On The Outside: Cindy Pon

Cindy Pon is the author of the soon to be released Silver Phoenix. Silver Phoenix will be release April 28 from HarperCollins publishers. You can visit Cindy's gorgeous website here. And Cindy's blog here.

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thanks for inviting me to share my cover
story, kelsey! i couldn't have hoped for a more
stunning cover--one so fitting with the feel of
my story and my heroine. when my editor first
asked me on my own thoughts of the cover for
SILVER PHOENIX, i had thought perhaps a
drawing of my heroine riding on the back of a
sea dragon. she told me she was thinking of doing
a photo shoot with a model.


at the time, i didn't realize how lucky i was! i
was so new to the entire process, i didn't know
that a cover foto shoot doesn't happen for all novels.


i was included in nearly every step
of the process, which began with helping
to choose a model that we felt looked most
like my heroine, ai ling. i had just watched the
forbidden kingdom and thought golden sparrow
really reminded me of my own heroine. my actual
cover model was a last minute find--and i honestly
cannot think of a better choice. she looks exactly
as i imagined ai ling to look.


this is the same actress in a different film.
i sent the photo to show possible hairstyles, as
it is important to my story. and ai ling wears a
single braid throughout. i love the final hairstyle
for the cover--unexpected, but perfect.


i was also consulted on costumes for the
foto shoot. we wanted various styles to have
many to choose from for the final cover. this
was a more casual travel tunic i found. and below
is the beautiful flowing dress that is seen on the
model for the cover--in that eye catching bright
pink that jumps right out at you!


chris borgman, the photographer and cover designer
did such a wonderful job in bringing the fantastic details
of my book to life, include the glowing jade pendant that
my heroine wears, to the dragons winding its way along
the left side and the distant pagoda. i hope this all hints
to a prospective reader the fantastic adventure that awaits
them within the pages of SILVER PHOENIX.

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Thanks Cindy!