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HOW TO HAUNT A BOOK COVER -- a horrifying (pun!) lesson with Michael Strother (@cupcakeandy) and Regina Flath (@reginaflath)
Welcome to a Special Edition of HOW TO with @cupcakeandy and @reginaflath! (And by special edition we mean that this is currently the only edition, which is still pretty special when you think about it.)
Today's topic is all about how to haunt a book cover. Why are we haunting a book cover, you ask?
Well, you might've seen this awesome announcement from the end of last week...
Exciting, right? Well, guess what...we already have a cover! And we're revealing it right now!
We know, we know, we're pretty thrilled about this, too.
But before the big reveal...let's talk a little about how the cover came to be. It wouldn't be much of a How To if we didn't tell you how we did it, right? Right.
The first step was to consider what kind of cover we'd need, which was pretty easy. A super scary one, of course! But how do we go about making a super scary cover??
Well, first we had to take a moment to really think about it. What's scary? What are people scared of most often? What can we pull from the book itself, so you really know what you're getting into when you pick it up?
It's safe to say that we landed on GHOSTS as a solution pretty quickly. This book is, of course, all about a haunting. And who doesn't know someone with a super creepy, and totally unexplained, ghost story. Maybe even YOU have a ghost story! (Tweet it, if you do! #DoaH)
But, you know, we didn't just want to put any ghost on the cover. There are lots of covers out there, and lots of ghosts. We wanted to make sure to really represent the book, and to really stand out from what people might've already seen.
Michael: But how do we make sure that the cover is fresh, and new, and really represents the haunting in the story?
Regina: There's really only one way to make sure we do this right.
Michael: Do tell!
Regina: *in a whisper* We go straight to the source.
You read that right! We went to the source. If we're going to show a haunting on the cover, the only respectable thing to do is to ask those who haunt exactly how they would like to be portrayed.
How did we do this? Simple.
Don't worry! We were very careful.
From the nineteen ghosts that we interviewed (one might've been some other entity, we can't really say for sure), there was an overwhelming  preference for Victorian Spirit Photography. You know what we mean:
As one interviewee, Ethel (CoD: Diphtheria, 1921), put it, "I just love how it only highlights my good sides. You don't gotta show what you don't wanna!"
Can't argue with that!
But using spirit photography, and really representing it on a cover, was going to be tricky. Or so Michael thought...
Michael: I just don't know. How will this work?
Regina: It'll work.
Michael: But--
Regina: It'll work.
Michael: How--
Regina: It'll work.
Michael: The--
Regina:Â I have a plan.
Michael: Okay.
Regina: *vanishes in a cloud of mystery* and/or *goes to her office*
So Regina went off to do some Design Magic. There aren't many details about what happened at this stage. It's all proprietary and can't be revealed in a public forum. Michael imagines it was something like this:
Or maybe this:
Regina hasn't confirmed, but she hasn't denied it either, so...
ANYWAY.
While she was gone, Michael got to work on the other details. You know, the fun things like writing jacket copy. Or editing the book, even!
It started out pretty normal. He was doing exactly what he always does.
Turns out, getting that involved in a haunting book can have a few hazardous moments. Just little things like:
Or that time he walked into his office and everything was hanging from the ceiling. (Sadly, there are no photos of this event. He was too busy calling in an exorcist and didn't think to snap a pic. He apologizes.)
So, just to clarify...during this process, Regina was doing this:
Michael was doing this:
Seems fair...right?
ANYWAY!
Eventually, Regina returned with all sorts of materials. We're talking pieces of plastic and strips of paper and cardboard and tape and scissors and all sorts of things.
It wasn't dissimilar to what might be available in a well-stocked kindergarten classroom.
After a flurry of activity, she finally revealed what she had come up with.
You want to know what that is, don't you? WELL NOT YET. First you will enjoy the jacket copy that Michael slaved over for years (/days, but who's counting?).
When Paige moves from LA to Idaho with her mom and little brother after her parents' high-profile divorce, she expects to completely hate her new life, and the small town doesn't disappoint. Worse yet, the drafty old mansion they've rented is infested with flies, spiders, and other pests Paige doesn't want to think about.
