On The Outside: Beth Fantaskey

On The Outside is an exclusive feature where authors guest blog about how their novels got their cover and/or title.


Thank you very much to Beth Fantaskey for participating this week! (If I'm a little late...) Her new book, Jessica Rules The Dark Side, is released tomorrow!

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It’s one thing to find out you’re a vampire princess. It’s a whole other thing to actually rule. Newly married Jessica Packwood is having a hard enough time feeling regal with her husband, Lucius, at her side. But when evidence in the murder of a powerful elder points to Lucius, sending him into solitary confinement, Jessica is suddenly on her own. Determined to clear her husband’s name, Jessica launches into a full-scale investigation, but hallucinations and nightmares of betrayal keep getting in her way. Jessica knows that with no blood to drink, Lucius’s time is running out. Can she figure out who the real killer is—and whom she can trust—before it’s too late?

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The first thing that readers of my first book, Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, immediately notice about the cover of the sequel is that Jessica is portrayed by a different girl.  I’m not sure why this is, but I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that, while the story picks up only a few months after the first book ends, in real life, several years have passed.  Models move on – or perhaps mature too much to believably pass as teenagers. 

Regardless, I have to say that I love the new cover, which is again created by the very talented Cliff Nielsen. 

The color scheme is dark – and, while funny, this book is a little darker than the original. 

Lucius is clearly protective of Jessica, but Jess is powerful in her own right.  She could easily be guarding him – as she does in the novel. 

Finally, I like the fact that, if you look closely enough, you can see that Jess is holding a stake in her left hand.  My editor and I debated whether to include that detail and ultimately agreed, “Yeah, let’s leave it.”  It’s a small symbol, but important to Jessica’s acceptance of her new destiny. 

To me, the cover has a romantic, mysterious vibe... I hope it makes readers want to peek inside!

~~~

Thanks Beth!

If any author would like to participate in On The Outside, please feel free to email me and I can send you all the details.

On The Outside: Eileen Cook (It Returns!)

On The Outside is an exclusive feature where authors guest blog about how their novels got their cover and/or title.

I'm starting this up, every Monday from now on as long as I can get authors to participate! I love doing OTO and reading the stories and I hope everyone will be glad to see it back!

Thank you very very much to my first author to participate in the new year, Eileen Cook!

Eileen Cook's new novel, Unraveling Isobel, is released tomorrow, January 3rd.

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Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the internet only three months before, and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother. 

But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling—her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. 

Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.

~~~

 Thanks for inviting me to be a part of your blog! When I finished this book I was certain I knew what should be on the cover.  I pictured a creepy gothic house perched on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean.  I’d been imagining the house in the book for so long I could imagine it perfectly.  I’d even drawn floor plans when writing the book.  Of course the problem with having this type of clear vision, it’s really hard to find something in the real world that matches.

I’m incredibly lucky to work with the team at Simon Pulse. They always invite me to participate in the cover design process. They talk to me not only about what I imagine the cover looking at, but also the feeling I want the cover to impart. My cover designer, Cara Petrus, wanted to make sure that the cover had some of the creepy gothic feel, but also wasn’t too dark, as the book has humor too.  Cara picked up on Isobel’s interest in art and also her feeling of being trapped. The concept of her hands being held by her own artwork was perfect. Part of what Isobel struggles with in the book is that she isn’t sure if she is seeing ghosts, if she’s going crazy, or if someone is trying to get rid of her by having everyone believe she’s crazy. For me the cover hints at all of this.

I have to admit that I am vile at coming up with good titles.  I called this book “the gothic” the entire time I wrote it because I knew it would take me awhile to land on the right thing. I’ve worked as a counselor and am interested in mental health issues. I think one of the most difficult things about having mental illnesses is that you can’t trust your own perception of reality. How do you cope when you aren’t sure what you see and hear is real?  As things become more confusing for the main character Isobel, her world, and ability to be confident of what she sees unravels. While discussing this with my divine editor, Anica Rissi, we realized that was the title right there- Unraveling Isobel.

