The One About the 'Three Day Summer' Cover

The cover for Three Day Summer has just been exclusively revealed on Hypable! I'm going to link out to it here and then ask you to come back because I want to share some feelings about it.

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Did you feast your eyes on it? What do you think?

I will tell you my thoughts: it is the cover of my psychedelic dreams! Quite honestly, when my editor told me the concept behind it (it's based on '60s concert art), I may have given out an inadvertent, not entirely ladylike, squeal. Why? I've been enamored of the art on those posters for almost as long as I can remember. I had quite a few of them plastered on one wall of my teenaged bedroom.

And when my husband and I got married last year, we based our Save the Dates on two specific '60s posters (the proof is here).

And when I was writing the book and daydreaming about possible cover art, that is exactly the concept I most wished it would be. But I didn't share this with the Simon & Schuster team. They just read my mind.

So, quite simply, I love it. I love that it so thoughtfully pays homage to the era without being clichéd. I love the joy that seems to emanate from it. I love that it looks so modern and fresh and still tips its hat to the '60s. And I love how very colorful it is. I can't wait to see it on a bookshelf.

So HUGE props (and my gratitude) to designer Krista Vossen for rocking out this whole cover thing so very much.

The Paperback of 'Mapmaker' Is Coming...and It Has a New Cover!

You heard right! On March 26th, get ready for the backpack-friendly, totally tote-able paperback edition of The Mapmaker and the Ghost. Available at a bookstore or online retailer near you!

And guess what? The paperback edition has a NEW cover. Well, sorta. If you've been following me for a while you might recognize...THIS:

Why, yes! That is my original, beloved cover back -- for real -- on the paperback! I absolutely adored this cover and am so glad I'll get to finally see it on bookshelves.

Oh, and here is the complete design because there are some exciting things happening on the back too!

Namely:

- a new fantastic tagline: "Sometimes the best adventures await you in your own backyard..."

- a brand, spanking new synopsis that I adore:

Goldenrod Moram loves nothing better than a good quest. So, inspired by her heroes, Lewis and Clark, she vows to spend the summer exploring and mapping the forest behind her home. But soon after she begins, her task is complicated by a series of rather unique events. A chance encounter with a strange old lady has her searching for a legendary, possibly world-saving blue rose -- which incidentally lands her in the middle of a ragtag gang of brilliant troublemakers, whose plot to attain infamy and fortune will devastate the town of Pilmilton. But when Goldenrod stumbles upon a real, live ghost haunting the forest, she knows this will be anything but an ordinary summer...or an ordinary quest.

- AND two amazing pull quotes from reviews:

 "This page-turning adventure will tickle readers' funny bones." - SLJ

"Full of adventure and mystery, this novel is sure to bring out the explorer in every reader." - LMC

Who's excited? This girl!

About the New Cover

As you might have seen on The Story Siren earlier this week, The Mapmaker and the Ghost has a finalized jacket. It also has a new cover.



I first found out the cover was changing at the very end of December. There were various reasons for this, the main one being that booksellers and the marketing team were worried that the old cover was too crowded.

If you've been following this blog for a while, you might remember that I did a rather giddy weeklong series of posts when my cover was first revealed, detailing the whole process from initial sketches to final art. (You can find the sketches here, an interview with the illustrator here, an interview with the designer here, and my initial reveal here.)

So...I have to be completely honest. When I first found out that my cover was changing, I was reeling. I think it’s a little bit akin to having a baby, doting on how perfect that baby looks for six months, and then, one day, having the baby’s face completely change on you (I smell a prequel to Face-Off...). It’s jarring to say the least. This is what I was used to seeing:

And what arrived in my inbox in December was a mock-up of this:

From ten characters down to three. I missed the other seven so much that, emotionally, it was hard for me to come to terms with the change.

But, here's the thing. I genuinely believe that all the wonderful people at Walker know how to package and sell a book infinitely more than I do. They have sold many, many books. I have sold none.

And the other truth is, I probably never should have become so attached to my original cover to begin with. Covers change, especially if I'm lucky enough to have the book go into reprints and stick around for a while. It's what's inside that really counts (sound familiar?) and it's what's inside that I can ultimately control.