She chalks it up to her rural surroundings, but it's harder to ignore the strange things happening around the house, from one can of ravioli becoming a dozen, to unreadable words appearing in the walls. Soon Paige's little brother begins roaming the house at all hours of the night, and there's something not right about the downstairs neighbor, who knows a lot more than he's letting on.Â
Things only get creepier when she learns about the sinister cult that conducted experimental rituals in the house almost a hundred years earlier.
The more Paige investigates, and the deeper she digs, the clearer it all becomes: whatever is in the house, whatever is causing all the strange occurrences, has no intention of backing down without a fight.
Found in the aftermath, Diary of a Haunting collects the journal entries, letters, and photographs Paige left behind.
And now...drumroll please...THE COVER!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE.
This is a special cover. A super special cover!
The hardcover will have an image printed right onto the book itself. Right on the cardboard! (In publishing, we call this POB.) That'll look like this:
AND THEN
the jacket will be made out of acetate (a clear plastic that's sort of like really, really sturdy plastic wrap, or a flexible version of that clear plastic that action figures come wrap in). It'll have the haunting all over it!
LOOK AT THAT HAUNTING!
TALK ABOUT SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY.
Combined you will get the first image, but when you buy the book (because you will, right?), you can take off the jacket and hang it up (if you're into that) or put it on another book to haunt that one.
And because we know how much you guys love your gifs (or, potentially, how much we love gifs and are simply projecting), HERE'S A GIF FOR YOU:
IF YOU'RE NOT PEEKING OUT THROUGH YOUR FINGERS, YOU'RE A SPECIAL BREED OF PERSON.
Aaaaaand that's it! That's what we've got! That's all these is/there isn't any more!
We hope you enjoyed the first edition of HOW TO, brought to you by @cupcakeandy and @reginaflath. Let us know if you liked it!
M.Verano's DIARY OF A HAUNTING will publish in August 2015.
Disclaimer: We are not responsible for any haunting that may or may not occur because of this book. Please be careful when dealing with the spirit world.
Before, I was never the life of the party. I was the reliable one. The one no one had to worry about. The one no one had to think about. I was the one that everyone could ignore.
Until that night, when everything changed and I finally became someone.
Someone special.
Someone noticeable.Â
Someone Carson might actually care about, as much as I cared about him.
But the cost of being someone is more than anyone can imagine. For every moment, there's a price to pay. For every party. For every choice made. For every kiss.
Ultimately, living a life of PURE ECSTASY might be no different from not living at all.
Hello! Do you accept submissions from writers if the manuscript includes elements from your editorial wishlist or only submissions from agents?
Hello!Â
Sadly, Simon & Schuster policy says that we cannot accept unsolicited submissions, which generally means submissions must come from a reputable agent or be requested at a conference.
So keep looking for an agent! Or try to hunt me down at a conference and we can talk there. :-)Â
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Agents often ask me what my favorite YA books are in order to figure out what I might like to see in a submission. It's always fun, and also got me thinking...what if I mentioned some of my adult favorites? Maybe agents out there have books ready to go out for submission that pull themes from adult books I love, but in their YA form they can change those themes into something new, fresh, and different...something I'd love! And so this list was born. I don't know if it's going to work as planned, or if it's going to work at all, but if I can shed some light on what I like to read, and it leads to even one amazing and unexpected acquisition, then I'd say this has done it's job. So, without further ado... EDITH WHARTON: I'm sure I've mentioned her here before...I might even have an entire post about wanting a Wharton-esque submission. Well, I'm saying it again. Wharton is fantastic (highly recommended, if you haven't read her) and while Gossip Girl was, in many ways, a YA-ified version of Wharton's writing (I even wrote a paper about it in college), I'd still love to see submissions that have the same sort of analysis of today's social norms and expectations. I'm sure there are other books out there that do this in different ways...and that's the beauty of it. There are many angles to come from when talking about social mores...and I want to see them! BRET EASTON ELLIS: This is a funny one because I think perceptions of BEE, and varied opinions of his works, could drastically change the way this favorite is understood. One of the things I love most about BEE (and I've read all of this books except Glamorama, which I haven't read for a silly reason) is the analysis of social norms and responsibilities (are you seeing a theme here?). There's a sense of vague discontent, even as the characters do what they're 'supposed' to, that I find intriguing. There's also the edge and shock value, of course, but I think both of those need to be handled delicately. PAUL AUSTER'S NEW YORK TRILOGY: These three books are some of the strangest I've ever read, and also some of the best. They're mysteries, and sort of detective novels, in ways that are hard to pinpoint. There isn't enough space to explain it in this post, but if you've read the trilogy, you'll understand. And you'll understand what I'd love to see in a YA mystery...one where the reader feels part of the story, and where the questions raised come from the narration *and* from your own mind as a reader. The kind of all-encompassing mystery that you want to sit down and talk to someone about right after finishing the book, just to figure out what it is you just experienced. I'd love to see a YA like that. There are many others, but I think I'll end the list here for now. And now, a question: Can you name any YA books inspired by adult books/authors?
