Lucienne Diver has shared her Cover Stories before, most recently the story of Fangtastic. She's back with the story behind the cover of the follow-up to that book: Fangtabulous, of course.
"I would never make it as a cover artist! I see the book like a movie playing out in my head as I’m writing it, but never as a still shot with an iconic image that would perfectly represent the book.
"Flux has always been great about asking for input on my covers. When asked about Fangtabulous, I said, 'Gina in a graveyard with something ghostly perhaps forming from one of the gravestones would be really wonderful.' I’m pleased to have gotten the little ghost girl that Gina befriends on the cover with her.
"In the first version of the cover, Gina looked more mean girl than mischievous. (Also vapid, which isn’t Gina at all. She may be a fashionista, but not to the exclusion of all else!) Luckily, Flux was great about finding another image with the same model and changing the eye color to suit the character.
"The final version of the Fangtabulous cover is head and shoulders above the previous incarnation! I believe it’s stock photography, though how they got the ghost girl to show on camera... ;-)
"In terms of how I feel about the cover, I’m torn. I was really so taken with the covers for Vamped and Revamped—the unique design, the very striking reds—that I was nervous when Flux took the covers for Fangtastic and Fangtabulous in a new direction. I understood the change—the Vamped and Revamped covers looked like chick-lit, and that wasn’t a big selling point, so they wanted to give the later two books an edgier feel. I’d love to hear what readers/viewers think."
Read the Cover Stories for Vamped and ReVamped, and see those covers below:
What do you guys think of the original two covers and the new direction? I admit to loving those two first covers--the beauty aspect of lipstick and nails (hi, Lana del Rey!) feels so standout to me. The new ones, though, maybe are more accessible/relatable to readers? Thoughts?