Cover Stories: Goth Girl Rising by Barry Lyga

The awesome Barry Lyga is here today, sharing the Cover Story for his sequel to The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, Goth Girl Rising.

Here's Barry!

"For my cover, I had an idea that, in retrospect, is one of those things that sounds cool, but wouldn't work. My idea was to co-opt the cover to the first book, but reverse it: Red lips on a black background for the hardcover, then blue lips on a black background for the paperback. It totally makes sense from a story point of view, but now I think it's too cutesy.

[Here are the first book's covers, hardcover (left) and paperback:]

"Speaking of that first book: I had some strong ideas for that one, to the point where I even had a friend of mine mock one up. Houghton politely declined it and commissioned Jon Gray to produce the kick-ass cover we ended up with (way above). I have never in my life been so happy to be proven wrong!

"Houghton has always consulted with me about covers, which I really, really appreciate. Like I said, they weren't too keen on my original idea (which I don't blame them for). So they sent me three or four different cover designs, all based on the same general aesthetic. I wasn't thrilled with any of them. There was nothing WRONG with them; they just didn't seem like the cover to my book, you know?"

Read the rest of Barry's Cover Story at melissacwalker.com. And check out his Rgz shoutout here: