Jennifer Echols has some great covers. (Remember the makeovers of her illustrated-cover books into photographic covers? Love that!) Her new book, Such a Rush, is no exception. Jennifer's here to share her latest Cover Story as part of her GCC tour:
"When the publisher asked me for my input on the cover, I told them a big sky would be good, but we would also need to see the characters Leah and Grayson to make it evident to readers that the book is a romance. They came back with two possibilities. One looked like the back cover, showing the small-town airport with an airplane overhead, except that Leah and Grayson were also lying in the grass. The other looked like the front cover.
"At first, I wanted the back cover, because I thought it conveyed the contents of the book better, but it was too sleepy-looking (see below right).
"I thought the front cover was arresting, but it didn’t make clear to readers what the book was about. But my editor really loved the front, as did the art department. They tinkered with the fonts until I got my beautiful flowy title, and I compromised by flat-ironing Leah’s curly hair in one scene in the book so she would 'match' the girl on the cover. I’m really happy with the results, and I’m grateful to my editor for caring so deeply about what I thought."
Thanks, Jennifer! Here's what I love: The way her hair sweeps in a way the matches the font of the title. Also: the almost black-and-white coloring with a pop of color for the title. And it's cool that the back cover got to tell a little bit about the small-town airport aspect of the story. Oh, and yay for writing straight hair into the story--so worth doing that for readers, I think!
What do you guys think?