Thanks again for having me.  Happy Reading!

~~~

Thank you very much Eileen! I can't wait to read Unraveling Isobel! :)

If any author would like to participate in On The Outside, please feel free to email me and I can send you all the details.

On The Outside: Lauren Strasnick

Lauren Strasnick is the debut author of the soon-to-be-release novel, Nothing Like You, tomorrow! She's also part of the class of 2k9! You can visit her at her website here.

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I'm terrible with titles! Just terrible. But the funny thing about this book is that the title came to me quite quickly - half way through the first draft. I had originally called the book "Holly Holy", which is the title of a Neil Diamond song that follows my narrator, Holly, throughout the book, consoling her in times of crisis. My publisher, though, thought "Holly Holy" might mislead potential readers - that it had the ring of religious satire (it does, doesn't it?!). It's also nearly impossible to say! Try saying it now, out loud, ten times and quick! Total mouthful!

My lovely editor, Anica Rissi, then suggested NOTHING LIKE YOU. It's a line pulled straight from the novel, and does a much better job of conveying the overall tone of the book, I think. It's also much easier to say! Nothing Like You... rolls off the tongue, does it not? ;)

The cover is the creation of three talented folks at Simon Pulse: Editor Anica, cover designer Cara Petrus, and photographer Matteo Trisolini. They chose to go model-free, and instead shot a series of still-life scenes from a small toolshed/clubhouse in the book called The Shack. In the full wrap around image you see much more: an open futon with rumpled sheets, a pair of sneakers kicked off, a pair of underwear tossed onto the futon. Then designer Cara pulled together all the images, and added that gorgeous cursive lettering, and there you have it - a cover, born! What I especially love is how vibrant the colors are - it almost looks like an illustration! AND Cara Petrus's perfect penmanship! *Sigh*

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Thanks Lauren!

On The Outside: Lucienne Diver

Lucienne Diver is the author of the novel, Vamped (May 1, 2009). You can visit Lucienne at her website here.

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Kelsey, thanks so much for asking me to guest blog! I first want to say that I love your blog title! Reading certainly has kept me sane. (Well, I think so anyway. Others may beg to differ.) I don’t know how I would have survived childhood without the chance to escape into a good book and have daring adventures through the eyes of others. It’s not that my childhood was so terrible, mind you! My family was wonderful, but I grew up a very severe asthmatic, in and out of the hospital all the time. Well, let me tell you, hospitals are not terribly happening places. The nurses are nice, but they can’t exactly spend the day entertaining you and the television only gets four lousy channels, half of them news. So books were truly a godsend.

I don’t know when I first started creating stories of my own. It might have been one of the many times I was punished for fighting with my sister, forced to sit staring at the wall until I apologized. I’m remarkably stubborn and, of course, in my mind she’d started it. My punishments tended to go on for hours. (My father was equally stubborn.) With nothing else to do, my mind wandered, naturally down the paths of fiction and daring do.

I didn’t exactly sit down to write Vamped, though I’m certainly glad I did! One day my heroine, Gina Covello, began talking in my head and nothing I could do would banish her. I tried giving her a short story. She wanted more. So I gave her a novel. Nope, not enough. A series? Well, she’ll be satisfied with that…for now. Funny that I write characters who out-stubborn me. Anyway, that was how Vamped came to be. For my sanity I had to give myself over to the whims of my character. If I hadn’t, she’d have haunted me until the end of my days.

When Gina was just a glimmer in my eye, her story was called “Unlife Stye,” since she’s a teen fashionista on whom I visit true horror in the form of eternity without tanning options or any reflection with which to fix her hair and make-up. But my agent didn’t love it, and I didn’t blame her. I played around with all kinds of awful puns (Stake Your Life, Biter Babe, etc.) and finally settled on Vamped. Though, looking back, I kinda like Biter Babe. Hmm, maybe for Book 3? (Book 2, Revamped, will be out in 2010).

My agent actually came up with the great tagline used on the cover, “Eternity needs an entourage.” Oh, and that cover! Gina would be so proud. It’s fabulous! It’s funny, people compliment it all the time and I say, “Thank you!” of course, but I actually had nothing at all to do with it. My wonderful publisher, Flux, [Link:http://www.fluxnow.com/] did ask me for ideas, and I threw a bunch their way, send sample covers I would love mine to look at, like Rachel Vincent’s Rogue or Rosemary Clement-Moore’s wonderful Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil books, but in the end the cover they came up with was truly unique. I absolutely adore it! (My only thought on seeing it was that Gina would never go out in public with those nails – too stubby! Then I realized that she’d just clawed her own way out of the grave, so she’d probably cut herself some slack.)

Anyway, I hope all those reading it have as much fun as I did writing it! If so, I’d love for you to give me a shout out via my website: www.luciennediver.com. Thanks!

~~~

Thanks Lucienne!

On The Outside: Sydney Salter

Sydney Salter is the debut author of the hilarious My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters
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The title just popped into my head right before I started writing. What else could I call a book about a girl who hates her nose and experiences one disastrous event after another? I loved my title, yet, I found myself blushing every time I told someone. I don’t exactly have the smallest nose… I felt like saying my book title drew attention to my own nose. And sometimes it does. “So you think you have a big nose?” more than one person has asked. I mutter something like, “well, yes, but the book is fictional.” Some people feel compelled to tell me that I don’t have a big nose. I don’t know what to say to that either. Um, thank you?

There was a brief moment when my publisher’s marketing team considered shortening the title to My Big Nose (so it wouldn’t be confused as a book of short stories). I freaked out! I could just imagine people asking my book’s title, me blurting out, “My Big Nose!” The person’s forehead would crinkle with confusion. “No, I asked about your book not your face.” I also thought the humor in the title came from the And Other Natural Disasters part. So they added the words “A Novel” at the top of the cover. Phew!

The funny thing is that my title has forced me to really deal with my feelings about my own nose (my inner 17-year-old is still absolutely horrified). I do sometimes laugh out loud when I get emails with BIG NOSE in the subject line. I hear a sitcom-style mafia guy saying, “Hey, you, you with the big nose. You’ve got an email.”

I love my cover! The brilliant, amazing, beautiful, talented, charming, and artistic Carol Chu of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt designed it. I love the way the Barbie serves as a metaphor for the perfection my main character seeks. I also think the spine is so cute! (My name covers the Barbie’s nose.) I like the colors used too. I did not have input on the cover, which is a good thing since I have trouble figuring out what color to paint my walls and I need a lot of saleslady help when I buy clothes.

I also love having my own Barbie at last! My feminist mother refused to purchase Barbie dolls. I played with the dorky Sunshine Family who had big feet, flat chests, and drove a hippie van so they could sell macramé owls at craft fairs or something. I haven’t bought my book any outfits yet, but I am thinking I might get it that cool pink convertible...

