Cover Reveal
(This blog post is kind of late to the party)
Look at this! Isn’t it gorgeous?!
Design: Micaela Alcaino
And look - I’m allowed to gush about how pretty my book is, because guess what? I didn’t design the cover, so even though I find it really uncomfortable when people are nice about my writing (I was not raised to take compliments well) - this isn’t about my writing! It’s about what a genius Micaela is! Didn’t she do a spectacular job? I could not be happier.
In case you’re interested, here was the process from my end of working out what the cover would look like:
Chicken House got in touch by email (this was July 2023) and asked if I had any themes or images in mind as I was writing. I didn’t have a pre-made mood board, but I spent a very pleasant afternoon pulling one together.
Towards the end of November 2023, I got an email that included four initial sketches/ideas - this was number one on the list, and the other three had other interpretations of themes I’d put in the moodboard. This was the most literal character design - other elements considered included a can of pop (important in the book), stained glass windows, and neon signage.
Everyone liked this option, so we sent that feedback and in mid-January 2024 I got to see a colour version - very similar to what you see here. We (myself and my agent) made some very minor suggestions for tweaks, so did the publishers, but it was already so good that we’re talking super minor tweaks here - like, I think ultimately Micaela re-drew Jenny’s eyebrows to make her look less innocent; that’s the kind of minor we’re talking here.
It was announced to the world on 16th February 2024! It went out on Instagram and Twitter, as well as going live for preorder on Amazon and Waterstones.
As with everything in traditional publishing, from the outside it might feel like it took a long time to get to this point, but when you consider the time and energy that goes into making a piece of art (which is what this is!), five months from initial brief to being announced online is pretty quick.
I hope you like it as much as I do… and the next step I guess is going to be seeing it in shops!!