Lauren Baratz-Logsted has written a lot for adults and teens, but now she's writing for a younger audience--and her co-authors are husband Greg Logsted and daughter Jackie. My eight-year-old niece has devoured the first books in The Sisters 8 series, and is anxiously awaiting the next titles.
As for me? I love the illustrations by Lisa K. Weber. So here's Lauren telling her Cover Story:
"I had no idea about a cover! This was the first time I'd done something for such a young audience.
"The publisher did ask our preference on a couple of ways to present THE SISTERS EIGHT, finally settling on the font they have now with it written THE SISTERS 8. They also sent us links to some of the artists they were considering, but the final decision to go with Lisa K. Weber was theirs. Since they were the ones paying the illustrator--not just for the cover but also for about 20 interior illustrations for the books--we had no problem with them having the final say. Besides, they know what they're doing.
"When I first saw the cover, I was in love! And this was a huge relief. Truthfully, before seeing it, I'd been very nervous. I've had a lot of books published before, and have had a lot of different covers, but this was different. How the cover of ANNIE'S ADVENTURES came out would define the life of the nine-book series just as much as our writing would. Short answer: We were thrilled. Longer answer: Lisa K. Weber's illustrations surpassed our hopes and dreams. All three of us are in love with our covers."
A short and sweet story that hinges on a very quirky/cool illustrator--yay! What do you guys think of these covers? Of these four, I like the first one best, maybe because of the snowy background and the gorgeously cold blue.
I'd love to hear what anyone thinks of illustrated covers vs. photographic covers. I'm a fan of both--either can be done well (or badly) so it just depends on the execution, I think. You guys?