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Rebecca Serle’s The Edge of Falling is out today!
Caggie never wanted to be a hero, but some things are decided for us. Growing up among Manhattan’s social elite, Caggie always had everything a girl could want, including a storied last name. But after saving a girl from the brink of suicide, Caggie becomes infamous, and now all she wants is to be left alone.
After all, she’s still reeling from the death of her younger sister last January, the subsequent destruction of her relationship with high school boyfriend, Trevor, and the way in which her family has since fallen apart.Â
I was just thinking the other day about the influx of virtual reality based manuscript (which have all be pretty cool, I gotta say!) and I was thinking about some of the games I like to play, or one that have been popular over the years.
And two specifically came to mind:
So, with these in mind, I'd LOVE to get a really cool action adventure novel, with a male or female protagonist, that's set in (a slightly different version of) our world.
We've seen some characters like this, arguably, in some dystopian novels, like Katniss or Tris. But I don't want them working in some dystopian landscape of the future, or taking part in games, or tests, or feats of power.
I'd love to see something about an adventure-focused girl or guy who's out there to find something (an artifact? a person?) and has to kick-ass along the way, maybe picking up a romantic interest in the process.Â
I don't necessarily want something spy-centric, or to make the teen part of some secrets organization or anything like that. Maybe they just like exploring! Maybe they went on a summer retreat and heard about a crazy Incan artifact that could shift the time-space continuum (or just be a piece of gold) and maybe they go on a little adventure to find it that turns into a BIG adventure when they get caught up in the tomb raiding aspects of it all.
I really want to see this as a book! Fun, but with some depth of character and backstory. Adventurous, without a dystopian landscape. Thrilling and suspenseful, without ghosts or serial killers. A protagonist you can root for because you are rooting for them, not because they're overthrowing a society. Someone you can identify with, that you'd want to befriend, even if they're doing things you totally would/could never do because you have work and homework and even the idea of climbing down a cave alone with just a tiny backpack of supplies has you ready to slip under the covers with some hot coco.
So, agents, send me my YA book version of UNCHARTED or TOMB RAIDER!
Or, alternatively, authors...get started on your own version, get an agent, and have them send it to me right away!
I'll be waiting. :-)Â
Hi! I have a sticky question. If you have a full submission and an author decides to leave the agent before you've made the decision, is the submission taken back? Or does something else happen? Should the author wait until the decision has been made by the editor on whether they want it or not?
Hello!
There are a couple of ways this would usually play out.
Sometimes the agent, with or without direction from a soon-to-be-former author client, may withdraw the manuscript from editor consideration, to keep the separation clean cut. As editors, we definitely understand that this can happen, and it doesn’t hurt the author.
Alternatively, the agent and author may decide to split, but keep submissions open. So, essentially, this if the project does sell, then the former agent will be the ‘agent on record’ for a project. This is also true for anyone who had sold books with a previous agent…the agent/agency who sells the material will always be the agent on record (unless another legal deal is made, which is outside the publisher’s realm).
In the first instance, the pro is that if the author really wants to end the professional relationship, the break is clean and done with. The con is that the book is no longer on submission, and won’t be until the author gets a new agent. Where this may make sense is if the professional relationship is at a point that working together in any way isn’t an option. Then a clean break is probably optimal.
In the second instance, the pro would be that the submission is still out there, ready to be acquired by some lucky editor! The con is that the author and agent will have to continue working together for the life of the project. In a tension-filled relationship, this could be difficult.
It should also be noted that even if the author waits to find out about a submission, if the book is acquired, that means a lasting relationship with the agent they are about to split with. Sometimes, when the author gets a new agent, New Agent will take over the day to day discussions about the book that Old Agent sold…but even so, all payments/royalties are split with Old Agent, not New Agent.
So it really depends on what the situation is, how quickly/badly the author wants to end the relationship, and how willing the author is to have a possible lasting relationship with their former agent.
