Jessica Verdi On Tackling Tough Topics In Her Fiction

I'm highlighting the podcast today, as the newest episode features a guest who tackles very tough issues in her YA fiction.

Jessica Verdi is the author of the YA contemporary novels My Life After Now, The Summer I Wasn’t Me, What You Left Behind, as well as And She Was. Jess received her MFA in Writing for Children from The New School and is a freelance editor of romance, women’s fiction, chick lit, YA, and kid lit

Jessica joined me to talk about querying a first novel, landing her agent, and breaking out of writing only one genre. Also covered: how Jessica handles hot button issues in her books, and the pushback that can come from writing about such topics, as well as the pros and cons of getting an MFA and why everyone needs an editor.

Meg Kassel On The Cover Art Process

I love talking to 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 WHAT is Meg Kassel, author of fantasy and speculative books for young adults. A graduate of Parson’s School of Design, she’s always been creating stories, whether with visuals or words. She is the 2016 winner of the RWA Golden Heart® contest in YA and a 2018 RITA® Award finalist. Her YA Debut, Black Bird of the Gallows, is available now.

Did you have any pre-conceived notions about what you wanted your cover to look like?

I did not! And this is remarkable because I come from an art/graphic design background. I think when you’re so close to a project—like the book you wrote—perspective can be compromised. In other words, all my professional training and experience flew out the window. I knew it should have something to do with crows, and it should look creepy. My five-year-old could probably have described the book in more articulate terms during that time.

How far in advance from your pub date did you start talking covers with your house?

We stared a few weeks after the contracts were signed with a form from my publisher. They asked for all sorts of info, like different lengths of bios, author photos, stuff like that, and a questionnaire about my cover.

Did you have any input on your cover?

Yes! But I didn’t offer much insight! I just wanted it to look good, and I was worried that if I started in on ,“I want this...I don’t want that...” that I could wind up limiting the designer from creating something amazing. This book endured a long and harrowing journey to publication (two publishers, two agents, several years of limbo), and I had a lot of jumbled thoughts about it by the time cover decisions came up.

How was your cover revealed to you?

My agent emailed it to me (she loved it).

Was there an official "cover reveal" date for your art?

Yes! Young Adult Books Central hosted a cover reveal eight months before release day.

How far in advance of the reveal date were you aware of what your cover would look like?

I saw my cover about a month prior to the reveal.

Was it hard to keep it to yourself before the official release?

Keep it to myself? Ha! I whipped out my phone and showed that thing to my family, close friends, hair dressers—pretty much anyone I wound up in conversation with. I didn’t post it online until the “reveal,” but I wasn’t shy about showing it off.

What surprised you most about the process?

I was surprised by how amazing my cover turned out. I remember staring it at and feeling a whole lot of emotions. Like I said, this book took a difficult route to publication. Seeing the cover made it all suddenly, very real. The designer, L.J. Anderson at Mayhem Cover Creations, brought the vibe of my book alive. I was very fortunate to get a gorgeous cover, and couldn’t have imagined a better one.

Any advice to other debut authors about how to handle cover art anxiety?

The biggest worry is that you’ll get a bad cover, right? Plenty of authors get covers they don’t love, and sometimes publishers are willing to make changes if an author has strong objections. If that happens to be you, take a deep breath and talk to your agent. But ultimately, traditionally published authors have limited input on their covers, so the best thing you can do is try to give yourself space from it and put your energy into the things you can control, like all those words that go between the covers.

The Ever Rising Bar of Success in Publishing

I remember being in the query trenches while in the agent hunt - for 10 years - and thinking that if I could just get an agent, I would feel validated. Once I'd landed an agent, it looked like the book I hooked her with - Not A Drop to Drink - might not sell. All that validation evaporated over the six months it took to get picked up. And then it sold, in a two book deal - and hooray! I'm a successful writer.

Except... my sales weren't that great.

(Oh, to be that naive debut author again. My opening sales week for Not A Drop to Drink were my highest ever. My subsequent titles haven't come close).

That's okay though, because I had full confidence in the sequel, In A Handful of Dust. While Not A Drop to Drink didn't blow any doors off their hinges on its opening week, it had steady sales, and I assumed readers who were finding it now would look forward to picking up the sequel when it came out.

(Oh, again to be that naive. Readership drops off drastically for sequels, sometimes as much as 40%).

I can take you through the hills and the valleys for every title I've published, but I won't. Mostly because I'm very aware that this blog is for pre-published writers, and what I'm saying can easily come across as whining. I remember reading posts like this when the only thing I wanted in the world was an agent, and thinking that the author ought to count their blessings.

And I do, every day. I get to write for a living. That's an amazing gift. But the truth is that as in all aspects of life, there is always something more to aspire to.

I recently did a signing with a New York Times bestselling author who consistently hits the list with every release. She told me she's jealous of my Edgar Allan Poe award. I told her I'm jealous of her sales.

That's how it goes. No matter what you attain there is always something more that you see on the horizon. Something that makes you say - That. If I had that I would finally be happy.

I recently blogged about 6 Ways To Support Writers Without Spending A Dime. One of the noted ways on that post is to reach out and tell the author what their book has meant to you. It doesn't have to a life-changer, or a watershed moment. Did you like it? Did it pass a hot afternoon for you? That's awesome - and it's one of the things that never gets old in a writer's life.

Tweets, emails and comments from readers (positive ones, anyway), are one of the things in an author's life that has no bar, no greater aspiration - because it is the top. These messages remind me of why I write - so that people can read my books.