Emily
Emily asked Jessica Day George:

I know as a reader, I get attached to certain editions of books. I was curious how you, as an author, feel about it. Do you like it when your books get new cover art, or do you get attached to certain covers and are hesitant to see them change? :)

Jessica Day George This is a very difficult question.

I have loved some of my covers. I have hated some of my covers. I love both the Tuesdays at the Castle covers. I cried when I saw a couple of my covers, I think they are so bad. (No, I won't tell you which ones.)

Authors really don't get a lot of say in their covers. And by "a lot" I mean, that the art department at my publisher chooses the look for the books, and the artist, before they even tell me what's happening, and this is normal for most authors.

The hard part is, I'm also a book collector, and such a cover snob. I own multiple copies of some of my favorite books, like Robin McKinley's Beauty or Frank Herbert's Dune, because I saw new covers that I liked better, and etc. So when my books get new covers, I kind of freak out because I want fans of the old covers to be okay, but I also understand that it will attract new readers.

It's just . . . it's a whole big thing, you know?

Fun fact: I love both the Sun and Moon covers equally because on the original cover they tinted her hair strawberry blonde for accuracy (the model was a blonde), but on the newer cover she has THE coat, which is fabulous. But her hair is the wrong cover. I can't decide how I feel about that.

Other fun fact: the first time I saw the new David Hohn paperback cover of Dragon Slippers, I started to cry, because it was so perfect.

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