Cover Stories: Love Story

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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?' My editor offered to have it Photoshopped out for me, but I wrote it into the book instead.

"I knew a cover quote would be added, so at one point I asked my editor for a final version of the cover that I could use in ads and so forth. She asked me to wait a few days because the art department was making my name bigger. I did not know what to make of that, and I blogged about it here. But in the end, my name is only a little bigger and pink!"

Thanks, Jennifer. I think this is a really romantic cover, but the pinks/purples aren't overdone, which is key (and I love Jennifer's name in pink instead of black). Sometimes covers get sickly sweet, but I think this one achieves a really nice balance, and a connection with the reader because of the eye contact.

What do you guys think? Happy Love Story reading!

Photo Friday: Birthday and Bump

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Today would have been my grandmother Carol's 101st birthday! Here she is graduating from the University of West Virginia:

And, by popular demand, here's a bump photo. I'm 9 months pregnant, people, so the phone photo fuzziness and dark lighting helps. (That's a Carolina Blue vintage mustang Dave and I spotted last night outside the Prospect Park Soiree--love it!).

Happy Fridays!

Cover Stories: The Day Before

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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.

"I e-mailed my editor and asked if they'd tried any beach scenes, and she said they had, but none of them had the impact they were looking for. Part of it was they had a hard time finding an image of a girl on the beach who could pull off the right spunk and tone of Amber, the main character. They felt like the girl on the cover captured Amber's personality and the mood of the book. I e-mailed a few friends, and they all thought the cover was beautiful and a couple of them said the grass reminded them of sandy dunes on the East coast. I'm a West coast gal, so beaches here look different.

"It's a stock photo, and I think it's pretty, and it does convey the tone of the book. Amber's life is about to turn upside down, so it seems fitting that the girl on the cover is pictured upside down. I love the look in her eyes, and I'm guessing that may have been what attracted the designer to this image when selecting it. And the fact that it's partially covered with grass is like she's trying to hide, almost, from the world around her, which is appropriate for the story."

Thanks, Lisa! I can totally see the East Coast sandy-dunes thing, and the intensity of her gaze is noted, too. This one's up soon in my to-be-read pile, so I'll know more of whether I feel like it fits the story after I read it, but I do think the cover is lovely.

What do you guys think?

Win-It Wednesday: Apples, Apples, Apples!

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The apple-bite contest is still going... I'll post the winning 5 entries at the end of the month! (And yes, that heart bite was officially photoshopped, as you can tell from the raw photo in the Cover Story and below.) In the meantime, there are posts popping up all over about Small Town Sinners (thank you!). I really hope you guys like it.

I did a Cover Story interview with designer Danielle Delaney yesterday on bn.com (that's another pic from photographer Joe Horne's shoot, left). Here's an excerpt:

"Really strong jackets tend to have a simple concept from the beginning that just clicks into place. What was interesting, was that this book had so many angles of how it could be advertised (such as, romance, coming of age, teen girl, religion, and small town themes) that it was at first difficult to figure out which should be the 'focus.'" --Cover Designer Danielle Delaney

I love hearing the story from the other side of the fence (the art department)! Read the full interview.

Also this week, I chose five stories from Figment to be featured reads! Log into the home page to check them out--there is such great writing on that site!

PS-f you see Small Town Sinners out in the wild (the "wild" being your bookstore or library), snap a shelf shot for me? It's still thrilling!

Cover Stories: Small Town Sinners, Part 2

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Check out Part 1 of the Cover Story, about my slight input and inspiration photos, and read Part 1.5 of the Cover Story, in which I get nerdy about fonts.

Then, check out this interview with the awesome Joe Horne, who shot the cover photo! (That's the original, left). It hardly changed!

Melissa: What inspired the photo? Joe: My wife wanted to take a photography class at one of the schools around here. She wanted me to take it with her. I thought it would be something fun to do together. I'd been shooting pictures for over 30 years, but had never taken a class. So, we signed up. Our first homework assignment was to shoot fruit. I decided to shoot an apple that showed Eve being banished from the Garden of Eden after eating the forbidden fruit.

