Jessica Brody has shared two previous Cover Stories here (for My Life Undecided and The Karma Club). She's back for a GCC tour, telling the tale behind the cover of 52 Reasons to Hate My Father.
"I’m terrible at envisioning covers. So no, I didn’t really have an idea in mind. But I knew I wanted it to show the contrast of my main character’s two worlds (spoiled heiress and working girl) which I think they ended up doing really well!
"Honestly, I was surprised when I saw the cover. It was SO different from the light, pastel, girly looks of my other YA book and my publisher had told me they were going to keep with the same look. So when I opened this, I almost thought that they sent me the wrong cover! It was all edgy and kind of punk rock-ish. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it. It took me a few days to really come around to it. My publisher explained that they’d decided to change directions with this book. And go with an edgier look (because the book is a bit older and edgier than my other titles). But once I got over the shock of how different it was, I could finally see how awesome it was! And I’ve loved it ever since!
"It really didn’t change at all. They added a few more 'paparazzi flashes' in the background and the Meg Cabot blurb that we got (SQUEEE!) and that was about it! I guess they felt they got it right the first time!
"Apparently they used a model to shoot a photo for a first version of a cover concept that I never saw. I did get to choose the model, though! My editor sent me photos of about five different girls and asked which one I thought looked the most like Lexi. I was told the original concept was something about a girl in a maid’s uniform, holding a mop, but wearing all sorts of shiny, blingy jewelry.
"But then I guess the marketing and sales department didn’t end up liking the way it came out so they scrapped it and went with this concept instead. Which is really just the reverse of the original concept. In the original, it was Lexi in a work uniform, with heiress accessories. In this version, it’s Lexi in heiress clothes, with work accessories. I can see how this version might play better on the page.
"With the current cover, they didn’t have time to do another photo shoot so they used a stock photo instead. But what’s funny about the whole thing is I actually think this girl (the stock photo) looks more like Lexi than the model I chose! So I guess that worked out!
"When they sent me the cover, I noticed that the girl in the picture was wearing a donut shop hat. I found this odd because in the book, my character never works at a donut shop (she works just about everywhere else though!) But my editor explained that they wanted the heiress to be wearing a hat that distinctly contrasted the 'heiress' look and represented her new working status. They felt that the donut shop worked the best. I agreed so I went into the manuscript (which was still being revised), deleted one of the other jobs and replaced it with a donut shop job. It was a job that only had a few sentences of description so it was easy to replace but I actually ended up liking the donut shop job better than the original."
Thanks, Jessica! I have to admit that I had 100 questions upon first glancing at this cover, so I love hearing the explanations. And I think it's so great that the book reflects the donut job, because as a reader, I really want to see the cover image reflected inside.
What do you guys think of the cover?
PS-Jessica always has amazing trailers. This one? No exception: