Cover Stories: Just One Wish by Janette Rallison

The lovely Janette Rallison's latest novel, Just One Wish, comes out this week, so you can probably find it in stores, oh, right about now! But first, read her Cover Story:"I admit that I've always had a crush on Robin Hood. This probably came from watching old Errol Flynn movies on TV. Although, really, when I think about it, I've never watched a version of Robin Hood where he wasn't some totally hot guy, so yeah, what's not to love? "I guess it was inevitable that one day I'd write the hunky bandit into one of my novels. In Just One Wish, 17-year-old Annika has a little brother with a brain tumor, and he wants more than anything to meet the actor who plays Teen Robin Hood in a hit series by the same name. Annika, who's a take-charge type of girl, decides she can make his wish come true by driving to Hollywood, finding the actor who plays Teen Robin Hood, and convincing him to visit her brother. The first two goals she pulls off pretty well; the third gets a bit complicated. "Because I figured a hunky Teen Robin Hood cover would appeal to girls I suggested something like this to my editor (left). Really, I think you could just slap a title on this picture and it would sell a ton of books. Unfortunately, it's from an old TV show and apparently there are some copyright laws the publisher didn't want to deal with. (Go figure.) But girls, feel free to print out this picture and put it on my book. "My next suggestion was a picture of Annika shooting a bow and arrow, as there is a rather climactic scene where she has to shoot a bullseye. But the marketing department didn't think that sort of picture would appeal to girl readers. It wasn't feminine enough or something. Whatever. Just because a girl likes to read doesn't mean she can't occasionally outshoot the boys. "What the marketing department came up with was this: "And I have to say that I was relieved, since I didn't hate any of these covers. (I can't say that for all of my books.) My editor asked me which one I liked the best. I did a survey on my blog and the overwhelming winner was the lips blowing the dandelion. It was my favorite too. I happily told my editor that I and my blog readers loved that one. "Sometimes I think my editor asks me my opinion in order to choose the opposite thing. It's the same reason my teenagers ask me which outfit I like best when they're clothes shopping. If I like the shirt/pair of pants/dress, it can't possibly be hip, and they know to eliminate it from their shopping pile. "The marketing department narrowed it down to these covers: "And I was okay with them; I was just disappointed I didn't get my favorite cover. At the same time the name of the book was changing on a weekly basis. It started out as: My Life as a Teenage Genie, which seemed too flippant so I suggested The Rules of Wishing. My editor didn't like that one, but wanted something that sounded a bit serious so we settled on: Last Wish. The marketing department thought that Last Wish sounded too grim (They were right about that) and changed the title to: When You Wish Upon a TV Star. I liked that title a lot which was an immediate signal to the marketing department that it needed to go. They came up with Just One Wish. (I like that title too.) "Because my editor knew that I liked the lips-blowing-the-dandelion cover so much he put it back into the pile of possible covers for the marketing department to consider, and miracle of miracles during the last round of considering covers they decided that they liked it best too. "Of all of my covers, it is my favorite. (You can't see it on this picture, but the cover actually has sparkles on it. How cool is that?) And it's a great book too!" I love this cover story and we got a little Title Tale in there too... And I think things settled just where they should be. It's a delicate cover, without being over-the-top sweet. What do you guys think of the Cover Story and the title drama? PS-Watch Janette talk about the book on TV!