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Thanks Sydney!

On The Outside: Cyn Balog

Cyn Balog is the author of the debut novel, Fairy Tale. You can visit Cyn at her website here.

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The cover story for Fairy Tale is pretty simple. I had some ideas (nightmares?) about what my cover might look like, but I was really hoping for something more iconic and less literal. I had this sinking feeling they’d throw a picture of a guy with wings on the cover (see attached pic), which brought me several sleepless nights. Luckily, the second I opened that jpg on my computer, I fell in love. It’s so beautiful, and I think that nearly every day someone tells me that. In fact, I haven’t heard anything negative yet.

The title story for Fairy Tale is a bit more involved. For over a year after I sold the book in November of 2007, the plan was to call it Fairy Lust. I’d had that title, actually, before the book was written in early 2007. It just popped into my head, sounded pretty cool, and so I started wondering, “What could a book with that title be about?” Since all the books I’d ever read were about girls who learn that they’re fairies, I thought it would be fun to shake things up. In Fairy Lust, the guy would be the fairy, and his girlfriend would defend him by attempting to keep him human. So I wrote the draft and for nearly two years, I called it Fairy Lust. Everyone seemed to love the title; I heard that people at Random House were running around saying, “We love lust!”

Then, late December 2008, I got a call. It seems that quite a few bookstore reps were concerned about a book being displayed face-out on the shelves of the YA section with a word like “lust”. They asked if I would be open to changing it. Now, though I knew it would be hard to think of the book under any other title, this is my first novel, and when it comes to marketing books, I fully admit that I am a doofus. So I decided to leave that in the hands of the professionals. And so early 2009, the title was quickly changed to Fairy Tale. Since then, I have heard numerous comments about the title; some positive, some negative. Okay, Fairy Tale doesn’t raise eyebrows the way Fairy Lust does, but my novel leans more toward a sweet romance than a torrid sex romp, anyway. And my mother-in-law and the priests at my church are thrilled.

~~~

Thanks Cyn!

On The Outside: Jennifer Brown

Jennifer Brown is the debut author of the soon-to-be-released-tomorrow book, Hate List. You can find out more about Hate List here, and you can visit Jennifer here.

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Thank you so much for inviting me to share my title/cover story with you, Kelsey!

I'll be the first to admit that I've always been epically horrible at writing titles. To make it worse, I've grown accustomed to writing for the newspaper, where my editor routinely changes my title for me anyway, which is another way of saying I'm now horrible and lazy with title-writing. I tend to just "stick on" a working title while I'm writing a project, and then by the end of the writing, I've gotten so used to the working title, I don't want to do anything to change it so I just go with it.

That said, my "working title" while I was writing "Hate List" was "To Kill a Year," which is so far off the Stink-o Title Scale, you really can't even see it from the ground. It sounds like some combination of a Harper Lee novel with a 007 movie, don't you think? So even I could see that, as soon as the book was finished, that title had to go. I decided to re-title it "Hero."

Now, in all honesty, I loved "Hero" and was really married to it. Thought it really nutshelled the book, and had this metaphorical quality to it. But my agent quite accurately pointed out that the title made sense if you'd already read the story, but didn't really do much to tell you what kind of book you were picking up off the shelf. Good point.

I brainstormed a little. But remember me? Rotten title-r? Yeah, I didn't get far. I came up with something totally different, and not at all inspired: "Wallpaper Horses." Nobody -- including me -- was in love with that one.

Fortunately, my editor at Little, Brown did some brainstorming as well and came up with a few much better titles. For a time, I considered sticking with a "Hero" twist -- maybe "Not a Hero" or "Nobody's Hero" -- but after chatting some, we decided that "Hate List" really fit the best. After all, it is a "Hate List" that is central to the story. So I wish I could take credit for the title of my book, but in reality... yeah, it was an editor saving my title-challenged butt once again.

While writing "Hate List," I definitely had a clear image of what I thought the cover art would look like. In my head, it was a spiral-bound notebook, filled with names, scratch-outs, doodles. Maybe tear-stained. Maybe covered with eraser-shavings, a pencil having erased some of the previously-written names.

But I wanted to be open to anything and everything Little, Brown had in mind, so I just waited to see what they came up with before I expressed any of my own ideas.

I was actually on vacation (Disney World) the day my cover art came through. I woke up to a text from my agent and spent half the morning scrambling to find Internet access so I could view the cover of my book. What I found was so different from what I'd been imagining... and so much better!... it just took my breath away.

Probably what works best for me about the cover is that it sets the tone so well for the story that's inside. As someone who writes in two genres, I was a little afraid that fans of my humor work would pick up "Hate List" expecting something funny. I think the cover art makes it clear that "Hate List" is a serious story.

I asked for no changes on the cover art. I love the design, I love the colors, I love how original and striking it is. I love everything about it.

Thanks again! This was fun!

~~~

Thanks Jennifer!

On The Outside: Kate Alender

Katie Alender is the very sweet author of Bad Girls Don't Die. You can visit her at her website here.

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This book has been through so many titles! Probably because I worked on it for such a long time before even thinking about publication. At that point, I just needed a word that I could use when talking about what I was writing. (Because of course I couldn't say "my book"--in my mind, that was only something that REAL writers could say. I was worried that people would think I was a big old poser if I referred to it that way.)  

