Covers I Really Like

…and hope my cover looks like.

Here are the examples I gave to my publisher:

I think each is beautifully creepy. I like how each girl’s face is covered, intimating a secret. I know that my cover will be dark and ominous… let’s hope it’s half as awesome as these are!

Cover Control

Harper Collins is starting work on my cover, so this week I’ll be talking about...covers (what else!) A lot of you may be curious to know just how much say an author gets over her/his own  cover and about the cover creation process. We’ve just started, but here’s what I know so far. J

Yes, you have some say over your cover. Your editor will discuss this with you, about what you envision and if you have any strong feelings about a central image or theme. They want to hear what you have to say, then take that to their design team.

No, you do not have final say. Most contracts will mention that you will “consult” on the cover, but really, it’s the publishers who make the final decision. They want to make you happy, but they also want to sell your book, and people do actually judge a book by its cover. They have professionals who do this for a living, so I’m confident they can come up with something way better than what I could think of.

You’ll also provide examples of covers that you like and a paragraph about the physical characteristics of each of the main characters. This is sort of a blueprint for the design team, though again, they may go a completely different way.

Back Wednesday with the sample covers I gave to my editor.

I’m Done!

...Well, sort of.

I sent off my first set of revisions to Karen at Harper Collins, and I must say that I now possess an incredible sense of accomplishment. J I know I still have a couple rounds of edits left, but it’s all starting to seem real. We even discussed cover concepts. I can’t wait until I have a cover and share it with you all.

Next week I’m going to share a couple of covers (from already published books) that I really like…and sort of hope my book looks like. See you next week!

Editing for Your Publisher

I’m still in the process of my first round of edits, but I have to say…everything is going really well. I’d heard horror stories about publishers wanting huge changes and writers feeling like they’ve sold out, but all of Maria’s (now Karen’s) editorial suggestions are really insightful and helpful. I think I may have it done by Friday (Karen, if you’re reading this, don’t hold me to that). J

This is the part of the editing process that is the “big picture” stuff. After I turn in my edits, Karen will get more into specifics. After that, it’s onto the nit-picky line edit. I’ll keep you all posted about each step.

Back Friday!

Oh yeah, for some reason my computer isn’t letting me comment on other people’s blogs…I’m working on fixing that, so if I don’t comment back, sorry! I will as soon as I can.

I’m Back…With a Shiny New Editor

I’m still working on my edits, but I have some Harper Collins news…Maria Gomez is leaving. I know; it made me sad too. Maria is so awesome and really got behind my book (pretty sure she was the driving force behind my pre-empt offer). She’s leaving to pioneer Amazon’s new publishing venture. They’re branching out from a strictly self-publishing service to become a more traditional publisher.

Maria’s left me in good hands. My new editor is Karen Chaplin, who was already on my editorial team.

So, what does this mean for my book? Well, pretty much everything is the same. Same deadlines, same team, same enthusiasm, just a different first point of contact. The news freaked me out a bit, but now that I’ve had time to process, I’m good. It’s better to have a new editor at the beginning of the series than halfway through, that’s for sure!

Back Wednesday!

Publishers Lunch Statement

This is the statement from Publishers Lunch, slightly different from the one that was in Publishers Weekly, notably that it’s the longest sentence ever.

Demitria Lunetta's IN THE AFTER, the first book of a post-apocalyptic trilogy where the seventeen-year-old protagonist must survive in a world overrun by vicious, predatory creatures while protecting the abandoned two-year-old she finds in a desolate grocery store, until the pair finds refuge in a secretive survivors' colony called New Hope, to Maria Gomez at Harper Teen, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, in a three-book deal, for publication in 2012, by Katherine Boyle at Veritas (World English).

I’m going to start working on my edits for Harper Teen pretty soon, so my I’m taking off the next couple of weeks. I’ll be back in May with posts on the submission process, how book advances work, editing for your publisher, and more books I love. See you then!

Books I Love – Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

 

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

A lot of you probably have already read this book, (as I did, ages ago) but in light of the new HBO series, I thought I’d give it a reread. It’s everything fantasy should be: a believable world, intriguing characters, and a page turning plot. It’s hefty at 700 + pages, but it reads really quickly.

A Game of Thrones is told from a lot of perspectives and there are a ton of characters to remember, some of which have the same name. It might be hard to keep the characters straight, but there is a nifty appendix in the back to help you out. I like that, while this is adult fantasy, half of the main characters are young adults/children, which gives it a YA feel, though the subject matter is definitely not YA.

This is actually the next book that we’re reading in my book club, so if you’re in the Chicago area, you should check it out.

Back next week.