Meet Walter
Jul192010
So the new Trust Me On This Cover came back looking like this:
And I said, “Oh, dear god, not that pink. Walter would pee in that suitcase, that’s how much he’d hate it.” (Did I mention my Walter was a dachshund? But the dachshund-in-the-suitcase picture was too dark. Argh.)
So it’s going to be one of the ones below. I don’t know which one. I’ll probably be as surprised as you are in November, although I’m grateful to Bantam for working so hard on this and especially for letting me write Walter in. In living color, evidently.
Publishing. Where it helps to be odd before you start working here because that way the trip to crazy is shorter.
Edited to add:
Final cover:
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102 Comments to 'Meet Walter'
On July 19, 2010 at 5:20 am Micki said...
Are they getting rid of the “would I lie to you?” tag there, too? Because it’s awfully cute-sy, poopsy puppy-wuppykins. (-: Which I will admit, I like just fine on icanhazcheezburger, but not sure if I’d like to see it on a book cover. I guess I could always cover the book with a fake “Forbes Financial Forecast of the Coming Mayan Event” . . . .
The turquoise is my favorite color in the whole wide world, but I think the darkest blue one works best here. I’m trying to imagine it with an aardvaark, and I think it works fine too (-:.
On July 19, 2010 at 5:56 am Micki said...
Can you delete my comment above? And this one, too. Because, really, I’m pleased as punch to meet Walter, and the first comment of a blog sets up a chain of reaction and action.
And I have to tell you, I’m so mad at your art director! There seems to be a hidden assumption here that if they put a cute puppy on the cover, we brainless readers will say, “awww, wook at da cute!” and buy it on that alone.
Or, maybe there’s a somewhat cynical assumption that all it needs is “Jennifer Crusie” on the cover, and the readers will buy. (-: True in my case, but it smacks of laziness on the designer’s part.
Or, is it some sort of code? Dog on the cover means Smart, Loyal Heroine who Growls and Sometimes Bites. Cat on the cover means Smart Heroine with People Problems who Winds Up Pampered yet Independent. Hamster on the cover means Heroine is TSTL, but We Like Her Enough to Publish the Book.
Anyway, I want the cover from an unknown-to-me writer to pop off the shelf, and make me buy the book. I’d like it to have accurate hints about the content of the book. And, after I’ve read it 12 or 14 times, I want to still gaze lovingly at it, and remember the scene/trait it is supposed to depict. (-: Tough standards, and there’s only one book cover that stands out in my mind as doing this. Also, I only own about half a dozen book covers that I’d like to display as art (my favorite cover isn’t up to the artistic bit, unfortunately, although it isn’t bad).
Then again, I come to romance via a different route — SF and fantasy has completely different cover traditions. Pratchett’s covers from the UK (by Josh Kirby, iirc) — I love those.
(-: Thanks for letting me rant.
On July 19, 2010 at 2:00 pm Jenny said...
Rants are good. And this one isn’t the art director’s fault. Marketing. And the truth is, dogs probably sell books.
Take heart. There is no dog on Maybe This Time.
You sure you want me to delete your posts? They’re thought-provoking. That’s good.
On July 20, 2010 at 2:03 am Micki said...
Well, OK. I do like dogs. I just don’t like marketing people to think they have to put a dog on the cover, blow a whistle, and I’ll come running.
(-: If the negativity is not overwhelming, let ‘em stand.
On July 23, 2010 at 11:26 am Meredith B. said...
Oh, God, Micki, if they thought that they’d all be out of business! That’s not exactly what they mean to do. Book marketing and merchandizing is as complex as rocket science (my dad does that) and as intuitive and gut-directed as improvisational dance (I used to teach workshops on that.) Try making your living at that. Ugh!
A lot of cover design work is done to try and create a visual brand for an author. Part of that is the thought that, when you do hit on something that sells hundreds of thousands of copies of a book, as “Dog + Crusie” appears to have done for the last one, it’s definitely worth trying a second time. Part of it is an attempt to create a subliminal brand recognition through the cover art. Jenny has actually written books that fall into pretty different categories, but The Cinderella Deal and (I think) Trust Me On This are from her earlier Romance work, and branding them together makes sense from a “sell the book” point of view.
