Last year, Eileen Cook stopped by to share the story behind her bright, doll-starring cover for Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood. She's back with a new release, The Education of Hailey Kendrick, which Kirkus calls "the highest quality--like a gourmet truffle" in a starred review! This new cover is just as bright as the last (with less doll), and here's Eileen to tell its tale:
"I have two (or at least two) great weaknesses as a writer. I'm lousy at titles and terrible at imagining covers. I'm so lucky to have the team at Simon Pulse behind me. My editor somehow manages to avoid laughing out loud at my titles ideas and the cover designer, Cara can be counted on to come up with some great ideas.
"The book takes place in an exclusive boarding school so my first idea was having a scene where you see Hailey climbing over the wall to sneak off campus. However, we didn't want it to look like she was breaking out of jail...
"Cara then had an idea that she quickly sketched out with photoshop where it was the main character in her school uniform with a lollipop (right). The problem was that it looked a bit 'porny.' You have to watch out for those school uniforms -- who knew a blazer and knee highs could be so racy.
"The third time was the charm. When I opened the email with the cover the bright colors and typeface really jumped out at me. It felt like a great fit for the book."
Thanks, Eileen! I agree that the lollipop is a bit much -- it takes over the cover. The final image is just as bright and bubbly, so I think it's a great pick! Also, for some reason I love the look of that brick wall, which grounds the whole image somehow.
What do you guys think?
PS-Enter to win a copy of this book (and watch a great Happy New Year video by Eileen) at Wattpad!