All that being said, the new cover has gotten tons of positive responses (see what I mean about Walker knowing what they're doing) and I've been able to see the silver lining, too. I still adore the illustrations and I'm SO GLAD that did not change. I'm also infinitely relieved that they found room for the rest of my characters on the back. And I'm madly in love with the back cover copy. It's quirky and adorable and (I think) captures the voice of the book so well.

I hope my book's facelift compels even more kids to pick it up! And, more importantly, I hope they love the adventure they find inside.

'The Mapmaker and the Ghost' Jacket Reveal!

Last week, I arrived to a slim envelope in my vestibule. When I opened it, it contained the final, printed jacket to The Mapmaker and the Ghost.

This jacket has:

1) The most amazingly fun back cover copy, courtesy of uber-editor, Ms. Stacy Cantor Abrams.

2) All my main characters lovingly illustrated by the fantastically talented Mr. Gérald Guerlais.

3) And...a surprise too.

Wanna see it?! The lovely Kristi of The Story Siren is hosting the exclusive reveal on her blog right now! Check it out right here.

Covers I Love: Recent Reads

The expression "You can't judge a book by its cover" makes a lot of sense. I can't imagine that once you read a book, loving or hating it is much influenced by anything other than what's written on its pages.

However, whether you pick up a book in the first place, that can have a lot to do with what sort of artwork is slapped on the front. Especially when you're browsing a bookstore and mesmerized by those tables with 40 books on them that I swear are designed for suckers like me who did NOT mean to buy 20 books when they walked in.

But I digress.

Here are two recent reads that got me to pick them up solely based on their covers. (Of course, I eventually bought and read them based on their jacket copy, too).

It's so deceptively simple, yet so striking, right? The book is a tightly wrought murder mystery (with a few creepy moments) and I think the cover conveys that perfectly.

It's illustrated by Jennifer Wang and designed by Nancy Resnick.

Obviously, a completely different book but striking all the same. Right away I get a sense of a time period, a certain playfulness and even a certain writing style. The book is a very clever (and funny) story of a governess in 19th century England bringing up three kids who were (literally) raised by wolves.

Illustrated by Jon Klassen (who also has wonderful full-page illustrations throughout the book) and typography by Sarah Hoy.

I'm happy to report that neither cover led me astray: I thoroughly enjoyed both books and would recommend them.

What about you? Any recent books you picked up because the cover stood out to you?

The Book's Cover: Thumbnail Sketches and a Giveaway!

We've reached the end of Cover Blitz Week!

To celebrate, first I'm going to share with you something my editor just shared with me this week: the thumbnail sketches. These were the very first pieces of work the illustrator sent over for this project. They were used to figure out composition, before he created the more detailed sketches found here.

As you can probably tell, they went with composition number 4. Emphasis was taken off of the rose, however, so that it didn't look too girly...something I wholeheartedly agree with because I very specifically wanted to write a book, with a female protagonist, that was still gender neutral.

So, there you have it! If you put all 5 of the Cover Blitz posts together, completely out of order (not sure why I did that, but there you are), you should have a basic anatomy of how a cover gets made.

And now for the other part of the celebration: I'm running a Cover Blitz Week Giveaway!

And the prizes are:

Two books of your choosing from the Bloomsbury/Walker catalogue (to celebrate the extraordinary work they do there).

These are just examples of some of my favorite covers. But the winner can choose any two books found at BloomsburyKids.com

One copy of this new UK re-edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the reasoning behind this is trifold: to celebrate the newly-minted Pottermore announcement; because I think it's utterly gorgeous; and because I (not-so-secretly) daydream about Bloomsbury UK publishing my book too. )

One signed copy of The Mapmaker and the Ghost when it's released (because...well because it would be weird for me to sign someone else's book!)

I'll send it out as soon as I have copies which means you will be one of the first on the block to have it.

There are three easy ways to enter:

First, answer this question: If you could meet any famous ghost (or famous person's ghost), who would it be? 