So I called it "Lost", and I called it "Gone", for a while, and I called it "Preoccupied," which I knew immediately was wrong, so I just typed "PRE" when I saved the document.  Then, after a while, I settled on "The Homecoming," which fits the story in a number of ways.    When I contacted an old colleague in publishing to ask if he'd look at the book, his first bit of advice was to change the name, because Cynthia Voigt's "Homecoming" is a classic in the YA category.    

I had to think fast, and I settled on "The Girl Least Likely," which was actually from a line that was cut from the book. Alexis, standing in the bedroom of a girl she never thought she could relate to, reflects that in contrast to the girl MOST likely to succeed and win awards and be voted most popular and best dressed, etc., she, Alexis, is the girl LEAST likely.  

That title made it all the way through the sale of the book.  Even though I hadn't been wild about it when I first pulled it out of thin air, by the time we had to think of a new title, I found myself attached to the old one.  But the folks at Hyperion thought there might be something out there that not only gave the attitude (like TGLL did), but also hinted at the ghost story.  My agent, editor, and I made list after list after list. 

I sat around thinking of scary words and arranging and rearranging them to come up with phrases.  I can't even remember the early favorites, but nothing clicked.  Finally, on yet another list, I was weary enough to make a joke. I wrote "Bad Girls Don't Die (sung to the tune of...)"--referring to the oldies song "Big Girls Don't Cry." I sent off the list.  

Soon after, my editor called and said, "There's one title EVERYBODY loves!"   And she told me which one.  And I seriously almost fell out of my chair! I was like, "Um... okay... are you sure?"   But of course she was sure.  

So I hung up and called my agent and was like, "Holy cow, what did I do?" and he was like, "Well, hmm." But we decided that we'd all wear the decision around for a while and see if it grew on us.  It took a little time, but it did grow on us. And now I can't imagine a different title.   

Probably a big part of what made it easier to envision was my beautiful cover, designed by Beth Clark of Hyperion.  The morning my editor sent it over, I sat down and clicked the file, not sure what to expect.  But when I saw the file, I was just blown away. They had tapped into the gothic side of the story, the spookiness and menace and the sense that things aren't right in this old house.  And of course, the icily elegant typeface makes the title, which could have been played as "in your face" and punky, just a part of the mystery and menace.  So that's the story of Bad Girls Don't Die.  

And I guess what I'd like to leave you with is, if you're writing a book--devoting all of that time and energy--never be embarrassed to say that's what you're doing. I mean, you don't have to run through the streets yelling, "I'm writing a book! I'm a writer!" But don't be afraid to take credit for your effort and your work in progress.  You're a writer, and it's a book!  

Thanks for having me as your guest, Kelsey!

~~~

Thanks Katie!

On The Outside: Michelle Zink

Michelle Zink is the debut author of the novel Prophecy of Sisters coming out August 1, 2009. You can visit her at her blog here. (I've seen a copy at the Border's Express here (I didn't have enough money on me!) so go now and I bet there at your local bookstore!)

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When I first heard the concept for the cover of my book, Prophecy of the Sisters, I was so excited! The book is a Gothic fantasy set in 1890 and features very dark themes and a strong supernatural element. The original concept was to locate real, Victorian pins of different animals, and feature a different one on each of the three books in the Prophecy series. Book one would be a snake, book two something else, and so on.

My editor did a ton of legwork, researching gorgeous Victorian brooches and pins of various animals until she found a beautiful example. A photo shoot followed, and the designer added special effects such as a worn background, a shadow for the snake's tongue (especially cool because the actual pin doesn't have a snake's tongue, so it could only be seen in shadow), and a title treatment that was actually art, not stock font. When it was finished, the cover was striking and unusual - definitely different than every other YA title out there.

That part I loved!

But the overall effect felt a little... off to me, I guess. Maybe it was because I was accustomed to seeing spookier covers for YA fantasy or maybe it's because it just wasn't what I was expecting, but I didn't believe the cover captured the essence of the book or said anything important about its story. It seemed I was in the minority, though, because a lot of the people at the publishing house really loved it, so it was decided to send the ARCs out with the cover as-is and then consider the feedback from there.

I held my breath when the ARCs went out, in part because I *wanted* everyone to love the cover so we wouldn't have to start over and in part because, as hard as I tried, I just couldn't get 100% behind it even though I knew how hard everyone had worked on it and SO appreciated all the energy (a lot) and talent (considerable) that had gone into it.

In the end, the feedback was called "polarizing" - some people loved it and some people REALLY didn't "get it". There was enough of the latter, though that my publisher decided to rework the cover from the concept up. As funny as it sounds, I was a little sad, even though I'd had a feeling we might be better off with a different cover. The truth is, whatever your cover is and however you feel about it at first, your brain does this thing where it starts to point out all the good things about it in an effort to make it all okay, you know? So parts of the cover had grown on me, and I'd become kind of happy that it was white when so much of fantasy had a darker background. But deep down, I was happy (and a little nervous!) to be getting a new cover concept.

Little Brown worked fast to come up with a new cover, because we were getting really close to my pre-publication tour and they really wanted something solid to unveil to the booksellers and educators we would be meeting. And there's so much that goes into it. A cover has to tell you something about the story. It has to be different enough that it will stand out on the shelf. And it has to be beautiful, even when its scary, for the YA audience. Shortly before I left for tour, I got my new cover - the one you see now.

I have to say, it took me off guard at first! Again, it just wasn't what I was expecting. I think I kept expecting a Victorian girl in a fancy gown, even though I probably would have whined, "But everyone has one of thooooooose!" if that's what I'd gotten. (Sometimes I feel so sorry for editors and designers that they have to put up with us!) But the difference between this cover and the last one was that EVERYONE seemed to love this one. From the beginning, the feedback wasn't polarizing - it was more or less unanimous - this was THE cover. Featuring era-appropriate twin graveyard statues, it really spoke to the darker nature of the book and the conflict between sisters. The title font wasn't art this time, and although I hated to lose the "cool" factor associated with that, the new title font was cleaner and more Gothic. Definitely a better fit for the story itself.

I became an even bigger advocate of my cover after my pre-publication tour, because everywhere we went the booksellers and educators would say, "Is THAT the new cover?" And they loved it. Plus, when we went to Comic-COn NY with it, lots of people who came to my signing mentioned doing so strictly because of the cover. It has since been called creepy, scary, spooky, striking, intruiging, and my personal favorite, bad ass!

But it was a long road to get here and involved countless hours of work, energy, talent, and patience(!), on the part of my editor and designer. In the end, though, it was all worth it. I couldn't be happier, and I look forward to seeing how the concept will be carried forward with the next two books.

Now I get to wait for the fun part - seeing the cover in all of its final glory, special effects and all. I can't wait! I hope when you see it, you'll enjoy it even more knowing all that went into developing the perfect cover. Oh, and say a quiet thank you to editors and designers everywhere who work so hard to give us the stunning covers we sometimes take for granted.
:D