But just so you know, Yes, I am having an existential crisis over the fact that the Distributors have anything to say over the content of a book. Argh! I keep trying to remember the mitigating circumstances that distributors do know how to move books, and that hundreds of thousands of dollars and the livelihood of several thousand people are affected, in however small a manner by the sale of Jenny’s books. (No pressure, Jenny. *grin*)
If that’s incoherent, please excuse me– I’m pet-sitting a heartbroken and lonely boxer who isn’t sure that she trusts me with her health and happiness while her family is out of town, so I kind of dashed this off. Also I’m not at my most coherent and persuasive when I don’t think I agree with myself!
On July 23, 2010 at 1:01 pm Jenny said...
The distributors never asked me to change the content of the book. They just didn’t like the cover, that’s all. Perfectly good objection.
And these are the only two books I have with this publisher. So once this one is out, it’s done. I agree about the branding, but this is more a brutal attempt to just move more paper.
On July 24, 2010 at 10:34 am Meredith B. said...
Okay, Jenny keeps saying that nobody asked her to change the content, and yeah– my comment did sound like they did, didn’t it? I know they didn’t. They’d be horrified at the thought. I’ve never met a single person in the book industry who wasn’t an idealist, and trust me their ideals don’t involve telling authors what may or may not be in their books. Far from it! But the convoluted path traces back to “Them” (whom I pray to God aren’t actually my employers, although that point only matters to me.)
And of course they didn’t mean for this to happen. Lots of them would probably be horrified at the thought of that, too. And it all seems to have worked out very well in this particular instance. I think that in general the process that we have in place to get books from author to agent to publisher to bookseller to reader is a great one that produces great books. But it is a little frightening, isn’t it? Good intentions notwithstanding.
On July 19, 2010 at 7:20 am Carol-Ann said...
I like the first violet-blue one best. Maybe they should just publish in the range of colours, that way we get to pick the one that fits best with our individual decors.
Or is that just silly?
On July 19, 2010 at 7:22 am BJ said...
By “my Walter” do you mean the one you put in the book? If so, did you need to rewrite again to make Walter not a dachshund?
On July 19, 2010 at 2:01 pm Jenny said...
They’re going to change the “dachshund” to “yorkie.” I think.
On July 19, 2010 at 5:55 pm me said...
So, not only does marketing get to say there is a dog on the book, they get to dictate what KIND of dog you write about? I’m slightly appalled.
On July 19, 2010 at 9:33 pm inkgrrl said...
Plus the dogs behave very differently. Emailing you virtual Advil right now.
On July 19, 2010 at 9:38 am Jennifer said...
I’m sorry you had to rewrite, but I’m excited about reading the new version, no matter how small the changes may be. I like the blue suitcase in the upper left-hand corner. It looks like the one my mom bought in the sixties, and which she gave to me when (forty years later) she got tired of it. I still use it for short trips when we go by car.
On July 19, 2010 at 9:41 am Ami said...
I actually like the pink, and for whatever it is worth, it bugs me that publishers have these “rules” for book covers. I found a book a couple of months ago that sounded interesting, but chose another that I thought I would enjoy better and bought it instead. I have since gone back to buy the other book with a title I can no longer recall, but that’s okay, right? I can just look for the cover, which I do remember…I have found four books that have covers similar to the first book’s, but the stories don’t seem at all familiar, and they all have a male lead, which is right, but none of them seem to trigger anything in my head, which just might be because at this point I am so ticked off at the complete lack of originality in the four book covers spread out before me, and, heaven forbid the employee in the bookstore actually be familiar with the stock or actually read a book (“Do you have a copy of “David Copperfield”?” “You mean, like, books on magic?”)…argh!!
Enough cranky meeping…I need coffee.
On July 19, 2010 at 2:02 pm Jenny said...
Most of the time art departments use stock imagery so the exact same photo/drawing can show up on different books.
On July 19, 2010 at 10:03 am Mary Anne in Kentucky said...
I’m a dog groomer. Walter-in-Yorkie-drag may be wearing a bandana, but his last groom was long enough ago to make my fingers itch for my scissors. I know groomers are only a tiny percentage of the population, but do your publishers really want my first reaction to be “OMG Put That Dog on My Table NOW!!”?
