Blog Tour: Cover Questions for Wake Unto Me by Lisa Cach

Hey, everyone! Today I have Lisa Cach, author of Wake Unto Me, here to tell us a little bit about what the Wake Unto Me cover went through before it became what it is today! Thanks to Lisa (and her fabulously blogger friendly website) and to the Teen {Book} Scene Blog Tours!

Here's some info on Wake Unto Me (from Lisa's website):

Caitlyn Monahan knows she belongs somewhere else. It’s what her dead mother’s note suggested, and it’s what her recurring nightmares allude to. Desperate to flee these terrifying dreams—and her small town—she accepts a spot at a boarding school in France. Only, when she arrives, her nightmares get worse.

But then there are her amazing dreams, so vivid and so real, with visits from an alluring, mysterious, and gorgeous Italian boy from the 1500s. Caitlyn knows they are soul mates, but how can she be in love with someone who exists only in her dreams?

Then, as her reality and dream world collide, Caitlyn searches for the real reason why she was brought to this school. And what she discovers will change her life forever.

Onto the interview!

1. Hi Lisa, could you please tell us a little about your debut YA book Wake Unto Me?

American girl Caitlyn gets a scholarship to a mysterious, haunted girls’ school in France, and finds herself falling in love with the 16th century boy who visits her dreams.

2. Wake Unto Me has a striking cover, how much input did you have in choosing/designing it?

Not much! I gave my editor lots of information about the story (the design process began before the book was completely written), and sent her some images, but the final result bore little relation to anything I described.

3. Do you feel that the cover represents the story inside well?

Yes, as far as the ‘feel’ of the book goes. And no, as far as accuracy goes. The heroine has black hair, but on the cover her hair is chestnut; on the other hand, I understand why. Black hair wouldn’t work on a black background. And there is another, larger accuracy issue, but if I discussed it I would give away an important spoiler about the plot.

The inaccuracies don’t really matter, though, as I’ve finally come to understand (it’s taken me over ten years as a published author to grasp this point). The goal of the cover art and the back cover description is not accuracy. The goal is to evoke an emotion that sells the book. It’s probably better that the author not have much input on these things, as we’re novelists, not designers or marketers.

4. Is there anything that you would change about the cover?

I did get a chance to make some changes, the biggest being that when the ‘final’ cover was sent to me, the heroine’s hands were on her arms backwards! Also, she was naked, and given that a big deal was made to me about how I must never have the heroine naked with the hero in the story, I thought it was a mistake to portray her that way on the cover. Ahem. (see attachment)

So they reattached her hands to the correct arms, and put a tank top on her. The only change I would make now would be to show a little more of the hero’s face.

5. What's one of your favorite book covers?

There are so many beautiful covers out there, and yet I don’t have a favorite. I only find myself thinking of books I loved to read, whether or not the covers were good! I do like covers that use classic works of art, like Vermeer’s painting on the cover of Girl with a Pearl Earring. But do I like it because the art is so lovely, or because it’s familiar? It’s a fact of human nature that we like best that which we have seen before.

I wish I had a more straightforward answer to the question!

 

I think her answer was just fine, don't you? Thank you so much for answering my questions Lisa!

 

Here's a bit about Lisa:

Lisa Cach is the award-winning author of more than twenty romantic novels and novellas, ranging across sub-genres from Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary, and Chick Lit, to Young Adult. Her novel “Dating Without Novocaine” was named one of Waldenbooks’ “Best Books of 2002,” and she is a two-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award from the Romance Writers of America.

Lisa Cach was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, where she still lives today. Her professional background includes teaching conversational English in Japan, and several years working the graveyard shift on a mental health crisis line. She has traveled to the foothills of the Himalaya, the jungles of Borneo, the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, and the painted caves of the Perigord Noir, in France. She has sailed the Caribbean as a working crew member of a research schooner, and the Bering Sea as a guest on a small ship.

Her love of travel has lately given way to pursuits closer to home: cooking, gardening, drawing. And, of course, reading. Her favorite book has always been Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”, while the only book to ever give her nightmares was Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles”.