~~~

Thanks Michelle!

On The Outside: Stephanie Kuehnert

Stephanie Kuehnert is the author of two YA novels, I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone and Ballads of Suburbia which which is officially released tomorrow but I've heard it's in stock everywhere already! You can visit Stephanie here.

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Unlike my first book, I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, which went through several different titles, Ballads of Suburbia has always been Ballads of Suburbia.

I came up with the “ballads” concept of the book in grad school when I took a class with the amazing author/teacher Joe Meno. He brought a boombox to class one day and played us a bunch of Johnny Cash songs, using them to illustrate the way songs told stories. Ballads, he pointed out, were one of the original forms of storytelling.

I scribbled down notes frantically, thinking of all the songs that I loved where the musicians laid their souls bare to tell either a personal story of how they came to be the person they were (like “Story of My Life” by Social Distortion and “The Young Crazed Peeling” by The Distillers) or an interesting story of another life that teaches a lesson in a way (like “Cocaine Blue” by Johnny Cash or pretty much any Johnny Cash song.)

At the time I was working on I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, but I had this other book on the back burner. It was something I wrote in six months when I first started college, but it was too much of a flimsy autobiography, which I really didn’t want to write. (If I choose to write about my life someday, I will call it a memoir.) But what I liked about it was the concept of shattering the illusion of the safe, peaceful suburbs. I grew up in the suburbs and it wasn’t all happy families. I witnessed a lot of the fallout of broken homes, broken dreams, and broken hearts. I saw secrets tearing people and friends and families apart. I realized everyone had a secret song, like the kind of songs I just mentioned, like the songs my main character Kara says, “tell the story of [someone’s] life in three minutes, reminding us of the numerous ways to screw up.”

The secret songs are the “ballads of suburbia.” That was the concept I built the book around, writing “ballads” for all of my characters, their deep dark stories to tell. The title is central to the book and I was relieved that it was catchy enough that the publisher let me keep it!

As for the cover, I’ve been really lucky with both of my books to get amazing covers. I was instantly in love with the I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone cover. This time the cover love didn’t happen instantly, only because Ballads of Suburbia is set in a real life place. Most of the action happens in Scoville Park, a park I spent almost every spring/summer/fall afternoon in as a teenager. So to see an image that was definitely not from my real park, it threw me off a bit. However, I immediately loved the ominous feeling that the cover exudes—the creepy duck, the lighting, the sky. I just wanted to see a touch of teenage presence. I asked my editor if they could add beer bottles or cigarette butts or graffiti or something. The beer bottles looked too photoshopped, but the graffiti on the slide was the perfect touch. And now I have to say I’m totally in love with the cover of this book!

~~~

Thanks Stephanie!

On The Outside: Lisa Ann Sandell

Lisa Ann Sandell is the author of Song of the Sparrow and her newest book, A Map of the Known World, which was released in April. You can visit Lisa at her website here.

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As I wrote A MAP OF THE KNOWN WORLD, I had no idea what this book might look like. With the title, I of course had a map in mind, but I wasn't sure what that map would look like. I didn't want to give too much away right up front, so I really struggled with this.

Fortunately for me, Elizabeth B. Parisi, the art director who designed both A MAP OF THE KNOWN WORLD and my previous book, SONG OF THE SPARROW, is a genius, and she really got this book. She came up with the idea of using the heart/sculpture as a central image. Elizabeth also thought of layering it on top of a map. If you look closely at the cover, you can see that in the black background are gridlines of a map.

As soon as she told my editor, the brilliant Aimee Friedman (also a phenomenal author), and me what she was thinking, we were both super excited. Elizabeth showed us photos of the work of a sculptor she knew, Leo Sewell (http://www.leosewell.net/index.php). He calls himself a junk sculptor, and if you visit his web site, you can see that he sculpts these phenomenal pieces out of found objects. So, Elizabeth had seen one of his sculptures, the Big Apple (seen here: http://www.leosewell.net/artwork.php?which=5&slide=1) and was inspired to use it as the basis for the heart. She photographed the apple, then had artist Tim O'Brien paint a new piece, using the apple as a guide, in the shape of a heart.

This process couldn't have been smoother or more delightful. Basically, as soon as she was finished reading the manuscript, Elizabeth had the idea, and Aimee and I were totally on board with it. And in the end, I can't think of a single image that would better capture the spirit of Cora's story, and I couldn't be more grateful for how beautiful or perfect this cover is.

