Cover Stories: Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

Jennifer Echols has some great covers. (Remember the makeovers of her illustrated-cover books into photographic covers? Love that!) Her new book, Such a Rush, is no exception. Jennifer's here to share her latest Cover Story as part of her GCC tour:

"When the publisher asked me for my input on the cover, I told them a big sky would be good, but we would also need to see the characters Leah and Grayson to make it evident to readers that the book is a romance. They came back with two possibilities. One looked like the back cover, showing the small-town airport with an airplane overhead, except that Leah and Grayson were also lying in the grass. The other looked like the front cover.

"At first, I wanted the back cover, because I thought it conveyed the contents of the book better, but it was too sleepy-looking (see below right).

"I thought the front cover was arresting, but it didn’t make clear to readers what the book was about. But my editor really loved the front, as did the art department. They tinkered with the fonts until I got my beautiful flowy title, and I compromised by flat-ironing Leah’s curly hair in one scene in the book so she would 'match' the girl on the cover. I’m really happy with the results, and I’m grateful to my editor for caring so deeply about what I thought."

Thanks, Jennifer! Here's what I love: The way her hair sweeps in a way the matches the font of the title. Also: the almost black-and-white coloring with a pop of color for the title. And it's cool that the back cover got to tell a little bit about the small-town airport aspect of the story. Oh, and yay for writing straight hair into the story--so worth doing that for readers, I think!

What do you guys think?

Cover Stories: Love Story

Jennifer Echols has a new book out--yay! She stopped by on her GCC tour to talk about the cover for Love Story. (Check out her previous Cover Stories for Going Too Far and Endless Summer.) Here's Jennifer! "I asked for [my character] Erin in the foreground, looking over her shoulder at Hunter at a desk writing in the background. My publisher doesn’t ask me for my input--I just give it, LOL! I didn’t really think they would follow my advice, because my covers are all from stock photos, not photo shoots, and a cover as specific as the one I asked for would have been hard to find. So I also sent them pictures of what the characters should look like. And I asked that above all, the heroine should look happy.

"When I first saw the cover, I thought, 'The heroine is happy! Hooray!' and also 'Why does the heroine have a diamond stud in her nose?' My editor offered to have it Photoshopped out for me, but I wrote it into the book instead.

"I knew a cover quote would be added, so at one point I asked my editor for a final version of the cover that I could use in ads and so forth. She asked me to wait a few days because the art department was making my name bigger. I did not know what to make of that, and I blogged about it here. But in the end, my name is only a little bigger and pink!"

Thanks, Jennifer. I think this is a really romantic cover, but the pinks/purples aren't overdone, which is key (and I love Jennifer's name in pink instead of black). Sometimes covers get sickly sweet, but I think this one achieves a really nice balance, and a connection with the reader because of the eye contact.

What do you guys think? Happy Love Story reading!

Cover Stories: Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols

The lovely Jennifer Echols is here as part of her Girlfriend Cyber Circuit tour! Her book, Endless Summer, is a repackaging of two previous books -- The Boys Next Door and Endless Summer. Look for a sweet and hot love triangle with the Vader Brothers next door during Lori's summer at the lake. Here's Jenn, and she's got a whopper of a cover change to show!

"At first I had a cartoon cover. I thought it was adorable like my other cartoon covers, but I had heard the look of the books might be changing in the future, and I wished they had changed mine. I think covers have moved away from the cartoon, and it now looks younger than my books really are.

"And then they changed it! And we all loved the new cover (below). In fact, the sales department loved it so much that they moved up the release of the book from August to May.

"I grew up on a beautiful lake in Alabama, and Endless Summer is based on my experiences there. And I have to say, this cover is a little eerie--in a good way, because it looks awfully familiar. In other words, it's perfect, I had no changes to suggest, and I couldn't ask for more."

Thanks, Jenn! I love that they combined both books into one -- reader bonus! And I think the new cover is gorgeous with all that blue sky and the red title treatment. I agree that it makes the book look much older (and, uh, sexier).

What do you guys think?