Cover Reveal: Common by Laurie Lucking (THAT'S ME!!!)

Guess what?? It's cover reveal day for my YA fantasy novel, Common, which is scheduled to release from Love2ReadLove2Write Publishing in February, 2018! Only a few months away!!! I can't wait to show the you cover, but first, a little back story...

(I had to make you wait at least a little bit, right?)

After I signed the contract with my publisher, they asked me to fill out a book intake form, which included questions about what I had in mind for my cover. When asked to list some of my favorite covers, among my top choices were books by Lea Doue:

 And books by Melanie Dickerson:

I'm guessing you can see the kind of vibe I was going for :) My biggest worry when approaching my cover was that a book with the simple title Common, featuring a servant girl, would need to look like something special to make it stand out to potential readers. And my cover designer was absolutely up to the task! I fell in love the moment I saw the first draft, and it's only become more lovely with each revision.

So now, without further ado... 

(Drum roll, please!)

Here it is!!

Isn't it gorgeous?? Even more beautiful than anything I could've imagined for my book. I've had it for weeks, and I still can't stop staring :) Many, many thanks to my publisher and cover designer for doing such a spectacular job! They absolutely nailed the YA-historical-fairy-tale-with-a-bit-of-magic feel I was hoping for, with a girl that totally captures the essence of my main character. I can't wait to hold it in my hands, and for it to be available for all of you! If you can tear your eyes away from the stunning cover long enough, here's the back cover blurb:

One person knows of the plot against the royal family and cares enough to try to stop it—the servant girl they banished. 

Leah spends her days scrubbing floors, polishing silver, and meekly curtsying to nobility. Nothing distinguishes her from the other commoners serving at the palace, except her red hair. 

And her secret friendship with Rafe, the Crown Prince of Imperia. 

But Leah’s safe, ordinary world begins to splinter. Unexpected feelings for Rafe surface just as his parents announce his betrothal to a foreign princess. Then she unearths a plot to overthrow the royal family. Her life shatters completely when the queen banishes her for treason. 

Harbored by a mysterious group of nuns, Leah must secure Rafe’s safety before it’s too late. But her quest reveals a villain far more sinister than an ambitious nobleman with his eye on the throne.

Can a common maidservant summon the courage to fight for her dearest friend?

So, what do you think? What are some of your favorite covers? Thanks for stopping by to share in my excitement!!

See you next time!

Laurie

All About: Cover Reveals (Laurie)

For my On Writing posts for the rest of the year (possibly beyond!), I've decided to do an "All About" series. All about...what? I'm glad you asked! :) As I've become more involved in the writing world, I've noticed that authors have a lot of catchwords and phrases they use frequently without explanation. It's not a problem when they're addressing fellow authors or readers who have become super-fans, but for most readers and even newer writers they're not familiar concepts. So these posts are for anyone who's seen authors issue invitations to participate in a cover reveal, Facebook party, or street team, but didn't quite know what they meant. Anyone who would possibly be interested in signing up for a newsletter or ARC if they had a better sense of what was involved. I hope these posts can bring clarity to these amorphous ideas, both from an interest / information standpoint but also to encourage you to get more involved with your favorite authors - since you'll finally know what on earth they're talking about :)


First up: Cover Reveals! Cover reveals have become very popular, especially among authors who self-publish or work with smaller publishers, because they're a great way to generate interest in an upcoming book. A cover gives potential readers something to latch onto and can disclose so much more about the genre, story, and / or characters than a simple title. To maximize the excitement around a cover reveal, an author usually schedules it for a certain day and tries to build anticipation in the days or weeks leading up to the event. Many authors also want to get others involved in spreading the word.

...Which leads to my reason for posting on cover reveals. While the concept is easy to understand, I'd wager a lot of people still scroll past links to cover reveal sign up forms because they don't understand what's involved or whether they could really be of any help. So I'll speak a bit about my own experience with cover reveals, though every author or publisher will likely approach it a little differently.

Sign up forms for cover reveals are pretty straightforward. Mostly they just need your name and e-mail address; some will also ask you to check boxes for which social media platforms you plan to share the cover on (don't worry, I've never been scolded for failing to share on a certain social media site if I forgot which ones I checked!) and possibly request that you agree not to share the cover before the official reveal. Once you're signed up, a day or two before the reveal date you'll receive an e-mail with the cover, back-cover blurb, and likely some additional information about the author and book (this collection of info is sometimes referred to as a media kit). Then on the day of the official cover reveal, you share the cover and any other information that makes sense based on the social media platform you're working with. So, for example, if you have a blog, you could share everything they included in the media kit, but on Twitter you'd only have space for a quick line about the book or the cover.

And that's it! It's really that simple :)

So who should sign up for cover reveals? Only people with a successful blog and thousands of Facebook friends? While such credentials certainly don't hurt, they're definitely not necessary. Blogs are great, but a cover is easy to share anywhere no matter how much space you have to post. If you have friends / followers that don't overlap with the author's and some of them may be readers of that genre, then you could be helping that author reach a new audience, even if it's not a giant one. And even if you didn't sign up for the cover reveal but you see others posting the cover on the reveal date, feel free to pass it along! Cover reveals are definitely a the-more-the-merrier kind of event :)

Of course there's no pressure if this is something completely out of your comfort zone, but it does mean a lot to authors (especially smaller-scale authors) to have friends and fans share their excitement about a fabulous new cover and an upcoming book. Plus you get to see the cover ahead of time and feel like you're part of the author's in-crowd :)


Have you ever participated in a cover reveal? How do / would you like to get involved with your favorite authors? What topics would you like to see me cover in future All About posts?


Thanks for reading!
Laurie


P.S. In case you missed it, our own Jill had her cover reveal for her upcoming new release, Spark, back in March. Isn't it gorgeous??