What Makes a Cover Great?

I'm so excited that I finally have the cover for my fall book for Harcourt!  It's probably my favorite of my covers so far - and it got me thinking about what makes a cover great.  

What is it that makes you want to pull a book off a shelf, or a display and give it a try?

We buzz girls have been pretty lucky when it comes to cover art -- from Tina's sweet prom dress illustration to Marley's fierce Ghost Huntress photographic images -- the covers have really popped out at readers on the shelf.   I know because I'm looking for them in every bookstore I go to!

I think the thing that is surprising is how little pull most authors have when it comes to covers for their books.  Of course, it varies by publisher, but aside from a character sketch or vague idea I've shared with my editor, the art director is usually the one who is dreaming up the image and then sharing it with sales and marketing. 

Before I sold a book, I would spend time sketching out ideas for my future covers - thinking that those might be useful someday.   They were useful in one way - they kept my mind thinking that someday there would be a cover on my books.  A self-fulfilling prophecy, in the end.

So, let's take an informal poll -- what is it that strikes you first about a cover?

1) The main image and how it relates to subject

2) The color combination

3) The title or cover blurb

4) The author's name


Are there any covers that you've really loved lately?


Hugs,

Heather
www.heatherdavisbooks.com
Wherever You Go - November 2011 Harcourt
The Clearing - HMH/Graphia
Never Cry Werewolf - HarperTeen

New Cover!

Well...I was going to blog about my trip to Gettysburg and show some pretty pictures, but I was sideswiped by the cover to the next book in the GHOST HUNTRESS series. THE COUNSELING comes out in October 2010 and I have to say, I think this cover is my favorite so far! Check it out:



I geek out every time I see a new cover. I am totally blessed by the Cover Gods at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. My thanks to ilovedust in the UK and to Carol Chu for their awesome work.

Do you love it? Does it make you want to preorder it immediately? LOL!!

Hugs,
Marley = )

And The Cover News Just Keeps On Coming

Okay, we all saw the cover of GODDESS BOOT CAMP (June '09) on my pile o' ARCs last week, and that was pretty exciting. But this week I have another new cover to share. (And, since it's been posted on Amazon and Banes & Noble, I'm going to assume cleared for public viewing.)

When OH. MY. GODS. released in hardcover this May (I almost wrote "last year" because it feels like that long) it had an absolutely gorgeous cover that I, to this day, adore.



But the good people at Penguin, never content to settle for simple adoration, decided that OH. MY. GODS. needed a new cover for the forthcoming paperback edition (May '09). I was nervous. I mean, I adore Agias and his sand and his pink sneakers (even though Phoebe would never wear pink sneakers) and his rock hard six-pack. How could a new cover compete?

Here's how:


What do you think? I still love my stone cold stud, but the new cover is so beautiful and adorable and magical that I'm kind of okay with saying goodbye to hunky Agias. (Besides, look how much bigger my name is!)

Now you weigh in. Do you like the new cover better than the original? Do you like them both the same? Do you wish I didn't ask you to make such tough decisions??? (Okay, so it's not life or death.) Bottom line: Which cover would most entice you to pick the book off a shelf?

Hugs,
TLC

OH. MY. GODS. (available now!)
GODDESS BOOT CAMP (coming June 2009)
teralynnchilds.com

PS — HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

There be covers here!

I'm so pleased to share the covers for my first two books that will be released together in May 2008! I'll be writing under the pen name Kate Harmon...isn't it cute, young and hip?

Without any further ado...here they are...





I just love them! Hope you love them, too...and will pick them up!

Hugs,
Marley = )

What I'm reading: HOW TO RUIN MY TEENAGE LIFE by the fabulous Simone Elkeles