"The paperback, which came out this month, took a different direction. Again, the first one I saw (left), I hated -- that miniskirt! That disembodied-girl flying over a city that might not even be in Mexico! And again, my wonderful publishers were willing to listen. My favorite cover of all was born: the milagros remained, but instead of a torso, it has a quarter of a beautiful, pensive face with a thoughtful look in her eye -- I could see this as Mila, with dyed hair. Now, I love the cover and am proud of the way it looks:
"But, the funny thing is, even though both the hardcover and paperback are out, I still continue to play around with imagery in my head! In the end, my ultimate vision for the Mexican High cover that will never exist is this: an off-white, unfinished, texured paper background, with a colorful, embossed Virgen de Guadalupe in the center, and cursive, lowercase text for the title above it. The Virgen de Guadalupe might be Mexico's most iconic image, and if I ever write another book set in Mexico, maybe I'll get to use it!"
I thought the hardcover was cool, but I adore the paperback cover. Just the right lightness and magic. (And that first version--eek, glad it wasn't chosen.) What do you guys think?
PS-Alea has the Hardcover vs. Paperback post on her blog!
5 comments:
I like your idea about using the Virgen de Guadalupe on the cover of the book. What would have been really eye-catching, I think, would be to have had Mila standing in a pose similar to the Virgin, with that same pensive look you love so much on the paperback cover. Now I think THAT would have been a conversation starter. :)
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