Cover Stories: Sophie's Mixed-Up Magic by Amanda Ashby

Amanda Ashby has been here before to share stories about her covers, and she's back today with the story behind the Sophie's Mixed-Up Magic covers, her first middle grade series.

"I’ve been lucky with my covers and I’ve loved them all, but without a doubt the covers for my Sophie’s Mixed-Up Magic series are my favorite! And I’m not just saying that because they are my first covers to have a head (though heads are cool!) but it’s rather because as soon as I saw them, I just knew that the girl on the cover 'was' Sophie!!!! From her straight blonde hair, her expressions through to the clothes that she was wearing, it was all the Sophie of my mind!

"Sometimes I get asked if I have any thoughts on the cover, but this time I wasn’t and I hadn’t even realized that there was even a shoot until after it was all over..."

Read the rest of Amanda's Cover Story at melissacwalker.com.

Cover Stories: Fairy Bad Day by Amanda Ashby

The lovely Amanda Ashby is here to talk about the cover of her latest book, Fairy Bad Day (read a review from Supernatural Snark), which, as you can see, has tons of personality.

"I had no idea of what the cover would be like when I was writing it (hahaha—most of the time I was pretty sure it would never even reach the stage where it would have a cover!)

"My publisher asked for input, and I went and looked at a whole heap of covers to give me some inspiration. I found quite a few adult urban fantasy books that had headless characters who were leaning on a sword and I really loved them so I mentioned the idea..."

Read the rest of Amanda's Cover Story at melissacwalker.com.

Cover Stories: The Zombie Queen of Newbury High by Amanda Ashby

This is Amanda Ashby's second Cover Story (read the story behind You Had Me at Halo here), and we're happy to have her talk about the striking cover for her latest release, The Zombie Queen of Newbury High:

"I didn't even think about the cover while I was writing this book--firstly because it wasn't contracted so my main concern was to get it finished (without getting eaten by zombies) and then hope that my agent might be able to sell it (and yay--she did!). The other reason is that I'm really not a very visual person so it's never been part of my process to think about what the finished product might look like.

"My editor told me that even though the book was quite light and humorous they wanted to go for a slightly darker cover, which I was totally up for! The only idea I had was a girl sitting in a frothy/tulle sort of prom dress, with loads of zombie arms trying to grab at her legs. I still think that might've been cute but I much prefer the way it turned it out.

"I don't know how they put the photo together though I did see that the designer, Jeanine Henderson is up on Jacketflap. Here are a few of her other cover designs:



"When I first saw my cover, words failed me--that's how much I loved it. And every second I would look at a different part and decide that was my favorite bit. The wilted corsage. The lacy gloves. The black nail polish. The amazing dress (which by the way, I actually wrote into the story. At first Mia wasn't too happy at having to lose her gorgeous blue silk dress but as soon as she tried the new one, she was cool!).

"However, I think my absolute favorite part is the B-grade zombie movie font that was used on the sash. The whole reason I wanted to write a zombie movie was because every time I even said the word I thought of all the old zombie horror movies that my husband had made me watch. So to me that really captured the essence of the idea (not that the designer had any idea of this of course, but it's still cool!)"

I have to say, I LOVE the dark, goth style corsage that Mia has on. What do you guys think of this cover?