Go Ahead-Make my (early Valentine's) Day!

Carol Tanzman checking in!

Today is Valentine’s Day. First of all--Happy V Day to you all. I hope you get lots of chocolate, flowers, jewelry…and books! (I’ve spent many a Valentine’s Day curled up, alone, with a good novel—but that’s a whole ‘nother story!)

For me, V-Day came five days early this year. February 9^th to be exact. That’s the day my publishing company, Harlequin Teen, chose to reveal the cover for my next book.

As Ilsa coincidentally discussed yesterday, (this seems to be cover week on ADR3NALIN3) seeing the art design for your book is one of the most exciting days a writer can have. We spend so many hours alone: writing, imagining scenes, characters, settings, and the plot. We struggle, we try every trick we can think of to solve the problems that come up in the manuscript. And yes, we also spend fun time trying to visualize the book cover. We're just like musicians. Ask any band member what their first (or second) album cover will look like—and immediately they’ll go into a monologue with pretty much every detail sketched out.

Getting a book cover right is tricky. Even though we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, secretly, many of us do. Both Circle of Silence and dancergirl are contemporary thrillers—so it’s especially challenging to nail them. Paranormals, horror, romance—we all sort of know what they should look like. Not specifically, of course, since each book is different, but generally. If you see a romance novel, with it’s gorgeous girl or hot guy, you know what to expect. When you look at a paranormal, either a traditional ghost story or the truly dark, twisted kind, you know what you’re in for. Check out the covers by the authors on the bottom of this blog (and Ilsa's post yesterday) and it’s clear we’re not writing warm and fuzzy. Still, there are differences—and they are subtly reflected by the cover art.

Authors do not design covers. To many readers’ surprise, they may have little, or no input. However, Harlequin Teen showed me various drafts of the covers and my comments were always welcome. This is something authors definitely appreciate.

For dancergirl, the challenge the Harlequin Teen design team had was to take a teenage heroine who loves to dance and give the reader the sense that something scary is happening. It’s two contrasting themes in the book––and figuring out a way to incorporate them both had to have been a challenge.

Let’s look at the elements. The book designers added the tagline “The videos went viral” to locate the book in the contemporary world. Then they used an extreme close-up image of a girl and cropped it so that it’s asymmetrical. That alone is somewhat disturbing. She looks….upset? Concerned? Distraught? The viewer doesn’t know precisely—but what we do know is that this is not a happy camper. Over this image, lines are superimposed. Low-resolution video lines? Open venetian blinds, as if someone’s staring at her from outside her window? The sophisticated technique leaves it open to interpretation. As the writer, I love that!

The title is hot pink, which by itself doesn’t read as creepy. Yet deep purple shadows under the girl’s eyes and on her lips undercuts any notion of a carefree dancergirl. Overall impression: something disturbing is going on to someone who does not deserve it. It’s a lot of information to convey, and the design team nailed it.

Now for my early, and fab, Valentine’s Day present: the Circle of Silence cover. Oh, yes, Art Director Erin Craig and Designer Tara Scarcello know the way into this girl’s heart! Different than dancergirl, yet somehow tied to it. Exactly the way the books are. Each a stand-alone, yet both take place in the same high school with appearances by various characters in both books.

Again, I’ll start my personal deconstruction with the tagline. “The story turned deadly.” The main character is a reporter on the Campus News team—and the line clearly hints at that. It also tells the reader that this story is going to get very tense, very fast.

The image of the girl is not in as extreme close-up as with dancergirl. In this case, the expression on her face, and the way she looks over her shoulder, is what tells the viewer that she is worried. Concerned. Creeped out. Who, or what, is behind her? That’s the question we ask as we look at the cover. It’s also the biggest mystery in the book. Literally, who is behind the events at school that keep turning ever more sinister?

Instead of lines superimposed over the face, this image is actually made of letters…the title of the book, over and over and over again. Circle of Silence. Who is in this secret circle? Who is not? The questions haunt Valerie, the main character. Over the course of the book, certain events also loop obsessively in her mind—just like the title. Once you read the novel, you'll understand why this visual representation is both so compelling and so brilliant!

One last note: the title color. It’s in the pink family. Almost the same as what's used on the dancergirl title––but not quite. It’s a little darker, which just may signify that Circle of Silence is also a little darker, a little creepier.

It’s obvious that I’m thrilled with the cover design. It’s sophisticated. It has resonance to the book in both literal and metaphoric ways. And yes, just like the first book, it’s very, very cool. Thank you so much, Erin and Tara for making my (early Valentine’s) Day!

What do you think about the covers? Or my deconstruction of them...

Cover Love--and DROWNING INSTINCT Winner!

I've got covers on the brain.

Right now, we're pondering SHADOWS covers. I've seen the artist's conception for the ASHES paperback. My Spanish publisher sent me their version for ASHES; my Bulgarian editor was also in touch just recently. In fact, a couple days ago, my splendid agent, Jennifer Laughran, tweeted a picture of the Hungarian cover. Apparently, it kind of freaked her out because she saw only that face, in very low light.



