Elana Johnson was here last year to share the very cool cover for POSSESSION (read that Cover Story), and she's back now for a GCC tour to talk about SURRENDER, the second in this series.
"Honestly, my first thought when I saw the cover was 'No. No, that can’t be the cover!' The POSSESSION cover was so perfect, with the butterfly in ice (below, right). The SURRENDER cover seemed so pedestrian in comparison. I lovingly call it 'when taxidermists make mistakes.'
"My editor and agent and I had quite the discussion about the cover. Everything from the color of the hummingbird to the shape of the jar. It’s a fascinating process, this cover making. But... the cover you see now is the same one I was sent in January.
"I’ll admit that I like the cover now. Something happens when you actually hold the real product in your hand. Things on-screen are COMPLETELY different than things in real life. It took holding the book and stroking the cover for me to come around to cover love.
"My series got a cover redesign in January. So the blue one is the new cover, and the white one (right) is the old cover. The images are the same, but the fonts and such are obviously different."
Thanks, Elana! I think the covers together--POSSESSION has a new cover too--are pretty striking (see both below). I wonder if there was a conscious decision to move away from white covers? Are people over them?
What do you guys think?
About Elana: Elana's work including POSSESSION, REGRET, and SURRENDER is available from Simon & Schuster wherever books are sold. She is the author of From the Query to the Call, an ebook that every writer needs to read before they query, which can be downloaded for free on her website. She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog.
GIVEAWAY: Elana is hosting a Spectacular Seconds giveaway this week! You can enter to win one of five signed sophomore books by Beth Revis, Ally Condie, Veronica Roth, Kristi Cook, and Kim Harrington. CLICK HERE for all the details and to enter.