Jessica Brody, who's on tour with the Girlfriend Cyber Circuit this week, is here to talk about the cover for her new release My Life Undecided! The book is about 15-year-old Brooklyn, who starts a blog to enlist readers to make all her decisions for her: Should she join the debate team? Try out for rugby? She lets readers decide. But soon she finds out that some things in life you just can't choose -- like who you fall in love with.
How fun does this book sound? Here's Jessica:
"I’m pretty bad at visualizing things. I know what I like when I see it but coming up with it myself is often hard for me. However, I did have an idea of doing some kind of cover that represented choice, since that’s the theme of the book. And I envisioned some kind of split cover with two different images to represent the main character’s battle with choices. But I think the current cover does a good job of representing the theme. She’s clearly indecisive!
"The cover for this book was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. We had a very early original cover that was similar to this one (that I loved!) but it quickly came to our attention that it was VERY much like another book that was already on the market. So it had to be changed.
"Then we had a second cover that I didn’t really like much. I told my editor that and she was thankfully able to get it changed. But it was complicated because at the same time, they were redesigning the cover for the paperback of The Karma Club [read the story behind the hardcover] so that it would match the look and feel of My Life Undecided. It was getting a little crazy with all the back and forth and we were running out of time. Finally, they came up with this one and the current paperback for The Karma Club (right) and I loved it. It was exactly what I was hoping for. Simple and clean yet at the same time fun and colorful. Phew!
"The girl on the cover is a stock photo. But I really think they did a good job choosing one that captures the feeling of the book. This girl looks fun, cute and a bit quirky, which is exactly how I’d describe Brooklyn Pierce."
Thanks, Jessica! I think the final cover has great colors. It reminds me a little of Elizabeth Scott's Something, Maybe (which has a fabulous Cover Story), I think because of the hat and the soft lighting.
What do you guys think?
PS-Watch the amazing trailer for the book: