Last week's winner of Pull by B.A. Binns is... Yasmine! Send me your address, Y.
A.S. King is the awesome author of TheDust of 100 Dogs (remember its amazing cover?) and the new Please Ignore Vera Dietz, which I flew through recently and just a-dored.
What else do I adore? This new cover. Let's hear about it from A.S. (and remember to comment for a shot at winning the book!):
"I never have any ideas for covers, which, if I think about it, is kinda weird because I'm a really visual person and I went to art school and I do most of my promotional graphic design myself. But NEVER do I think about covers. I just draw a blank or something. I think cover artists are geniuses, so maybe I just know I'm out of my league in that department.
"I do not believe I was asked for input this time around. The art department at Knopf was one of the deciding factors when PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ was at auction. No, not the biggest factor for choosing Knopf, but one little deciding factor because their books are BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely gorgeous. And as a book design geek (and I am one) this kind of stuff matters to me.
"The cover they sent me at first was nothing like the final version you see here now. There were elements I loved about the first try. There were elements I disliked. The people at Knopf were very kind to give it a second shot after hearing my concerns. The final cover is NOTHING like the first try. I'm sorry I can't share the first try here, but having worked in art departments in my life, I am protective of the unused artwork. Genius does take more than one try sometimes.
"When I saw the final cover for PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ I screamed. I absolutely loved it. I'd just finished reading a paperback of The Perks of Being a Wallflower (left) and it was a similar color green and I just loved the color. And the purple type for my name! YES! And the ZIPPO. I especially loved how the designer messed with that title font and made it all smoky. It's just so original and amazing! (Oohh! And check out the picture of the yellow spine with shiny purple, below. This is my first hardcover, so I was extra thrilled when I discovered that the book sans-jacket, is purple and yellow. I actually screamed again. This was a two-scream book.)
"Here's a weird one. Do you remember last time I was here on Cover Stories and I told you that the Flux designer had no idea that I had a thing for red boots, but red boots ended up on my cover for THE DUST OF 100 DOGS? 
So, the other night, I was reading in my hometown to a room full of my friends, family, teachers and other hometown people. The question of VERA's cover came up and my good friends were so surprised that I hadn't suggested or mentioned the Zippo lighter because, and I quote, 'Amy, you were the only person in high school who had her own Zippo lighter.' And it's true. And it was exactly like the one on the cover. I still have it. But thank the gods I no longer smoke.
"The photo is a stock image, I believe. I think it is the PERFECT thing to put on the front of this book. I think it totally captures the feeling and is not obscure (though it could seem it at first glance) because Charlie's Zippo is mentioned in the very first paragraph of the book, so I think that helps draw in the reader early-on. I also think it captures the intended 14+ age group for the book."
Thanks, A.S. Ahhh! I totally noticed Charlie's Zippo in the beginning, and that was VERY satisfying as a reader because I like to feel that the cover is TRUE somehow, you know? Anyway, like I said, this book is an edgy, emotional journey and I can't get it out of my head. So you should want to win it, and you have a chance to do that right here in the comments. Just tell me what you think of the cover, and you're entered!
Good luck!
PS-Just for fun, go see a pic of A.S. King in her awkward years on Before You Were Hot. She cracks me up!