~~~

Thanks so much Lisa!

On The Outside: Sarah Rees Brennan

Sarah Rees Brennan is the debut author of The Demon's Lexicon, which is releasing tomorrow! You can visit her at her really awesome website here.

~~~

My US and UK publishers were deeply cool about involving me in the whole cover-making process, despite the fact that I have all the artistic ability of a duck and had very little in the way of guidance to offer them.

There was a photo shoot for my US cover, and when they sent me a picture of the model they had chosen for my hero Nick, I sent back an email that said he wasn't quite what I'd pictured: instantly they offered an alternative model, who I thought was wonderful, and which I thought was wonderful of them. Not only that, but they asked me to draw Nick's talisman, the necklace he wears to ward off demons. As I have the aforesaid ability of a duck I panicked and then asked an excellent young artist I know called Laura Connolly to draw it, and the talisman on the cover is modeled very closely on Laura's drawing.

My US publisher also noticed that I had a ton of descriptions of different skies, and they mingled sunset, sunrise and strange lightning to make what I think is a wonderfully eye catching background for the cover. The funny thing is, I'd never even noticed I had a lot of sky descriptions! Even more brilliantly, when underneath the cover the hardback would usually be plain, this hardback has a wraparound cover of my hero's sword, thus giving me two different covers in the US - one for those who like iconic covers and one for those who like people on their covers. I find it really hard to choose between them!

My UK cover was drawn by the fantastic Sam Hadley, who also drew the Fratellis album cover. My UK publisher chose him and sent me samples of different ideas of covers: we both agreed we liked the look of the shattered window of the title and the London background best. My hero on the cover used to look very different, though: I kept adjusting his features, gave him a nose job - not to mention shaving him! I must have been a real pain, but I love how it turned out.

My foreign covers, on the other hand, have all been surprises to me: ready for public consumption by the time I saw them, but they were done so thoughtfully and beautifully that I ended up loving them, too!

For instance, my Finnish cover was a demon's eye modeled on the eye I drew for my web designer, and which is the background for my home page. It was redrawn and given eerie glowing light and licks of fire, and made very much its own thing.

My German cover is iconic like my Finnish cover, showing a silhouette ringed in fire against a silver foil background. It's bright and simple and I think looks the most like an action movie poster: it reflects all the adventures with swords and guns and demons' circles I had fun writing and hoped people would have fun reading.

It's really hard for me to choose a favorite cover, but my Japanese cover might be up there. Like my UK cover, it's drawn, and in this case my Japanese publisher chose a famous manga artist, Hiromu Arakawa, best known for Fullmetal Alchemist. It was an amazing choice, and I felt honored not just because of her talent but because of how excellent the choice was: Fullmetal Alchemist is also about brothers united against the world and having magical adventures, so it fitted in really well, and best of all this cover had most of the important characters on it, characters I never dreamed I'd see on any cover: not just Nick but his brother Alan, my pink-haired heroine Mae and her brother Jamie, the demons and the villains.

Perhaps my favorite part about seeing all these covers was seeing how different people saw my book: swords or strange skies, action and adventure, the horror of demon's eyes or the gritty noir feel of the city landscape behind shattered glass. You try to put so many different things in a book, and it's so fantastic to see that people saw so many of them.

I feel really lucky to have received six amazing covers: I can only hope the book does them justice!

~~~

Thanks so much Sarah!

On The Outside: Elizabeth Scott

Elizabeth Scott is the author of numerous Young Adult books, including her newest book, Love You Hate You Miss You, which is coming out tomorrow! You can visit Elizabeth at her website here.

~~~

I confess, I can't take any credit for the gorgeous cover of Love You Hate You Miss You--that all goes to Harper's amazing design team! I'm especially thrilled with the fact that the girl on the cover has red hair, just like Amy does in the book, and I love how if your turn the book to the side, the expression on the model's face does an amazing job of capturing how I feel Amy is. (If that makes any sense!)

One thing I can take credit for though, is the title. Love You Hate You Miss You is the only book I've ever written where I didn't have a title in mind when I started writing the book. I played around with a few things, but nothing ever stuck and so I finally just started calling it what I called the file: Letters to Julia.

When it came time for the book to enter the pre-production process, my editor at Harper let me know that something a little catchier than Letters to Julia was needed.

I confess, I panicked. At that time, it had been over three years since I'd written the book and a little over two since I'd even looked at it--so how was I going to figure out what to call it? Luckily, I was working on edits for the book, and as I went through it, I started thinking about things my editor had asked me to do, and things I'd noticed in the book.

Love You Hate You Miss You is a story about many things: friendship, love, family, but I think it's primarily a story about loss. About grief. And as I thought about that, I thought about all the things you feel when you lose someone. How much you love them. How much you--at times--hate them for leaving you. And, of course, how much you miss them.

And so I thought Love You Hate You Miss You -- that's the title.

I sent it off to my editor, who agreed, and that's how the book finally came to have a title!

