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Thoughts lately -
1) If copper is so expensive now, why are pennies still only worth one cent?
2) What did medieval people think of static electricity?
3) There aren't many gender neutral insults, yet instead of being irritated by this I have found humor in it. For example, calling someone a douchebag is like saying, "You are a really useful hygienic tool." Calling someone a dickhead is like saying, "I don't need you. People have been cutting those off for centuries."
I love talking to debut authors. Our experiences are so similar, yet so very different, that every one of us has a new story to share. Everyone says that the moment you get your cover it really hits you - you're an author. The cover is your story - and you - packaged for the world. So the process of the cover reveal can be slightly panic inducing. Does it fit your story? Is it what you hoped? Will it sell? With this in mind I put together the CRAP (Cover Reveal Anxiety Phase) Interview.
Today's guest for the CRAP is Miriam Spitzer Franklin, author of the MG debut EXTRAORDINARY, which releases May 5th from SkyPony Press. Besides reading children’s literature and writing, Miriam loves to teach. She's taught kindergarteners up to eighth graders in public and private schools. Her favorite subject to teach? You guessed it– reading and writing!
Did you have any pre-conceived notions about what you wanted your cover to look like?
I knew that I wanted my cover to portray the story in an optimistic way. Because my book deals with some heavy subject matter (Pansy's best friend suffers a traumatic brain injury), I needed to make sure the cover didn't appear sad or depressing.
How far in advance from your pub date did you start talking covers with your house?
My editor asked me to start thinking about ideas for the cover in May 2014, a year before the book came out.
Did you have any input on your cover?
My editor suggested that I put together a mood board -- examples of MG covers that I liked and the overall feeling I wanted to convey.
How was your cover revealed to you?
Actually, my editor asked me for an author photo for the catalog because she said they weren't satisfied with the designs and they had asked the illustrator to rework the design. I was glad that they weren't accepting a cover they weren't satisfied with but disappointed that the catalog was going out without my cover! A few days later, my husband was searching the internet and found my cover! I e-mailed my editor to tell her I loved it and hoped it was the final design! Apparently they reworked the illustration in time for it to go out in the official catalog, so it all worked out the way it was supposed to.
Was there an official "cover reveal" date for your art?
I did not have an official cover reveal date, but I found out about it in late October, around 5 months before the book's release.
Was it hard to keep it to yourself before the official release?
I didn't have to keep it to myself since it was already out on the internet! Though I did check with my editor to see if it was okay if I shared.
What surprised you most about the process?
I was most surprised at the way the illustrator came up with the perfect cover for my book. I'm assuming he didn't actually read the book, but the Best Friend necklaces worked perfectly to capture the theme of Extraordinary.
Any advice to other debut authors about how to handle cover art anxiety?
If your editor doesn't ask for input, you should let him/her know what you would like to see in a cover. Because authors may not have a final say in the cover design (mine was finalized before anyone showed it to me), you'll feel a lot better if you have the discussion upfront. Offering up a mood board to your editor is a good way to show what types of covers you'd like to see. In the end, you have to trust your publishing house and hope they will put out the type of cover that best represents your book, as mine did!
I used to be a strong advocate of not reading while writing. I was adamant about a little term I coined - something I called "voice bleeding." I fiercely believed that if I indulged myself in reading the same genre I was writing that I opened myself up to the voice of the other author leaking into whatever ms I was working on.
And, to be fair, I still think that's a possibility.
But you'll notice that the blog post I link to above is from 2011. Now, I've got four more years of experience under my belt, four years where I've been writing professionally, and four years of balancing simultaneous projects while still working full time as a librarian. And to be a good librarian you have to be aware of the market, aware of content, and aware of your collection in order to make good recommendations to your patrons.
And to do that, you have to be reading.
I want to be good at both of my jobs, so I decided I was going to be reading while writing. There was no way around it. At first I stuck to my old decree that reading nonfiction was non-damaging to my creative voice, and while I still think that's true, it also severely limits my reading choices.
So I went a different route and decided to read the opposite genre of whatever I was writing. That definitely worked, until I came up against a book I really wanted to read right now that happened to also be a dark contemporary. It was GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn and yes, I'm glad I just went ahead and read it.
Ironically, I found that reading the same genre I was writing didn't stymie me so much as inspire me. I'd read a few chapters and find myself burning to write, instead of having to put down the book I was reading and force my brain to jump tracks over to the genre I was writing. There was less of a lag, and instead of invading my creativity I felt like reading was bolstering it, challenging me to answer with my own voice and words.
I finished up the first draft of my dark contemporary, tentatively titled THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES, last week. It's out to crit partners right now, and while I'm waiting for it to come back to me I've got to switch projects and focus on GIVEN TO THE SEA, the first in my epic fantasy series due out in 2017.
How to best make that move?
I think I'll ease into it by reading some fantasy.
