It took a while, but we’re here. I think the designer, Katrina Damkoehler, did a fantastic job. Publishers don’t have to get the author’s approval (usually; unless you’re the kind of successful megalomaniac that I can only dream of becoming), but it’s nice when they ask for your input. And, Lordy, I inputted. I think this is the third major overhaul of the original design. It’s hard, you know…as the author, you have in your mind a theme you want to convey by the imagery, and your editor or publisher has another idea, and the designer yet another. So many things have to be taken into consideration. For us, we wanted an edgy image that was appealing to both boys and girls, and that alone is a tough job. The protagonist, Bud, is a boy—so it’s a “boy book,” right? Well, yes, but not so fast: girls are the predominant readership for YA books; it’s not always important to teen girls if the main character is a boy or a girl, as long as his arc, his storyline, appeals to them. But we can’t risk alienating them by slapping pictures of jock straps and Weird Al on the cover either. (Yet I would pick up a book that had a picture of a jockstrap and Weird Al on the cover, so we can’t plan for every contingency.)
And then we get into the fine-tuning arguments: what about the font? Is it appealing to boys and girls? Is it appealing to alternative/outsider kids? After all, they figure prominently among my intended audience. What about pink, is there too much pink? Girls like pink. Not ALL girls like pink. Punk rock girls may not like pink. Boys don’t like pink, or do they not care? I can’t remember. Maybe boys who READ do not care one way or the other about pink. What about the black; does it mitigate the pink for those who are against pink? What are the rules again?
And we haven’t even touched upon the arguments about imagery, and what we are trying to say with the cover, and what the main message is that we want teens to come away with, and what we are trying to say about Bud, who has many quirks and idiosyncrasies, bomb-building prowess among them.
But we reached an agreement, and we are here. With a cover. And it’s striking and cool.
Even boys/girls may like it.