~~~

Thanks Elizabeth!

On The Outside: Lili St. Crow

Lili St. Crow is the author of numerous books, but Strange Angels is her first young adult novel, which was released May 14, 2009. You can visit Lili at her website here.

~~~
Strange Angels actually wasn't my first title choice. The working title for the book was Ghost Hunter, but the editor and I agreed that didn't have very much "snap" to it. So the book was without a title for the longest time, which was exceedingly odd. I normally have a very clear title by the end of the first chapter, when the book has "jelled." Every book's pattern and ending are inherent in the very first beginning words.
Not like life.

While reading the first draft, my editor Jessica came across the phrase "strange angel" and loved it. It was a throwaway term, one I meant to come back to later. The half-vampires in the series, those fighting the forces of darkness, are very strange angels. They look like teenagers all through their lives, so people react to them in an oddly-demarcated fashion. They even react to themselves with a mixture of youth and adulthood—a very apt metaphor for the teen years.

This odd dichotomy starts in the very first book with the heroine, Dru, feeling very disconnected from her peers. In some ways she's all teenage girl, but in others she's very adult. She's had to cope most of her life. I see this over and over again in young people, especially those who have had less-than-stable upbringings. Being forced to cope made me oddly mature in certain ways when I was very young. It wasn't until I was at least a decade older that I caught up with myself in other very important ways.

It's something I often want to tell young people, especially teenagers who think they're somehow less when they hit eighteen and are terribly confused. Most of the worthwhile people I know don't "settle into" themselves until they were in their mid-twenties or later. I'm thirty-three and some days I still feel adrift. It's okay not to have everything decided when you're sixteen, eighteen, twenty. Being confused is normal. A lot of people try to fill that confusion with all sorts of things—"love", chemicals, weird notions of success. Being terribly unsure is actually OK. It frees you up to try things, to say "I don't have this figured out yet."

Just think of the pressure of having everything "figured out" so early. It doesn't sound fun to me.

The funny thing is, now Strange Angels is the only possible title for the book as far as I'm concerned. And I never would have noticed it. I might have gone through and cut that phrase out in later drafts if the editor hadn't spotted it. Which is another thing about life—sometimes it takes a different vantage point to see the important things.

~~~

Thank Lili!

On The Outside: Susane Colasanti

Susane Colasanti is the author of three young adult novels, including her newest novel Waiting For You, which will be released this Thursday.

~~~

Back in the days of my teen life, I felt like I was endlessly waiting for everything! Waiting for my soul mate to find me, waiting for things to get better, and waiting for my real life to begin. The waiting was excruciating. This story reflects how painful it can be. So I knew that the title of Waiting for You would involve this concept of waiting in some way. The main character, Marisa, wants more than anything to connect with someone who gets her. She feels like she’s been waiting for her future boyfriend for so long.

Before I started writing books, I always thought that getting to come up with a brilliant title would be the easiest part. But actually? It’s way easier for me to write a book than to think of a title for it. The exception is my fourth book, Something Like Fate. That title came to me suddenly and I immediately knew it was meant to be. However, both When It Happens and Take Me There had different original titles. Take Me There was originally called My Way Home, but Penguin’s marketing team thought the title should be flashier. I wasn’t sure if they would like Waiting for You, so I’m thrilled that I got to keep the title. I’m completely certain that there’s a better title out there. I just don’t know what it is.

I absolutely love the cover of this book. My amazing cover designer at Viking Children’s Books (my hardcover imprint at Penguin), Sam Kim, has an amazing talent for reflecting the tone and emotions of a story with his art. I feel like he really captured the essence of my book. Waiting for You takes place in a small town on the water and Marisa spends lots of time on a dock she shares with her neighbor, Nash. So having Marisa and Nash on the dock, looking out at the water the way they are, is just perfect. Sam used a stock photo for the cover, then selected beautiful colors and fonts. I’m stoked.

Connecting with readers is fun times. I’d love to hear from you! You can find me here:

Website: http://www.susanecolasanti.com

Blog: http://windowlight.livejournal.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Susane-Colasanti/678479550

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/susanecolasanti

~~~

Thanks Susane!