On July 19, 2010 at 2:02 pm Jenny said...
Oh, great, now we’ve lost the dog groomers.
On July 19, 2010 at 2:43 pm Mary Anne in Kentucky said...
Well, you’ve got this dog groomer. Plus the one who turned me on to you as repayment for turning her on to Janet Evanovich. (Not, I think, revenge. The package I gave her after her hysterectomy said “Do not open until it doesn’t hurt to laugh.”)
On July 19, 2010 at 10:33 am robena grant said...
The purple one pops.
On July 19, 2010 at 10:56 am Susan said...
Am I missing something? Did you have to change something in your book so it matched the cover? Or does the cover not go with the content of the book?
It’s a good thing we are not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover b/c sometimes the art depts can be such idiots about what goes on the cover. There’s kind of a “cover war” going on at Lauren Willig’s website now over the cover for her newest Pink Carnation book. It is COMPLETELY different from the previous books in the series, which all have a similar theme. It’s a pretty cover but it’s so horribly wrong for the book.
Anyway, purple is my favorite color, so that one would get my vote. Looking forward to reading this one!
On July 19, 2010 at 2:04 pm Jenny said...
No, I didn’t have to have the dog in the book. But I feel that if I promise readers a dog with a dog on the cover, there should be a dog in the book. Also fewer letters saying, “Where the dog?”
On July 20, 2010 at 5:58 pm glee said...
I’m sorry about you having to rewrite but based on my experience you are correct
… many years ago my youngest checked out a book by Judith Viorst called “Rosie and Michael” which pictured on the cover two young children, friends, eating ice cream. Brian, then 4, was incensed because there was no ice cream in the book, so we wrote a letter letting her know that he liked the book but didn’t think the cover matched. She actually replied with a postcard that said “right on!”. A very thoughtful reply.
I buy on author, title, cover synopsis but covers shouldn’t lie.
I am now an eBook buyer and don’t notice the covers
On July 19, 2010 at 11:04 am Camanoah said...
Well, if they must put a “cute” cover on the book, I like the last one (the turquoise) best because it contrasts best with the orangey color of the dog.
On July 19, 2010 at 11:45 am Clever Cherry aka Judy Long said...
Whew you were right to veto the pink. Any one of the others is good besides the pink.
On July 19, 2010 at 11:50 am Mary Stella said...
I vote for bottom left. The book title pops for me. On some of the other covers, the title sort of recedes and I notice other things first.
As a reader, it’s sort of annoying to me that they put a Yorkie on the cover. We’re prepared, but imagine all of the readers who will look at it and think, “What? They didn’t know or care that the dog in the book is a dachsund?”
It always bothers me when the models or illustrations of people on the cover or step back don’t have the right hair color or eye color for the characters in the book.
It feels disrespectful to the author and her readers.
Then again, considering what happened with some authors’ covers in years past, I guess I should be happy that the Yorkie doesn’t have with an extra ear or five paws.
On July 19, 2010 at 2:04 pm Jenny said...
It’ll be a Yorkie in the book now. They’ll change it.
On July 19, 2010 at 12:37 pm Carol said...
I’m not even going to comment on the distributors that wanted a dog on the cover – I couldn’t be polite. Though I am going to really enjoy reading about Walter.
But I think this dog looks more like a Cairn Terrier than a Yorkie. Not to mention nothing at all like a dachshund.
On July 19, 2010 at 12:45 pm CrankyOtter said...
I’m with Mary Stella, find the same breed, match the hair color, do whatever.
And whatever of these covers they’re going with, I’ll be getting this as an eBook so I don’t have to look at it. This is your first covers that repels me. blech. The color intensity is off in all the versions, somehow, like I’m looking at them under blacklight. Plus, the dog reminds me of my grandma’s old yippy, biting fiend of a dog (even though it was a lhasa, not whatever that is). I happen to really like this book, re-reading it to confirm my decision to upend everything and move from Boston to SoCal, and there’s really nothing about this cover that makes me think of the story inside (even if you did add a dog and they’re living out of suitcases for the duration).
