Cover Stories: Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

A.S. King is the awesome author of TheDust of 100 Dogs (remember its amazing cover?) and the new Please Ignore Vera Dietz, which I flew through recently and just a-dored.

What else do I adore? This new cover. Let's hear about it from A.S.:

"I never have any ideas for covers, which, if I think about it, is kinda weird because I'm a really visual person and I went to art school and I do most of m

y promotional graphic design myself. But NEVER do I think about covers. I just draw a blank or something. I think cover artists are geniuses, so maybe I just know I'm out of my league in that department.

"I do not believe I was asked for input this time around. The art department at Knopf was one of the deciding factors when PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ was at auction. No, not the biggest factor for choosing Knopf, but one little deciding factor because their books are BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely gorgeous. And as a book design geek (and I am one) this kind of stuff matters to me.

"The cover they sent me at first was nothing like the final version you see here now. There were elements I loved about the first try. There were elements I disliked. The people at Knopf were very kind to give it a second shot after hearing my concerns. The final cover is NOTHING like the first try. I'm sorry I can't share the first try here, but having worked in art departments in my life, I am protective of the unused artwork. Genius does take more than one try sometimes.

"When I saw the final cover for PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ I screamed. I absolutely loved it. I'd just finished reading a paperback of The Perks of Being a Wallflower (left) and it was a similar color green and I just loved the color. And the purple type for my name! YES! And the ZIPPO...."

Read the rest of A.S.'s Cover Story, and enter for a chance to win the book, at melissacwalker.com.

PS-Just for fun, go see a pic of A.S. King in her awkward years on Before You Were Hot. She cracks me up!