Choosing a cover that expresses the right tone, says the right things, captures the eyes of a target audience, figuring out who that target audience is–well, it’s all work. This is what I went through with Straight Up and Dirty before we ultimately chose what we did (and I happen to absolutely love what we selected).
At first there were a few things I threw together for the cover of my actual proposal. Things I literally threw together. How awful, the sword stuck through the olive. Just wretched. Then when it came to a cover, they sketched up the shoes and martini drawing NOT for that to be the cover, but to show the IDEA for the cover, that they would hire a photographer to shoot the idea. But I was so against cigarettes, that I refused… and I REALLY didn’t want shoes on the cover either. The galleys went out with that greenish cover, and then finally, the one we ultimately ran with, which I love.
We’re going through it now with MOOSE, and it’s not easy. Moose is not a slapstick goof ball comedy. It’s a fun book, but it’s also serious and a bit dark at times. I explore my relationship with my mother, express a lot of self-hatred and angst, and am ultimately just hoping to fit in… not just into a new size, but into a new life. Finding a cover that expresses these ideas, or at least the tone, is hard. It must not look like a novel. It cannot look like a young adult book (which it did when they tried putting my before photo on the cover). It needs to look like a memoir for adult readers. We’re working on it, but it ain’t easy. Though I’m sure we’ll ultimately come out with something fantastic.
COMMENTS:
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Your book cover is by far the biggest reason I bought the book. I didn't know who you were before I bought it, and couldn't wait to find out more about you once I read it, more than once that is.
I am a sucker for a book cover, and in most cases I do alright. I however have a couple of books that I have never been able to finish reading, but they do look pretty on my coffee table.
I absolutely love the cover of SUAD…
keep plugging away, you'll get there! Can't wait!
I really like the book cover (US edition), and that second one too. I don't really like the UK edition (-why is that a shoe anyway?), I'm even considering ordering the US one instead.
Stephanie,
Have you thought about a surrealistic cover? Silhouettes, shadows? A sienna-tinted watercolor of a person, whose shadow looks different than them, or stretches until it is monster-size? Something complicated with shadows would be cool.
Or one of those double mirrors at the changing room, the one where the selves stretch on and on into infinity, and we don't see our heroine's face because she's looking in the mirror, but we see the faces lined up, and they're a mixture of gorgeous, okay, and hideous…
Or a pier in the summer, a photograph of feet from right on top of the pier, adolescent feet. The photo takes up the bottom 1/3 or 1/4, and the rest of the cover is white. We can see other, blurry, kids jumping into the water, skinny ones, a little ways off, but the feet in front and to the right of the camera seem planted. They are slightly chubby, pale with freckles. The edge of a towel is visible.
How did Straight Up and Dirty do overall? I think you mentioned there was maybe a second printing here in the US? I know it's overseas too.
per the UK version, were there any significant changes made, perhaps other than language/dialect issues? did you have any final say so as to THAT cover? what do the captions say in the last row of pictures of the covers above?
good luck with moose? any ETA?
FROM STEPHANIE: I did not have say on the UK cover. As for the smaller caption… I think you mean the "Life of a young New York divorcee." That or … a book proposal by Stephanie Klein
I just went on Amazon and saw that they already have a cover associated with Moose. Is that a cover you chose? Is it going to change?
I think it's lovely you let us know about the whole process, especially us 'wannabe writers'
me too…terrible cover. just does NOT seem to be your style…ugh!
A few years ago, a memoir whose exact title & subject I'm too lazy to search was published. The title and nickname of the author was Zippy the something or other — no, not the zippy the pinhead. Anyway, the cover was a blow up of a standard 1960s color snapshot — color fading, grainy due to blowing up beyond capacity of 1960s film, etc. You must have a color print of young fat you somewhere — though obviously not from the 1960s. But through the magic of computers, I would think such a photo could be given the same grainy, faded quality. Just a thought.
I like the cover that Amazon has up for Moose. Not wild about the tag line, feels awkward for some reason, but the image is clean and evocotive.
Perhaps a photo of the current you on the cover holding a photo of you from Fat Camp?? I cannot wait until it is published. Congrats on meeting the Oct 1 deadline!
Wow, Anna's ideas are awesome — I especially like the one of the dock, because of the summer camp feel. The mirror idea is good too, especially because you're exploring your relationship with your mother. I imagine that on a black background.