Then:
- Leave a comment on this blog with your answer or
- Tweet me your answer or
- Write your answer on my Facebook wall

Everyone can enter once per method (three max).

The contest ends Monday, June 27th, 2011 at 8 PM EST at which point the winner will be chosen at random. One winner will win all four prizes.

Good luck and thanks everyone for indulging me all week!

Update: The contest is now closed. Congratulations to the winner (chosen via random.org)...[drumroll please] Bryan!

The Book's Cover: An Interview with Walker Senior Designer Nicole Gastonguay!

Cover Blitz Week continues!

I know I, for one, have always been very curious about the mysterious world of book publishing. How does a cover come together? Who picks the title font? Who decides what the words look like in the very beginning of a chapter?

When I got my first pass pages last month, it was the first time they actually looked like a book and not like a printout from Word. And that was owed almost entirely to Nicole Gastonguay, the senior designer at Walker who was responsible for all of the above as well as matching up illustrator Gerald Guerlais to my book's cover.

Here is some insight into her process from the talented (and funny) Nicole Gastonguay herself!

What's your background? How did you become a senior designer at Bloomsbury/Walker?
I went to Ringling College of Art and majored in illustration. Upon graduation, I moved to NYC with delusions of being an artist. After being a cashier/artist, among other things, I got my first “real” job at Walker in 2000. Now I’m a designer/artist which is much cooler sounding. I’ve also been fortunate enough to have my fine art shown in galleries around New York and Los Angeles.

When Nicole's not busy doing awesome design work for books, she's creating these awesome art pieces instead.

Tell us a little bit about your workflow. Do you read the books you're art directing? If so, what are you usually looking for?
I read as much as I can, but with the amount of books I do a year, there just isn’t time to read everything. I do my best to get the flavor of the writing style and then work very closely with the books’ editors and publishers to determine the best vision for the cover.

How did you find Gerald and what made you think he'd be a good match for The Mapmaker and the Ghost?
Gerald is represented by an agent who we work with often. He was the perfect fit because one of the main “characters” in the story is the woods itself, and we really like how Gerald treats his forest and background compositions. He’s also amazing at kids and expressions and this story is definitely overflowing with zany kids.

It it hard jumping around from designing for Picture Books vs. Middle Grade vs. YA?
I’m grateful that I get to work on so many different kinds of projects. It keeps me from getting bored or stale in my design.

What's your favorite part about your job?
Lunchtime.

And after that, I just love books. I always have. It’s very satisfying after putting so many hours into a project that you have an object that you can hold in your hand. Even better is when you see a kid on the subway reading one of them.


You can find Nicole and more of her fabulous work at her website, which you will be magically beamed to by clicking on the carton of shrimp lo mein found below.

The Book's Cover: Early Sketches!

As an unpublished author working for years on different manuscripts, I have to admit that I sometimes spent time daydreaming about what the actual book might look like sitting on a shelf. I imagined what it would be like to walk into a bookstore and see it there. And I definitely wondered what the cover could possibly be.

When I first started taking children's writing classes back in 2007, one of the first things I learned was that the author has very little say in the artwork. Honestly, that's been fine by me. I love art, but I love it enough to know that there are people out there who are very, very good at it and I am not one of them. Knowing that, I didn't have an exact picture in my head of what I wanted the cover to look like at all.

So when I opened an email from my editor in January and scrolled down to the attachments I saw, I basically...grinned. A lot. From ear to ear actually.

These are the initial sketches I saw.

Not too far removed from what the final art turned out to be. Notice that the rose and the map are both around the tree in this one.

The tree itself is a little different from the previous version. I actually really liked the rose emblem on the tree, too.

More swirls near the top and back to the original rose, without the map.

This is pretty much the final art. Glasses were eventually added to one character (to help differentiate him from the others) and take a look at the character near the bottom right...

This is the first color sketch I saw! Notice that the character on the bottom right's appearance has changed. This is because he changed in between my first and second round of edits. The tree also has more foliage now, probably because it made more sense for it to with the title up there.