Melissa: What can you tell us about the shot? Joe: I talked to a beginning model, Taylor, about sitting for me. We went to a historic schoolhouse in Florence [South Carolina] that I was familiar with. I knew they had just clear cut some timber from behind the school. I wanted the background to appear ruined to show that she was no longer in paradise. It was kind of strange for Taylor. In previous shoots she had been the subject of the pictures. Now she was in the background with her face covered trying to look sad and remorseful. [Check out another photo from the same day's shoot, below left.]

Melissa: How did you find out that the photo was going to be used for the book cover? Joe: I have a profile for my photos on deviantART under GossamerDreams. I get messages from time to time. Some people like my work, some want to give me advice on how to make my pictures better, some just want to know if I have more pictures of a certain model. I got a message wanting to know if the picture could be used for a book cover. I didn't think the request was serious, so I ignored it. Later I got another request from the same person about the picture, so I emailed her and we talked. Of course I agreed. I'd never had a book cover before.

Melissa: What do you think of the final image on the Small Town Sinners cover? Joe: I am very pleased with the final cover. The only thing that was changed was the shape of the bite in the apple. Mine was just a bite, but they made it into a heart . I had adjusted the color and grain to make the apple stand out and give the rest of the photo a surreal effect.

Thank you, Joe! I'm so amazed we got in touch, and I adore this photo, which I think captures the feeling of Small Town Sinners so well! Be sure to look at Joe's portfolio--I have a feeling there are more book covers in his future. I love this one (right).

Stay tuned--tomorrow I'll talk to the cover designer for Small Town Sinners on bn.com!

Remember to try to win the book in the apple-bite challenge!

NY Times Book Review: Small Town Sinners

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In case you didn't catch it on twitter or facebook, look at this:

The New York (effing) Times reviewed Small Town Sinners in Sunday's paper. And they liked it! And they compared it to Friday Night Lights!!!

Choice bits: "Walker has written a credible and tender evocation of the moment when a young person’s beliefs begin to emerge and potentially diverge from the teachings of a family’s religion... for teenagers raised in evangelical homes, as I was, the character’s spiritual life will ring absolutely true."

"Near the end, Lacey contemplates a verse from the prophet Isaiah: 'Come now and let us reason together.' It’s a good summation of what Walker asks of her characters and, by extension, of her readers."

Dream. Come. True. It's enough excitement to send a girl into labor (but hopefully it won't! Not ready!).

Happy Saturday!

Cover Stories: A Need So Beautiful

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Suzanne Young's new book, A Need So Beautiful, scored a star from Booklist, which deemed it "a clever and well-written fantasy." It's also got an absolutely glowing cover. She stopped by on her Girlfriends Cyber Circuit Tour to tell us about it:

"I had an idea for the cover, but ultimately it would have been too dark. The idea for this one was there from the start, and I think it really captures the warmth and essence of the book.

"When I first saw the image, I was stunned. I loved it. But it didn’t truly hit me how beautiful it was until I saw the entire jacket and back copy:

"Mostly just the colors changed a bit. I didn’t have anything that I wanted to change, so luckily I was pretty happy. It was very different from my first cover experience. [Read about Suzanne's Naughty List covers.]

"It was a photo shoot. I got to see the model they picked, and even got a behind the scenes photo during the shoot. It was very exciting."

Thanks, Suzanne! Check out the behind-the-scenes photo from the shoot (right)--love that fan hair-blowing effect. Like I said, I'm into the glow, and so much yellow! It stands out for me.

What do you guys think of this cover?

Oh, and here's the lovely trailer.

Cover Stories 1.5: Small Town Sinners, Title Fonts

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(Read Part 1 of the Cover Story.) Ooh, I forgot! I wasn't sure about the title font at first (but I was wrong). The art department indulged me and did a bunch of mockups:   

Here are the mockups with in block, serif block and the final (image also brightened and apple changed, as noted in yesterday's cover story).

The final font  is definitely the best, right? I know I'm leading you to agree with me, but I really think so! It has bite to it (like this contest). And look how much more my name stands out! I didn't even notice that until just now. Really! (But I'm not above saying... I like it.)