Sorry, I’m in a bad mood this morning. I had a weird dream that someone from work had hired someone to wake me up all night so I couldn’t sleep and I kept strugglijng up from sleep to fight off this figment of my imagination. Weird. And not restful.
On July 19, 2010 at 2:05 pm Jenny said...
Hence the “Cranky” in the Otter.
On July 19, 2010 at 1:19 pm Jacie said...
This insight into the wonderful world of photoshop is sort of blowing the illusion for me.
On July 19, 2010 at 2:05 pm Jenny said...
Publishing is nothing if not illusion-blowing.
On July 19, 2010 at 2:36 pm Lora said...
don’t smack me. i like the cover. it’s joyous and the dog looks mischievous. I could live without the pink, but, hell, i just slammed my hand in a door so i have enough to complain about.
On July 20, 2010 at 5:59 pm Jennifer said...
Yeah… I like cute, I’d buy it. The whole cover shenanigans thing annoys me, but I cannot deny that I’d go look at a furball for five seconds if I saw that, even if I then read the back of the book and bought something else. (Which isn’t true in this case.)
On July 19, 2010 at 3:19 pm Deborah Blake said...
Love you. Love your publisher. Think the cover is moronic looking. *ducks*
Luckily for both you and your publisher (both of whom I know were up nights worrying about this), I love your writing so much I would by your books if all they had on the cover was a picture of a salami sandwich. (Which you would no doubt then have to write into the book.) Argh. Publishing. Argh.
I had one cover mock-up that was so bad I made a big stink, and thankfully they changed it and it was much better. I’ve loved all the others, for which I am eternally grateful. Of course, I’m still waiting for the fiction ones. Perhaps I should start practicing writing books with dogs in them…
On July 19, 2010 at 3:40 pm Mary Stella said...
Lora said:
don’t smack me. i like the cover. it’s joyous and the dog looks mischievous. I could live without the pink, but, hell, i just slammed my hand in a door so i have enough to complain about.
Lora, I’m impressed that you came here and typed after just having slammed your hand in a door. You embody the principle of the counter-irritant. You freakin’ slammed your hand so nothing else can possibly be more of an annoyance to you today. You get both a “poor baby” and an “attagirl”.
Deborah said:
I love your writing so much I would by your books if all they had on the cover was a picture of a salami sandwich. (Which you would no doubt then have to write into the book.)
Think of all the conjecturing that would happen if anything about salami was pictured on a Crusie cover. Everyone would search for the hidden, or not so hidden meaning, sparked by innuendos about salami.
On July 19, 2010 at 3:48 pm Marge said...
Okay, if you have to smack Lora, you’ll have to smack me, too. I like the cover and I don’t care what the color is. The key here is “Crusie” which in my reader’s mind is – this will be another fun one that I will read over and over. And I loved Fred so that’s another knee-jerk association. And I like the title…
On July 19, 2010 at 8:34 pm Jenny said...
I’m not smacking anybody. I’m anti-violence.
I’m keeping quiet on the whole salami thing.
On July 19, 2010 at 4:01 pm June said...
Well since they had me at the big old “Jennifer Crusie” on the top, I’m not as cranky about the cutsie dog on the cover as others are. They could publish with a completely black cover and I would barely notice as long as I could find it in on the shelf. Like Micki, I also used to read a lot of SF and fantasy. I have bought many a book because I liked the cover design. With romance, I tend to work more with recommendations as the covers tend to be pretty similar. I confess, this cover would not make me want to pick it up, but as I am going to buy it anyway, maybe it will bring in someone who hasn’t already planned to pre-order it.
I kind of like the purple in the upper right corner. It matches the letters in your name, sort of.
On July 19, 2010 at 4:10 pm MJ said...
The dogs on “The Cinderella Deal” and “Anyone But You” were cute with a layer of humor and intelligence. This dog is on-the-nose, lick-your-nose cute, period. Fortunately, we all know humor and intelligence come with the Crusie name. (:
Thanks for this fascinating glimpse into the power of the marketing department.
On July 19, 2010 at 5:12 pm AgTigress said...
