Cover Stories: The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June

Robin Benway shared her Audrey, Wait! Cover Story on Monday, and she's back to tell the tale of her newest release's gorgeous art.Here's Robin! "I thought that after having gone through cover anxiety with Audrey, that April, May & June would be a breeze. So wrong! So very very wrong! It's so nervewracking to get the image of your book cover emailed to you! "I had originally always had this idea in my head of three linked paper dolls again a navy blue background with the words 'April May June' written over their heads. I loved this image, but I was pretty sure that my publisher didn't want that as the cover. (It's probably why I became a writer, rather than a cover designer.) "Razorbill had asked me to send over some images of what I thought the sisters would look like (above, l to r, May and June--I could never find a picture that matched the April in my head) but when I saw the initial cover design, the girls looked nothing like the images! I was a little disappointed at first, but then the cover really started to grow on me. The feedback from my friends and family was amazing, too. It's difficult when you realize that your characters are going to be seen as something entirely separate from the image that you've had of them in your head, but now the girls on the cover feel like April, May & June to me." I don't know about you guys, but the primary colors of this cover totally drew me in! What do you think? PS-Robin twitters here, and her characters? They twitter here: twitter.com/aprilstephenson twitter.com/may_stephenson twitter.com/june_stephenson

Win-It Wednesday: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Thanks for the secrets last week! The winner of Holly Cupala's Tell Me a Secret is... Tatyanne W! Send me your address, T.This week, I'm giving away an ARC (advanced reader copy) of The DUFF by Kody Keplinger. Kody is hilarious and awesome, and this book reflects all of that. It's a really open look at one girl's relationship with her own sexuality (and her friends, her parents, guys...). I barreled through this one in four subway rides -- it keeps you reading. To enter to win, tell me if you knew what the DUFF stood for before this book. I didn't! But as soon as I heard it, I thought: Brilliant book concept. Happy Wednesday! PS-If you haven't read Lovestruck Summer yet, here's a chance to win a copy (and see me vlog once again!) before the August light fades... Thanks, Teens Read Too!

Lovestruck Summer Cover Art

I found this cover, created by artist Laura Hughes, and I have to gush... HOW CUTE IS THIS? I adore it too much for words. There are hearts, sun, converse, and the whole thing is surrounded by music and perfectly colored in pink and black (which is sooo Quinn). Perfection! Made my week!

PS-The original Cover Story is here, in case you're interested.

Cover Stories: Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

The super-fun Robin Benway has two Cover Stories for our enjoyment. We'll start with her awesome debut, Audrey, Wait!, and you'll get the tale behind her new cover (for The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June) later this week.Here's Robin! "In my first book, Audrey, Wait!, Audrey is a character who loves music, so I always had an image of a girl's wrist covered in wristbands. Not bracelets, but the sort of wristbands you get when you have to queue up in line for a concert or to get backstage. I thought that'd be so cool! When Audrey sold, however, my publisher hired Rodrigo Corral to do the cover. I was over the moon at this news, since I had seen so many of his book covers and thought they were beautiful. "When Razorbill first emailed me the image that would become the hardcover Audrey cover, I was driving down to Orange County and my phone at the time couldn't download photos. My agent called me and was saying, 'Did you see it? Did you see it?' and I was FREAKING OUT because I couldn't see it and I didn't have my computer with me and I was an hour away from home and I NEEDED to see my book cover! "So I did what any rational person would do: I drove to the nearest Apple store, hopped onto a computer, and pulled up the image. I immediately loved it. I kept walking back and forth across the Apple store so I could see it from far away, just to get an idea of what it would look like on a bookstore shelf, and then I stood there and had a 20-minute phone conference with my publisher and agent about it. Thanks, Apple! "For the paperback version of Audrey, I knew that my publisher wanted to change the cover and put a girl on it, but I saw some rough draft images of the ppbk cover that were so not what I had envisioned for the book. So I sent Razorbill a photograph of a girl that, to me, personified Audrey, left. (The cool thing was that Kristen Pettit, the Razorbill editor who bought Audrey, had had the exact same image on her wall!) Razorbill was really great about keeping me in the loop and sent me some headshots of models to pick from and did a photoshoot with one of the girls, and I really love the way she's doing that little look over her shoulder. "(Fun fact alert: On the cover of Audrey, the model is actually wearing my editor's skirt.)" Thanks, Robin! I really love both covers. I like the first one because it stands out and feels original to me. I like the second for its real-girlness and total capturing of Audrey, who looks just like I pictured she would. I'm torn! Also, can I just say that I adore the back of the paperback Audrey, Wait! because it's covered in reviews, many by book bloggers? AMAZING. Which cover do you guys like best? PS-Robin has an album with all the foreign Audrey covers on facebook. Here's a peek, but go check out the full images--so cool!

Photo Friday: Stoop Sales, Peach Cake and Goodbye, Erin!