Final cover art with title font. I did give some notes as to hair color, eye color, and a few other minor colorings that needed to change. I feel like this could be a middle grade version of one of those bar arcade games...or, you know, Highlights magazine. Can you spot all the differences between the last version and this one?

I know I said my children's writing classes told me not to expect to have any say on the artwork, but I do want to point out that I was shown all of these versions along the way and encouraged to share my thoughts. Not that I had much to say because, well, the design team at Walker nailed it.

Speaking of which, tomorrow I will have another interview on the blog, where you will find out the answer to the burning question: what does a (very talented) senior designer at a publishing house do?

Stay tuned!

The Book’s Cover: An Interview with Illustrator Gérald Guerlais!

Since I got to reveal my cover on Friday and I'm still SUPER excited about it, I'm declaring this week Cover Blitz Week! First things first: here's a little insight into the man behind the cover art, illustrator extraordinaire Gérald Guerlais.

Sometime in December of 2010, I got an email from my editor with a link to an artist’s work. She wanted to know what I thought of having him do the cover of my book.

The link included work like this:

© 2011 Gerald Guerlais

And this:

© 2011 Gerald Guerlais

So my reaction was something like, ohmygodyesit’samazingpleaselet’sgethim.

Lucky me, Gérald said yes and a few months later, I had an amazing, gorgeous cover that I absolutely love.

Gérald and I had never spoken or met and, yet, I felt like he “got” my book and elevated it 1000% with his whimsical illustration. I wanted to contact him and get the skinny on his process. So, without further ado, here is my e-chat with the amazingly talented Gérald Guerlais (oui, he is French!).

Tell me a little bit about your background. What led you to becoming an illustrator?
I’ve been drawing since an early age. I read many French comics books [as a kid] and the illustrations always had a bigger impact on me. After I graduated high school, I went to an applied arts school in Paris (Ensaama, known as "Olivier de Serres" art school) where I studied visual communication, typography, and advertisements. I naturally focused on illustrations.

Let’s talk about the process you went through to create the cover for The Mapmaker and the Ghost. What happened after you accepted the offer to do it? Did you get a copy of the book to read? Did you get direction from the art director?
I received a summary of the book, describing precisely main characters and atmosphere, and the tones of the story. Then I suggested some compositions and designs to the artistic director. Then we talked; we exchanged ideas through emails. It is a collective process between the illustrator, the art director, and even the marketing team because they have the background in knowing what makes an attractive cover in bookstores. All points of view are welcome. We're on the same boat.

What are you looking for in a story to create a successful illustration for it?
I always try to catch the deep meaning, the spirit behind the words. As soon as you have been caught by a story, visions easily come to your mind. You are inspired.

There are a lot of wonderful elements going on in the cover. Do you have favorite part? Was there one part that was harder to nail than another?
On this cover, the challenge was the large number of characters. You don't want to lose them in the pictures. I also wanted to capture the duality between the groups of kids without Manichean results.

As writers, we go through a pretty extensive editing and revision process with our editors. What is the revision process like for an illustrator?
The chat between art director and illustrator is crucial. We have to make sure we are on the same page, that we are going in the same direction. We use common references. That can be a movie, another book, or pictures. We even sometimes use references just to show a direction we don't want to go in. Depending on the quality of talk, the revision process can be short or long :-)

When an illustrator is selected, he naturally brings his style, visual vocabulary, palettes, tones, etc. So, I would say about 50% of the work has been done when the illustrator has been hired.

But some art directors love to be surprised. There's no predictable recipe.


What are your favorite things to draw?
I would say Nice Monsters. Just because they’re easy for me. You don't have to respect anatomy or specific shapes when you create monsters. I like creating nice monsters with humoristic potential.

© 2011 Gerald Guerlais

What other sort of work do you do besides children’s books illustrations?
I am currently involved in a charity which involves creating an international collective art book with my Japanese friend Daisuke Tsutsumi. We’ve been doing it for about five years and it’s called Sketchtravel. You can have a look at the project by visiting www.sketchtravel.com.

 
For more about Gérald, including more of his gorgeous portfolio, check out: www.geraldguerlais.com.

