that they chose the color red. Not just for what red symbolizes. It matches my other YA novel, Head Case. They look GREAT on the shelf next to each other!)

"I love the cover. And I love the secret cool design on the inside jacket (see below). Love that there's a perk to buying the book!!! You can look on my Pinterest page for inspirational images: the hamsa. The hand. And images of Baby Jessica, who was the original inspiration for this book. (She was the baby who fell into the well.)

believe inside jacket

"Here's a link to the story behind the story!"

Thanks, Sarah! Love all the layers to this tale!

Cover Stories: Where the Stars Still Shine

wherethestars_comp_003Trish Doller has a new book out this month with a gorgeous  cover. I loved her debut, Something Like Normal, and this one is on my fall must list. So, naturally, we talked: the-sharp-time"While I was still working on the book, I fell in love with the image on the cover of The Sharp Time by Mary O'Connell (right), which was taken by a photographer named Metin Demiralay. I was browsing his gallery when I found an image of a girl standing against a barbed wire fence. Demiralay's work is very color-saturated and edgy and I loved the symbolism of a girl being held back from a normal life by a painful past.

"Once I turned in the manuscript, one of the first emails I received from my editor had a photo attachment of an image she thought would be perfect for the book. We hadn't talked cover and I hadn't shown her the Demiralay yet, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The image was of a couple draped in fairy lights...and one I recognized as the cover for Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt (below, left). Obviously we couldn't use it, but it was clear that the tone Bloomsbury was going for was much softer than a girl behind a barbed wire fence. So instead of showing my editor the Demiralay image, did a search for fairy lights, and discovered a UK-based photographer named Beth Retro who shot a whole set (Preview) of fairy lights. When I saw the green dress image, I promptly fell in love and sent it to my editor who had the same kind of 'ooh!' reaction that I did.

usesforboys"Having gone through a LOT of different cover comps with Something Like Normal, I didn't want to get my hopes up, but every time I sent my editor a different idea--just in case--she'd say, 'No, I think I like the first one better.' So when I saw the cover treatment for the first time, I wasn't exactly surprised by the image, but the font was more beautiful than I could have imagined. Being a bit of a design geek, I learned that the name of the font is Aphrodite. Even though designer Regina Flath didn't choose the font because of the name, the fact that Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and the characters in STARS are Greek-American made the font feel really special to me. Additionally, fairy lights play a small but significant role in Callie's story, so I love that the cover is not only beautiful but representational.

"There has only been one minor change--the addition of the purple stripe near the bottom of the cover--so what readers will see on shelves is almost exactly what I saw that first day. I've spent a lot of time with this cover but I'm still head over heels for it. I love everything about it. It feels mature, yet still young adult, and I'm happy that it's romantic without featuring a couple or kissing. It's pretty rare that everyone--from the author to editorial to sales--shares the same vision when it comes to a book's cover, so I'm thrilled it happened like this."

Thanks, Trish! I love the blurry romance of this cover. What do you guys think?

PS-See below for first design vs. final (the byline stripe change Trish mentions). Subtle but important.

wherethestars_comp_002 (1)  wherethestars_comp_003 (1)