But… but…
They want a dog on the cover, so you heroically write in a dog and it’s a Dachshund. Fine. So why the £%*&$££”" don’t they put a DACHSHUND on the cover? Just changing references to the breed isn’t going to make Walter sound like a terrier: he’ll still sound like a Dachshund. (The dog on the cover looks like a Cairn to me, but maybe that’s because in the UK we always leave the coat long and silky on a Yorkshire terrier. I have never seen one clipped like that).
Excuse me while I go and bang my head against the wall.
All the other colours are better than the screaming magenta of the first one. And all would look better with a Dachshund. Don’t get me wrong — I don’t hate terriers or anything, but I think that some sort of connection between the book and the cover pic is good.
On July 19, 2010 at 6:15 pm toni said...
Aren’t you glad covers with horses weren’t real popular lately?
On July 19, 2010 at 8:36 pm Jenny said...
Oh, dear god.
On July 19, 2010 at 8:35 pm Jenny said...
I have no idea what that dog is. My specialty is dachshunds. After that, one terrier looks the same to me.
On July 19, 2010 at 5:21 pm Susan said...
Just out of curiosity, what it wrong with the cover that had the martini on it? (I’ve got that one saved on b&n.com wish list.)
On July 19, 2010 at 8:35 pm Jenny said...
They didn’t think it would sell. I don’t know why. It’s a mystery.
On July 19, 2010 at 9:47 pm inkgrrl said...
Anything by you is gonna sell – you’re damned good as you are so why dilute the brand? Who do they think your market for this book is? Little old ladies with senile dementia who sometimes remember to turn the page when the Yorkie (who’s also the protag) gets another painfully obvious clue in its quest to solve The Case of Her Granddaughter’s Missing Doily? When did you start writing Disney movies?
On July 20, 2010 at 12:20 pm Sierra said...
I have lost track of the number of romances with martini glasses on the cover that I’ve seen. And they didn’t think it would sell? Sheesh.
On July 20, 2010 at 4:07 pm Jenny said...
That’s why. Martini glass covers are a dime a dozen.
On July 20, 2010 at 6:00 pm Jennifer said...
Does that mean that publishers are gonna get over the “sexy bare legs” thing soon too? I hope, I hope.
On July 19, 2010 at 5:39 pm Jen_Ann_W said...
FWIW, I like the turquoise. It seems to counteract the cutesy-ness of the dog. Also, is it just me or is that a very large Yorkie (or a very small suitcase)? I too think it’s lame that the marketing choices force a change in the writing – it should be the other way around. But hey, I love your books regardless. One whole shelf (or rather, box, since everything is in storage right now) is dedicated to the joy of Crusie. This one will be added!
On July 19, 2010 at 6:43 pm Kay T said...
I hate when they get the breed wrong on the cover (or other things wrong).
Side rant: I have been having a private rant about a cover which I think might be the worse cover ever. The book has a dumb title, Straight Up, but I love the author, Deirdre Martin. The book is about a woman sheep farmer in Ireland and the guy is an American working in a pub in Ireland. So the cover is a woman in a man’s white dress shirt, tie, and camouflage wellies. They do have her sitting on a pub chalk board (with just the shirt, tie and wellies), but, what the??? May the art department or marketing or whatever did not know what wellies were so sent someone down to Target and the camo version was all they had??? Anyway, if you see this book, ignore the cover, it was pretty good.
On July 19, 2010 at 7:07 pm Kelly S said...
I’d probably go with the dark blue (col 1, row 2) or the red one beneath it. The pink stinks but is noticeable. And as far as all the other comments on how stupid marketing is and how I buy your books because you wrote them, I can only contribute with a big fat DITTO. BTW, I’m a cat person, so I wouldn’t have bought this book for Walter’s stunt double on the cover.
On July 19, 2010 at 7:40 pm Sheena said...
I like the dark red one best, but it does seem a bit too fluffy and cute for one of your books, which are always thoughtful and have substance. I haven’t read this title (but will have to find it), but I can’t imagine one of your heroines wearing silk and pearls. I could be wrong on this though. I also am not totally sure that simply substituting the word ‘Yorkie’ for the word ‘dachshund’ will work – I remember clearly the perfect description of Steve as a ‘furry Woody Allen’ in Faking It, and after that he couldn’t be any other breed.
On July 19, 2010 at 8:13 pm Susan D said...