Last weekend we had a goodbye party for my friend Erin, who's moving back to San Diego (hence the I heart NY shirt). There were lots of photos, and Erin captioned them. I think this one is the only one that's suitable for blog viewing: Then we had a stoop sale! This is Anne (as Santa with a foot bath) and Erin (with vase I finally got rid of!). Super fun, and we each made like $100. Not bad for clearing out old stuff! Finally, I made Peach Cake this week. I've been working hard at Seventeen, so I haven't had many culinary adventures, but this one turned out nicely! What were you guys up to this week? Happy Friday!

If You Like Sarah Dessen...

How cool is it that the lovely and amazing Ms. Dessen recommended Violet on the Runway, officially, to readers? I feel like I just won a major award. Check out all these fantastic books by Gayle Forman, Elizabeth Scott, John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson and Susane Colasanti -- I've actually read all of these titles, and I can assure you that Sarah D. has good taste! (In books and TV and hometowns, naturally.) Happy Thursday!

Win-It Wednesday: Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala

The winner of last week's contest for Kaimira: The Sky Village is... Adrienne F! Send me your address, A. (And thanks to everyone who said hi!) This week, the lovely hardcover of Holly Cupala's Tell Me a Secret can be yours if you... tell me a secret. Come on, you saw that one coming. My secret is the first in this video of authors sharing secrets. So what's yours? I'll choose one commenter below to win this book!

The secret can be funny or sad or silly or scandalous--anything you want to share that is semi clandestine. I can't wait to hear...

PS-We're discussing this book at readergirlz, and Holly is having a big trailer release contest too, so check those spots out.

Tell Me a Secret Trailer!

The lovely Holly Cupala is the featured author at readergirlz this month. Go check out the discussions and Tell Me a Secret love! The trailer for her book is a work of art in itself. Check it out, and share it for a shot at winning tons of prizes (info here). (Kind of the best book trailer I've seen in a while!) Happy Tuesday!

Cover Stories: Zen and Xander Undone by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Amy Kathleen Ryan's Zen and Xander Undone got a starred review in Kirkus (that's tough!). They said "...touching, urgent and involving. Zen's frank narration--full of longing and hard-won insight--draws readers in and won't let go." --Kirkus Reviews, starred. Cool! The book also has a dramatic Cover Story that involves a big bookstore. Here's Amy to tell it:

"When I was writing Zen and Xander Undone (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2010), I had a very clear image in my mind of what I wanted the cover to look like. The book has two protagonists, and the contrast between their personalities is the driving force of the story. Xander, despite her extraordinary intellect, is descending into a self-destructive spiral with drugs, parties, and bad men. Zen is much more reserved, but she has a black belt in Shotokan and violent tendencies that get her into fights that sometimes she can't finish. This book has lots of action and danger in it, which I hoped the cover would get across. So I imagined two girls on the cover, both of them looking defiant. My image of Xander had heavy black eyeliner, tattoos, facial piercings, and she was wearing skanky clothes. Zen I imagined in her Karate uniform, standing in a battle-ready pose.

"What my publisher sent me was very different. The first version of the cover looked like this (left). This cover is beautiful and artistic, but I didn't think there was enough contrast between the girls. Physically they look like the characters I had in mind, but their different personalities just didn't come through enough for me. Also, with the girls lying on grass looking contemplative, I thought the cover was missing the energy it needed. To me this looks like a quiet, literary novel. My publisher really liked this design, however, and though they tinkered with it in accordance with my comments, they stuck with the basic composition. Since it really was lovely, I was okay with it, but not super thrilled.

"AND THEN... The sales meeting with Barnes and Noble came, and they said they wouldn't carry the book if it had that quiet cover on it. Though I'm not convinced that any single retailer should have this much power, the reality is that if Barnes and Noble doesn't carry a book, its sales numbers are automatically low. So my publisher decided to throw out the old design and start again from scratch.

"This is what they came up with, and personally I liked it much better than the first (right). To me this version feels more dynamic. The two girls have more energy in their stance, and the contrast between their personalities is much more evident. This looks like an active, dynamic story, and it suits the novel much better! I think my publisher did a great job with it.

"Though my publisher didn't agree with me at first about the cover, I do think that I'm pretty lucky in how much attention they pay to my comments. Not every publisher is so obliging to their authors, and I try not to forget how lucky I am when we're doing all that back and forthing. In the end, we all just want the same thing: For the book to SELL SELL SELL!! Hopefully Zen and Xander Undone will live up to its potential."

Thanks, Amy! I do think the final cover has a much stronger energy to it, and it seems like it fits the book more than the lying-down cover. Plus, I don't love the boxes of writing on that first cover--I think there's too much going on there. So, I'm definitely thumbs-up on the final cover's changes. What do you guys think?

Authors Telling Secrets

Holly Cupala's Tell Me a Secret blog tour has been all over the map, and it's winding down this week with a huge Trailer Release Party (tomorrow!). Today, she invited some authors to share secrets with her in this totally fun video (my secret comes early!): Happy Sunday!