And stay tuned right here all week where I will be showing you early sketches of my cover, talking with amazing Bloomsbury art director Nicole Gastonguay, and even running a little giveaway!

'The Mapmaker and the Ghost' Cover Reveal!!

I have been so excited to share this for a while.

So without further ado...here is the official cover for The Mapmaker and the Ghost.

I honestly cannot express in words how happy I am with it.

Next week, I'll have an interview with cover artist Gerald Guerlais on the blog, plus more fun behind-the-scenes cover stuff and a giveaway!

For now, I'm just going to thank the entire team at Bloomsbury/Walker who worked on this. I seriously could not have imagined it to be any more wonderful than it is.

Covers I Love: May B.

My fellow debut 2012 author, Caroline Starr Rose, revealed her cover last week and I'm not kidding when I say I've been staring at it all weekend. I asked her if I could post it here since--if you haven't seen it already--I think you should stare at it too.

I would pick that book up in a heartbeat. The illustration (done by C.S. Neal) is gorgeous, but so is the title font. (Click on the cover to make it bigger). I love that white, striped drop shadow on the title. And the way Caroline's name is a little bit faded to look vintage (it doesn't hurt that her name is probably the most perfect author name ever, too). Big kudos to the art director who put this together.

And now that I've gotten your attention, here's a little synopsis of May B.

Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, or May B. as she is known, is helping out on a neighbor's Kansas prairie homestead, “Just until Christmas,” says her Pa. Twelve-year-old May wants to contribute, but it's hard to be separated from her family by fifteen long, unfamiliar miles.

Then the unthinkable happens: May is abandoned to the oncoming winter, trapped all alone in a tiny snow-covered sod house without any way to let her family know and no neighbors to turn to. In her solitude, she wavers between relishing her freedom and succumbing to utter despair, while trying to survive in the harshest conditions. Her physical struggle to first withstand and then to escape her prison is matched by tormenting memories of her failures at school. Only a very strong girl will be able to stand up to both and emerge alive and well.

So, right, can't wait to read this.

AND here's the back cover too:

The Apocalypse Is Looking Pretty Good Right About Now

A few weeks ago I joined a group of 2012 debut children's authors called the Apocalypsies. Their motto is 'Read 'Em Like There's No Tomorrow.' They are awesome.

One of the writers who helps run the group is debut YA author Gretchen McNeil. Gretchen was originally supposed to have her novel, Possess, come out in Winter 2012 (same literary season as me). But then her publishers switched things around and, instead, her book will be coming out on August 23, 2011! She has been dubbed the harbinger of the Apocalypsies.

Today Gretchen revealed her cover art and, I gotta tell you, I think it's absolutely stunning. Check it out:

Doesn't that make you want to pick it up and find out exactly what this book is about? Yes? Then I will make you work for it just a little: to learn more about the book and Gretchen, including how to pre-order (!) Possess, check out her blog.

Judging a Book By Its Cover

Last week, I got to the bit of the publishing process that made this whole thing seem the most real: I got to see the very first sketches for my cover art! I hope to be able to share at some point soon, but let me just say that I'm absolutely delighted with them. For one thing, there's something very, very cool about seeing my characters for the first time. For another, I really think the artwork totally captures the spirit of the book, even elevates it into something more.

I love art and have always been fascinated by people who can put pencil to paper, or brush to canvas, or mouse to screen, and create a recognizable image. I am, shall we say, artistically challenged (please see below for proof - a series of sketches I've entitled Daydreaming of Snitches While At Office Meeting). I've been asked quite a few times by friends what I think the cover of my book would look like and I've always answered the same way: I really have no idea but I'm excited to see what someone who is visually gifted can come up with. I was not disappointed.

NOT my cover art, but an example of why I should never attempt any sort of artwork.

Interestingly enough, I came across this cool article from the UK's Guardian today, all about good cover art vs. bad cover art. It talks about the power of aesthetics: for example, how many times have you been drawn to pick a book off of the shelf or display table simply because it visually caught your attention? Thanks to my very good fortune, I think my book will fall into the category of good cover art. Which means I owe a huge thanks to the art director, and of course, the extremely talented illustrator she was able to get!