COVER REVEAL (And the Outside Story)

YAY for today!

I'm so excited because FINALLY I get to show you the cover for BREAKING BEAUTIFUL.

First I'd like to say thank you to Kari at A GOOD ADDICTION for helping me with my reveal.

AND NOW (with absolutely as much ado as possible) HERE IT IS...

TA DA!!!

Isn't it beautiful!

Besides being the very first cover for my very first book, (and in so many ways my dream come true), let me tell you why this cover is so near and dear to me...

MY HUSBAND WAS THE PHOTOGRAPHER!!!

Didn't he do a great job? Isn't he awesome? Check out more of his beautiful work at David Wolf Photography.

I was very fortunate to have so much say in what went on the front of my book. If you aren't in publishing, maybe you don't realize that an author doesn't get to pick their cover. They can give some input, but ultimately it's the publisher's/art department's/marketing people's call. I was lucky, my editor and the art department at Walker/Bloomsbury was willing to let me (us) take a shot at coming up with my cover image.

This is how it happened...

THE OUTSIDE STORY

In the beginning, my editor, Mary Kate Castellani, sent me some pictures that were beautiful, but didn't exactly work with the book's setting. She said, "This is the basic idea that we're looking at, but we have to find a photo that will fit."

My answer was, "We don't have to look for a photo that will fit, just tell David, (my amazing photographer husband), what you want and he can do it."

Her answer was, "YES!"

So... We got marching orders from the art department, I borrowed a fabulous pair of red shoes from my friend Susan, we packed up the photography equipment and some really big umbrellas, and went for a drive along the coast--searching for the perfect spot. (We have the advantage of living near the area where BREAKING BEAUTIFUL is set.)

To get the right shot, we had to deal with our crazy, unpredictable, (and by unpredictable I mean totally predictable, because it rains all the time,) Northwest weather. Of course, we got rain when we didn't want it, but we also got sun (amazingly enough), when we didn't want it. And then there was this HIDEOUS recreational vehicle that was parked in the exact spot we wanted to shoot from. (Seriously, this thing gave new meaning to the phrase "big rolling turd" from the movie RV.)

Two trips later we had a whole bunch of photos for the art department at Walker/Bloomsbury to look at. Luckily, they liked what they saw. YAY!

They picked a photo, worked their magic with cropping and adding titles and voila! I have a cover that is gorgeous and represents the story inside beautifully.

Thank you thank you thank you to my amazing editor Mary Kate and my publisher, Walker/Bloomsbury, for trusting us enough to do this.

It means the world to me that my husband; the love of my life, my soul mate, and my biggest supporter through all of this, gets to put his mark on my book as well.

AND THANK YOU to the my husband, David Wolf for his patience and support and for being such a talented photographer!

And now for the giveaway! Drum roll please... (I did say "with as much ado as possible")

Simple, simple, simple, leave a comment on this post and you will be put into a random drawing to receive: 1st place, a 11x14 poster print of any photo from the "Artistic" section of the David Wolf Photography website, and 2nd place a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble.

Thank you for helping me celebrate!