On The Outside: Sarah Quigley

Sarah Quigley is the debut author of the very cool sounding novel, TMI, which was out in bookstores April 16. You can visit Sarah at her awesome website here.

~~~

TMI: The Title

It’s strange that TMI didn’t instantly come to mind as the title for a book about Becca the Overshare Queen. I originally called Becca’s blog “Go There” (the opposite of “don’t go there,” get it?) and thought that this could be the title of the book, too, but I wasn’t that excited about it. I needed something catchier. Several weeks went by, and I was still stumped. My editor told me not to worry; the title would work itself out eventually.

I was living in New York at the time, and I went to a party of a friend of a friend. I was talking to a woman I’d just met, and I excused myself to the bathroom. “Damn, I’ve really gotta pee!” I exclaimed. To which the woman said, “Um, too much information.”

I frowned and headed for the loo, thinking about how much I hated that phrase. Hearing it always made me feel small and stupid and embarrassed for simply being myself. And what was this woman’s problem, anyway? I was only talking about urination. It’s not like I announced, “Well, time to go change my super plus tampon now. My period’s a real gusher this month!”

Too much information, indeed. Why are some people so uptight? I thought as I sat on the toilet. I felt just like Becca at that moment, as I had many times before.

Too much information. Ugh.

And then, ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! All the light bulbs flashed in my head, and the trumpets blared, and the dancers leaped out. Too much information! What a perfect name for Becca’s blog! Wait! What a perfect title for the book!

I called my editor the next day, and she agreed.

A few months later, my editor emailed to say that the Powers That Be wanted to shorten the title to TMI. I wasn’t that jazzed about it. I liked the reaction I got when people found out my book was called Too Much Information. “What a great title!” they’d say. “I’m surprised it hasn’t been taken already.”

My publisher felt that TMI would sell better to a teen market, much like Lauren Myracle’s books ttyl and ttfn. I was concerned that not everyone would know what TMI stands for, but my editor assured me that teens would know it. Actually, most adults do, too. And hey, if shortening the title helped the book sell, I was all for it.

TMI: The Cover

I was nine months pregnant when my editor emailed me to ask if I had any ideas about the cover of TMI, such as specific images and colors. At that point, the only thing I could think about was how I was going to squeeze out what felt like a very fat baby. I wrote back something lame about a girl sitting at a computer with the letters TMI on the screen. I wanted her face hidden because it was important for readers to come up with their own vision of how Becca looked. I also said that I liked red.

Yeah, yawn.

I didn’t hear back from my editor, and I managed to squeeze out that baby (who was, in fact, on the large side, but I survived). A couple of months passed, and I forgot about the cover (gee, why would that be?).

Then one day I got an email from my editor. She was incredibly pleased with the design department, who had produced what she thought was “the cutest cupcake of a cover.” Eagerly, I opened the attachment to her message.

My jaw dropped.

I loved it.

The cover was so much better and more enticing than anything my non-artsy, sleep-deprived brain could have come up with. I didn’t even care that it showed Becca’s face (well, half of her face). She was adorable. I peered closely at the cloud of images swirling above Becca’s head and recognized important objects from the story. A unicorn. A laptop. A peanut. And yes, a cupcake.

I was thrilled.

I still am. When I go to the teen section of my local bookstores, TMI really pops out at me. Okay, maybe that’s also because I wrote it, but several of my friends have said the same thing. It’s a fantastic cover, and I think the colors and images are playful and fun, which is exactly what I was going for when I wrote TMI.

~~~

Thanks Sarah!

On The Outside: Spring Break!

On The Outside is on spring break! Hopefully one will be back next week!

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.

~~~

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.

~~~

Thanks Cindy!

On The Outside: Thalia Chaltas

Thalia Chaltas in the author of the upcoming release of her new Young Adult novel, Because I Am Furniture, which will be released on Thursday! You can find my review of it here. You can visit Thalia at her wonderful website here.

~~~

Titles are so personal, aren't they? I always have a one-word working title while I am writing. For me, that one word has to sum up a lot of the book, even if it isn't perfect as a final title. It often comes to me very early on, as I am playing with the main character, brainstorming, asking myself questions about where things could go. This novel's working title was the word Furniture, a reference to Anke feeling like furniture and the thread of physical furniture in the book. When we got to the almost-second-to-last-maybe-third-to-last edit, my editor, the wonderful Catherine Frank at Viking, said that the title wasn't enough and had been nixed by those higher up. I understood that just that one word didn't entice, or explain the story, unless you had already read the book. And, as Catherine said, it was a clunky word on its own. What if someone ordered the novel thinking it was a how-to book?!

So we started throwing ideas back and forth in some very long emails: Breaking Branches, Learning to Shout, Shaking the Family Tree…playing with words like: shattered, breaking apart, splintered…. Whenever I came up with something I really wanted Furniture in the title, but I was told to avoid that word.

And then a very good friend of Catherine's came up with Eight Tangled Limbs, from a particular poem. And I loved it! And others loved it! And then we had reservations…like, wouldn't you ask "Why eight? Why is eight significant?" We tried simply Tangled Limbs, but still it wasn't quite…something. Back to the drawing board.

Finally came this note from Catherine: "So at the risk of sounding like a total lunatic and taking us full circle, how would you feel about using the line from the very first poem: Because I Am Furniture." Okay, I was a bit irritated. They had been telling me not to use the word Furniture! And I didn't like it much because I felt it was vague, but I let Catherine defend her choice, and other friends and family said it makes the reader ask questions and creates intrigue. In the end, it just grew on me.

Honestly? I was thankful to be involved in creating the title. As a first-time author I was prepared to have all of that done without me. And I think that what ever the title ended up officially, I would always have called it Furniture.

The book cover is a different story altogether. Ready? The cover as it has been published is exactly what they showed me the first time. I loved it. They loved it. Done.

The 'invisible' girl debossed ('pushed in', the opposite of embossed or bumped out) into the room of furniture, the colors of black and purply-blue, the thin red font of the title, so wonderful. I was expecting a terrible process - I know many people who have not liked their covers! I was thrilled and I just stared at it for great swaths of my working day. Yup, sometimes I still do. When other things in the day are a struggle, the cover reminds me that I am a published author!

Thanks for having me as a guest, Kelsey!

~~~
Thanks Thalia!

If any author wants more details on how you can do an On The Outside post with me, please email me at readingkeepsyousane@gmail.com with On The Outside in the subject line and I'll get to you immediately with the details!