Anyway, that got me thinking about covers, in general. I am the first to admit that I have my own ideas about what an ideal cover should be: neither boring nor derivative and a story in its own right. The cover should give the reader a hint about what's in those pages. But a cover should also be eye-catching. (Note that I didn't say "appealing;" some very gruesome covers are incredibly powerful.) A cover can also be a truly splendid work of art as in this Scribner stunner for Stephen King's UNDER THE DOME.



I am so in awe, you can not imagine. And, of course, this being Stephen King, the UK paperback gave you a choice of six different covers, five of which focused on a particular character. Seven, if you count the signed limited edition.







Covers come in all flavors. Some are stock images jumbled together. Some could serve as an image for just about any book. (Be honest: how many covers have you seen which show two kids, in silhouette, running across a horizon line/field/hill, etc.? Yeah, I thought so. A ton.) Others are quite unique; they could never be used for or represent any other book.

Now, I remember a few months ago hearing an author badmouth her publisher--in a public forum, mind you (a real no-no, if you ask me)--for picking stupid covers, never including her, and on and on. I kind of wanted to say something mildly snarky like, Do you know how many people would kill to have their books published at all, you idiot? But my mother raised me to be very polite. So when it came my turn to comment, I told the truth: my publishers have ALWAYS asked for my input on a cover. ALWAYS. For them--and me--it's a collaborative process just as important as any edit. I remember the back and forth for DROWNING INSTINCT, which just came out at the beginning of the month. My goodness, I think we must've gone through at least ten or twelve ideas, and those were only the ones I saw. What I find really interesting is that the cover which made the cut . . . I wasn't that wild about it at first. I guess this was because I was still in ASHES-mode, where we were trying to get away from a character-driven cover. So this one for DI . . . I worried. But you know what? Everyone else who saw it loved it--and now that I've had a chance to step back, I agree. This is the perfect cover.



Which only goes to show what I know about cover design.

And that got me thinking about the various incarnations and regional variations for ASHES.

The original cover--which I again came to like quite a bit--was very character-driven.



Me? My initial response? Uh-oh, now everyone will think it's a zombie book. Anyone who's read the book knows that's, well, not quite accurate. What I worried about was that the cover might be promising something the story itself wouldn't deliver. (And, boy, did that creepy fish-belly eye get to me.) Not that there isn't plenty of mayhem and gore and enough chowing down for the most voracious carnivore . . . but the vision being presented wasn't quite right. My editor and I went back and forth a couple times; my agent--much savvier about these things than I--weighed in; and bless his soul, my editor sent various versions incorporating some of our suggestions. In the end, though, they went with the image for that BEA ARC.

If you've been paying attention, of course, you know by now: that particular image didn't truly make the final cut. Rethinking the cover design was a stroke of genius on my editor's part because he understood: the ASHES story is much bigger and broader than a single girl. We all wanted the cover to reach its intended audience, too, not just girls but boys and young men for whom a great adventure cuts across gender.

So, finally, they came up with this.



My first response? UGH. But not ugh, how horrible: ugh, how creepy. This cover has it all: the EMP pulse that destroys the world; that really ill-defined, mysterious and MONSTROUS face which could be anyone and anybody (sort of the point of the book; not all the monsters are brain-zapped, after all). So I thought they really nailed it.

But, you know, everyone has their own taste--and so do different countries. I know of at least one website which ran three covers, not only the final US version, but the UK



and the German.




Really different, huh? I was surprised, but I also came to appreciate that every publisher knows his/her country and audience, how to reach out to them, make them want to pick up a book. Not surprisingly, folks from the respective countries liked their version better than another's. Bulgaria chose to go with the US version:



Spain's cover is different again--and wouldn't you know, I've misplaced the darned thing. I mean it. The email has vanished; I'm just so pissed! (I know, I know; I'll eventually track it down SOMEHOW and post.) But I do remember that the cover was a very intense, deep orange-red with two silhouettes: the taller girl is clearly Alex, and the little kid with pigtails (and a teddy bear) is Ellie.

As I said, right now, we're in the middle of working on the cover for SHADOWS which comes out later this year. I can't tell you anything--much less show you--but while it is different from the final US ASHES cover, it is somewhat similar to what's being planned for the paperback version of ASHES. So perhaps the idea is to go for a certain common "feel," I don't know.

But I am curious: what are your ideas about covers? What goes into making a "good" book cover anyway? Should they be actual works of art (as, for example, the Whelan covers for King's THE DARK TOWER series)? Are book covers art? [My vote: only the really good ones ;-) ] Should covers tell a story the way, say, this one does for King's 11/22/63? (Three guesses who I think tells a pretty great story.)




And do you have cover stories--good and bad--of your own? Bring 'em on.

***

Before I forget, the winner of the DROWNING INSTINCT giveaway is Melanie Goodman! Having already read the book--and given it a lovely review--Melanie said she's giving it to her mom for a read first. To both, enjoy! To all those who entered, thanks. And for the many, many overseas fans who would have LIKED to enter . . . stay tuned. I feel a Goodreads giveaway in our future :-)