And isn’t it beautiful?, ll
I had thought this was going to be an impossible book to find a good image for . . . I mean, bees. But while I think the cover art is beautiful, I think the interior design is brilliant. You worry about the cover art, of course*, because the grim reality is that it is crucial. Unless you’re Shakespeare or J K Rowling you need a oooh, pick me up jacket illustration. What a publisher does with the inside varies, and if what it is is ‘not much’ you just sigh a bit and get on with the next thing. The interior design on this one is the honey on your bread and butter. (Even the line breaks are bees.)
* You lose sleep worrying about cover art
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Please join the discussion at Robin McKinley's Web Forum.
Please join the discussion at Robin McKinley's Web Forum.
I like the look of it. That circular motif is nifty.
It is beautiful!
Someday I want to see one of my own books in print like that. It must be such a great feeling.
Yes. Especially when you’re PLEASED. It’s a little more complex when you hate the cover. . . .
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did you ever hate a cover? and if so, which one…I love all the copies I have of your books…not a bad cover among them…although Sunshine and Deerskin are probably my favorites thus far…
Yes. Frequently. But not in a while, I’m glad to say.
Frankly, even JK Rowling ought to have an “ooh, pick me up jacket.” The US covers to her books were jack-awful looking.
The cover to my only published work is about as dull as you could possibly get (academic presses aren’t known for their creativity) but it was still a pretty great feeling to get that copy in the mail. :) Congrats, Robin, it looks smashing.
:)
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I cannot wait. It is beautiful. I have everyone of your books and two copies of Hero. However I usually don’t buy books in the fall until after my birthday…..which is pure torture…..this one I don’t think I’m waiting for……
My husband is used to me muttering about releases in September that I have to wait a whole month and a half for….and then is completely resigned to the book shopping spree after my birthday because people never realize that I am completely happy to only get books and horse related items for my birthday…..
I do have to say that one of the reasons I love your books is that they are complex and I can go back and read them over and over and always pick up something. I also love that you don’t stick with the same “world” or characters all the time. So count me among the eagerly anticipating!
I am completely happy to only get books and horse related items for my birthday…..
********* I’m there! :) Although Peter has a rather good line in jewelry. . . .
I do have to say that one of the reasons I love your books is that they are complex and I can go back and read them over and over and always pick up something. I also love that you don’t stick with the same “world” or characters all the time.
*********** **Bless you.** In a publishing world where the answer to all questions is ‘write a series’ I NEED readers like you. As I keep saying, I write what I’m given, and I’m not given series.
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I get TIRED of series, myself. As a younger reader (teens and early 20s), I thought series were great. Then I got married, started graduate school, was helping my then-attorney husband, etc. etc. THEN I had a child … As I’ve gotten older, I have much less time. I like books that are complete in and of themselves. I don’t like starting a book, really getting into it, then realizing there are a minimum of seven volumes to follow. Not any more. Trilogies I can handle. Books that relate somehow to previous books I can handle. Long, multi-volume series that take years and years to come out so you really have to reread the previous volumes to remember enough of what happened before to make sense of the new one … no, not any more. Way too many books to read, and not enough time left in which to read them. I LOVE Robin’s books for standing alone. I’ve taken to rereading them at night, in bed, as a reward for the work I’ve done during the day. Rereading Sunshine now.
Yes, I’m there. (Also–thank you! :)) I also myself feel, in my too-little-time way, that most of those eight hundred page per, forty volume series are just TOO LONG. That they would have been better BOOKS at half the length.
A lot of those writers need good editors! I can think of two or three right off the bat that needed someone with a good sharp red pencil.
How does the cover art work? You have no say in it really, correct?
I have always wondered how covers get printed that don’t have anything to do with the book. My copy of BEAUTY has a girl wearing a yellow curtain (okay, I know its supposed to be a dress) with a yellow rose in her hand. It’s not even close to the ugliest cover I’ve ever seen, but it seems like if they’d let you talk to the artist something a little more…relevant could have been arranged.
With reference to recent query, that’s one of the covers I hate, and had no input on.
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I have that same version and I too hate the cover. Glad to know I’m not the only one.
I keep thinking maybe I should print a copy of the original cover and paste it on there, but I haven’t actually acted on that impulse.
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Sounds like a good idea to me. :)
Well, Robin, when I see a new book by you on the lists it gets ordered, no matter what the cover looks like! Longing to read “Chalice” – when is it officially published?
I really like the cover, too. It will look great on my McKinley shelf! :o)
A question: what did you think of the artwork for your Stone Fey? Were you pleased with it? I’m just curious.
After ordering and receiving my copy, then getting over the *shock* of how short it was (see, you can do short) I decided I really liked the artwork, too.
Okay, I’ll leave you be for now. I’m going to check the calendar again and will September to hurry and get here soon.
WandaV in AL
what did you think of the artwork for your Stone Fey? Were you pleased with it?
************** No.
I CAN do short. I have a dozen or so short stories to my name. I just don’t do it very RELIABLY.
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oh it all looks lovely! i am so excited to read it.
It looks really, really lovely. I’m so pleased. Great stories in a beautiful format can just make ones day. I’ve always wondered though, after I saw that the cover of one of my favorite Andre Norton books, the Year of the Unicorn, had a scantily clad warrior hussy with a sword rather than anything resembling Gillan’s embroidered divided riding skirt (yes, it got torn up a bit, but the part where Gillan splits it all the way and ties it round here legs is spelled out, and it doesn’t sound sexy) what sort of input do the authors have? Do you get cover approval? Or do you just have to hope they don’t put Harry or Aerin in a chrome plated bikini?
Both. This is at least a blog entry, and probably twelve. I get what’s called ‘cover consultation’. This can mean as much or as little as the publisher likes. I’m lucky in that the editors I work with now I’ve *been* with for a while, and they give me genuine input. But I could tell you stories. . . .
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“…do you just have to hope they don’t put Harry or Aerin in a chrome plated bikini?”
I am thoroughly entertained by the idea of what both Harry and Aerin would say to the idea of a chrome plated bikini….
LOVE the cover, love the artwork, MUCH happiness to have a sneak peak. Thank you!!