“I can’t afford to get it towed, so it’s just sitting there on the street, waiting for any passing tweaker to smash the window and grab the stereo.”
The Rules for Hearts, p. 103
Courtesy of the lovely and talented Colleen Coover, here’s the fourth of seven icons based on different elements of The Rules for Hearts. I’ll release one a week, each with a quote from the book, until the beginning of April. Feel free to use them wherever you’d like! And if you put them somewhere on your blog, MySpace, journal, etc., I’d love it if you posted the address in the comments!
These icons also exist as vinyl stickers, suitable for decorating computers, skateboards, instrument cases, etc. Want a set of all seven stickers? Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Sara Ryan
Mercury Studio
333 SW 5th Ave., Suite 303
Portland, OR 97204
compound
March 7, 2007 at 7:19 pmI just got your reply at ComicSpace. I now feel a bit like an idiot — I hadn’t realized that The Rules for Hearts isn’t out yet. *blushes*
But now, after having seen a sample of Coover’s stickers, I’m all the more excited about it.
However, I couldn’t help but notice how different Coover’s artwork is from the (final?) cover photo for TRfH (posted at Amazon, and your website). It made me curious — to what extent do you have control over the artistic/visual direction of your book covers?
I ask this because of the recent controversy involving author James Bernard Frost’s World Leader Pretend. After repeatedly expressing his disatisfaction with the cover art picked by his publisher, St. Martin’s Press, he finally just gave up and commissioned artist Dave Warnke to design a sticker the same size as the book itself, which readers could then stick on top of the approved cover of the TPB edition.
Would you ever consider using a similar approach, if push came to shove? Especially when it’s not difficult to imagine a scenario where publishers would insist on using more “market-friendly” art design, given the *percieved* tastes of a Young Adult lit readership.
kiramekihoshi
March 7, 2007 at 7:23 pmThanks for the stickers, by the way! ^-^ *love~!*
thisisnotanlj
March 7, 2007 at 8:46 pmhey, no worries. :)
to answer your question, i really like both my cover design AND colleen’s sticker designs. my editor makes sure that i have a significant say in the look of my books — for instance, when Empress was getting designed, i got to weigh in on what nic’s handwriting font would look like.
i’ve heard of similar controversies — ted chiang‘s comes to mind — but so far, i’ve been really fortunate.
and i think regardless, i wouldn’t consider using a similar approach — mostly because i trust both my editor and my agent enough that i don’t anticipate ever being in a situation where i’m that dissatisfied.