Cover Stories: Commercial Breaks by P.G. Kain

P.G. Kain is hilarious and very good at Words With Friends, I'll have you know. He also has a great website. His latest middle grade novel is out now, and he's here to share the story behind that bubbly cover:

"I really wanted the cover to convey the fact that this series is about the world of commercial castings. This is a very specific world. It's not exactly modeling, where you need to be beautiful and it's not exactly acting, where you need to be talented. Someone once told me that to be in commercials all you need is a face. That's true as you see very few amoeba or protozoa selling soft drinks on TV.

"I first imagined a cover that showed a photo of the pristine perfect world of the commercial in the center with a sun-drenched set and a tween model with an even sunnier smile.  But then the edges of the cover would be hand drawn in pencil and extend beyond the frame of photo to reveal  all of the people, cameras, riggings, etc. that were focused on making the on-set scene look 'natural.'

"[As far as involvement with the design], I was never asked to fill out one of those forms I know other authors get but I sent over many images and talked with my first editor about some ideas. The concept of using a type of collage with Polaroids was developed in house and I sent over images to expand on that idea..."

Read the rest of PG's Cover Story, and see the original cover, at melissacwalker.com.