My ideas weren't as picturesque:
a scale
an empty hanger (related to finding a new size, not NARAL!)
a scale with an empty hanger and clothes piled up next to the scale (the metaphor of shedding comes to mind)
a clothing tag, with a size crossed out
I meant to comment on this earlier,(and maybe you can't really say): how did you feel about the whole OJ book scandal? Just curious because it was the same publisher as Straight Up and Dirty and they took such negative press for it. Wondering if you had any opinion.
i cannot wait to till your new book comes out and now i am even more excited with the blog about the cover. i LOVE maggie's idea! i was thinking a blah camp looking diary cover but i guess i don't have any imagination b/c blah, blah, and vomit :( i'm now heading to amazon to see what's associated with Moose!
ps interesting previous book cover choices/concepts…thanks for sharing!
I do find it amusing that you ultimately chose a cover with a million pix of yourself.
I like the Moose cover they have up as well. I think it cooresponds nicely to the cover of SUAD and the colors and feel are good. Also, you immediately know what it's about by the picture. The only thing is it maybe looks more fiction than memoir and could look childlike and less adult. But it pops and would grab my attention.
good luck stephanie
Barbara E. the book was a girl named zippy. good cover ~ good book (a memoir)
So you designed the cover art in your proposal? Is that normal cause I don't have graphic design skills and don't know if I should incorporate something into my proposal. Ugh!! I'm still waiting on query responses!
I agree that the cover you chose is the BEST!
I never thought if this before. Choosing the cover art is just as creative and difficult a process as writing the book, settling on tone, themes, etc. Good luck, though I am sure, as you said, you will come up with something fantastic. I personally can't wait for MOOSE!
Wow…that rocks. I never really thought how difficult that must be. I used to do design so I can come up with ideas for other people. But trying to capture myself on a cover? Lord, you would need valium to LOOK at it.
Sure it will be fantastic.
I loved your first book and its 'wrapping'! :)
I can't wait for Moose and I just know it will have even better wrapping.
Well, you already know how much I loved the cover per my comment on myspace with the pic, and I have to admit, I would have loved the book anyway but the pics were the cherry on the top.
Now having said that, Im going to be honest, I hope that is not the cover you chose. Strictly speaking as a reader who does tend to judge a book by its cover before i buy it anyway, that book would probably turn me off. I'd see the scale and think, oh another story of anorexic girl who overcame her illness.
Honestly i think it will come to you. I guess you do not want to do another collage cover say of pics of you at that age?
FROM STEPHANIE: I did not choose the scale cover for Moose. Now that Judith Regan's imprint is no more, I'm now at a different HarperCollins imprint: William Morrow. The cover for Straight Up and Dirty was very expensive to produce. The folks at Morrow felt the scale cover looked like a novel, not a memoir.
Have you thought about posting some options on this blog and letting your readers decide?
FROM STEPHANIE: I have thought of it, but ultimately, it's not just up to me. I will be happy to show the rejects, though. Once a cover is actually chosen. The thing is first the cover goes into a catalog. This is where bookstores are able to read about the book, see the cover, etc. Sometimes bookstores will go back to the publisher and say the cover isn't right, etc. So who knows what will happen eventually. I do know that MOOSE is due out in store May 20, 2008.
Really? I immediately thought of Prozac Nation when I saw it.
That is too bad they are choosing to not go with photos b/c of the expense if I understand you correctly. GODDAMMIT.
:)
Was hoping it would be another collage cover. That's a shame.
I don't really like any of these covers either. They seem way too trendy/Sex In The City. If I didn't know you, I'd assume you were some dumb 20-something that has a fashionable life, nothing interesting to talk about (aside from clothes), but wrote a book anyway. We all know this isn't true, but the shoes or focus on martini glasses would give me that impression. I like the one you chose. It's your life, not an image.
Little story re the SUAD cover:
I happen to live in a place where your book hasn't yet been published and when I wanted to order it via Amazon, the UK version was much cheaper but I went for the US version just because of the cover! It is SO awesome, I love it! Good choice!
All the best for Moose!
The dancing/sexing martini glasses is sexy. I'd like to hang that up in my gameroom/bar area (if i had one.)
i can't wait to hear about you making out with boys at fat camp. I wish i had gone to camp. i would have made out with boys there. Let's make grown-ups camp damn it.
Just wanted to say congrats on Moose, Happy Birthday, and so sorry to hear about your loss. I just did my catching up on your blog-I've been away from my comfort zone here at work for the past 2 weeks dealing with my own health issues. Thanks for helping me return to a little bit of normalcy and routine. So when's happy hour/girls nite out??
Interesting. I like all of the different perspectives. But yeah, the one chosen was indeed the best.
I saw your book in an Austrian bookstore the other day and the German edition does have the painting in the top left corner (shoes, fag and all). Plus it is called "Die Dating Queen. Männer, Manhattan, Martinis und ich". Weird how you do judge a book by its cover, the original edition seems so much more sophisticated.
I'm looking forward to read Moose.
All the best for the beans from Vienna