Edited to Add: Someone pointed out that I never mentioned the fact that this is very likely something that appears in the contractual agreement with your agent. I know some people have a sort of handshake agreement with their agent, so those cases would be trickier, but in all other instances...check your contract! No matter what I've said here about other cases, legal contracts hold the greatest weight for your case and that should be the first thing you consult in any situation involving your professional relationship with an agent (or even publisher).
Most people know that I'm not usually the go-to person for romance (despite the fact that I do co-edit Pulse's clean romance line, FLIRT). I tend to be very critical of romantic relationships, the development of them, character chemistry, etc. and there are many beloved YA couples that, in all honesty, I just don't totally get.
That said, I would love to see a big, epic, grand romantic story that I just get completely pulled into. The kind that makes me feel all the feels and emote all the emotions.
The question now, of course, is what do I look for?
And it's a really good question.
Like I said, I co-edit the FLIRT books, which are straight-forward, clean romance books. Something I really like about those (besides the amazing skill I've seen from the authors!) is that the romances aren't held up to be all-encompassing, timeless, against all odds, or unrealistically unreasonable. They are crushes, that hopefully become something more. They feel true-to-life, and are reminiscent of real life (positive, good outcome) romances and first kisses. That realism goes a long way with me.
But since I did say I'd like something huge and epic...I think the main thing, for me, is that the characters don't fall in love immediately, and that their love isn't necessarily destined, per se. I want to see the main character (boy or girl or other) crush on and actually fall for the love interest (boy or girl or other).
I'm also a big fan of characters being whole and complete beyond their love interests (and the same for the love interest). Smoldering, brooding boys are great...but is that all they can be? Nope!Â
Also, since solid romance isn't often my thing, I love when there are other aspects to the story unrelated (in the right ways) to the romance. Something else for the characters to worry about. The romance could still be front and center, but (generally), if the subplots are mostly related to the ways/reasons the characters can't be together, it's probably not the right book for me.
Hopefully this puts some agents and authors on the right track...but, when it doubt, just ask! You never know when an editor might connect with something unexpected!
P.S. This title could be misleading to those of you with classical/medieval literature training...but if you want to send me an epic romance of that sort, I'm definitely open to it! I'm still looking for my Arthurian legend...
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General submission question: At what point should a writer expect an agent to nudge a full request from an editor? Or shouldn't they? :-) Thank you!
This question has a couple different answers, depending on the scenario.
Whether or not an agent follows up monthly, bi-monthly, etc. is very dependent on the agent, the editor, and their relationship.
Some agents just naturally follow-up. They have a grid, and a schedule, and they ask about submissions on a certain date, no matter what. This is great for authors, but doesn’t necessarily mean that editors will respond quicker or more positively.
Others seem to play it by ear. They’ll check in with certain editors about certain submissions, but there’s no hard and fast schedule or timeline.
Personally, I have relationships with certain agents where a quick, one-liner email to check in feels completely reasonable and expected. We have a casual-professional relationship, and their checking in doesn’t feel forceful or pushy.
But I do know that, at times, editors can feel like follow-ups are kind of…forcing things. If an agent follows up too quickly/frequently, some editors will assume that a deal is already on the table (even if it isn’t) or may be less inclined to read as much as they might’ve in a different situation. This, of course, doesn’t work in the authors favor, since you want editors to read a good chunk of your book (which is what we usually do, time permitting!).
So, often, it’s best to trust an agent with these things. They tend to know their relationships with certain editors, and if they’ve been in the business a while, then they know certain editors’ preferences and likes/dislikes.Â
But, of course, it’s completely reasonable to ask your agent to check in with editors! The author-agent relationship is a partnership (some would say the agent works for the author, but I’m not a fan of that model) and they should be able to check in when you ask, or explain why they are waiting.
You never want to feel like you don’t have control/input in your writing career, and if you do feel that way, definitely have a conversation with your agent to talk things out! It could be that they have a completely reasonable and logical explanation you just didn’t know about.Â
COMPULSION has a beautiful new cover. Are you ready to see it?
Want a closer look?
Regina Flath and the team at Simon Pulse did a wonderful job on this. I love the slightly magical feel to it, the hint of darkness, and the way the curlicue is reminiscent both of wrought…
vaporwave
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stormborns
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amandla
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