Okay, I suspect our votes hold no sway with the Marketing People, but I like the bottom right. Or indeed ANYTHING but that opening pink (with the “would I lie to you?” tagline.)
Meanwhile, I’m picturing the scenario…
Marketing People: It will sell better if there’s a dog on the cover
JC: But there’s no dog in the book.
MP: It will sell better if there’s a dog on the cover.
JC: Okay….. (Write write write, revise revise revise ) There you go. Walter the Dachshund.
MP: It will sell better if it’s a cute, cuddly, curly haired dog, like the one we’ve put on the cover.
JC: Okay…. (find dachshund; replace with Yorkie)
Just think, Jenny, you can use the scenario (revised any way you like) in your next book. It’s so Crusie-esque.
On July 19, 2010 at 8:37 pm Jenny said...
My life is often Crusie-esque. Without the heroes.
On July 19, 2010 at 8:40 pm Jenny said...
And we have a cover. It’s up there at the end of the post.
Walter. He’s not a dachshund, but he’s trying hard.
On July 19, 2010 at 9:00 pm Courtney said...
Poor Walter. He must be very confused.
On July 20, 2010 at 1:42 am Jenny said...
He’s not the only one.
On July 19, 2010 at 9:09 pm Louise said...
Just for the record I like the top and middle left the best. But I’ll be buying it because it has your name on it and a new dog in it, not because of the cover. Do readers really choose on the basis of the cover? These days, I’m reluctant to buy a book unless I’ve read some of it and been hooked by the writing. In fact, I have quite a few I’ve bought in spite of how dreadful the cover is, simply because I liked the writing. In the end, that’s what you’re staring at for all those hours while you’re reading it. A good cover is just a bonus as far as I’m concerned.
On July 19, 2010 at 9:56 pm Eve said...
I’m sorry, I have to say it – I’m not a fan. Too busy and not delicious enough. Doesn’t look like you.
On July 19, 2010 at 10:27 pm Ami said...
Wow, what you go through for our reading enjoyment! In the words of my second child, “You are the bestest!”
On July 19, 2010 at 10:34 pm marly said...
That is either a tiny little overnight case or a big Yorkie. He’s pretty – maybe just a tad too pretty. I see there’s a hotel room key hanging from the little guy’s collar. Is there a room #774 in the book? I guess there must be, but I’ve forgotten the contex. Are you sure they’re not just playing a practical joke on you? Does marketing have a sense of humor?
On July 20, 2010 at 1:43 am Jenny said...
None. Marketing lost its sense of humor a long, long time ago. It’s a hellish job.
On July 19, 2010 at 11:10 pm Chris said...
Wow-is all I can say after reading all these comments.
And Thank-you for Walter.
On July 19, 2010 at 11:12 pm Mary Stella said...
Checked back late and just saw the final version. All those other covers and now they change the color on your name? When are they releasing this book? Are they hoping to capture the Christmas crowd?
Now neither your name nor the book’s title pops for me. *sigh*
I’ll still buy it, of course. It’s a Crusie. They could cover it in a cut up paper bag like we used to do in grade school and I’d still buy it.
On July 19, 2010 at 11:32 pm Samantha B. said...
To be honest with you…I kinda hate it. Most likely because I think it’s foolish that you had to write in a dog in a story when there was no dog before, just because the people you work for wanted to put one on the cover. It’s cute, I suppose, but the whole reasoning behind it doesn’t sit right with me. I’ll still buy it though, because how could I not? (You’re brilliant, fyi.) But…yeah. Not feeling the whole thing. Sorry.
]
On July 20, 2010 at 1:44 am Jenny said...
You know, if I’d hated the way it read with the dog I’d have let it go. But I actually think it’s better with the dog. Makes her seem more human. The book is a hotel farce, so it can use all the human it can get.
On July 20, 2010 at 1:43 am Jackie said...
I thought Christmas when I saw the final version, too. I’m excited for the book but I don’t care for the cover. Why would they put a dog on it if there wasn’t a dog in the book? That makes no sense lol.
Why couldn’t they do something that fit the book, like the cover of Fast Women that had the china on it, or Bet Me with the shoes. Those covers I loved.
Still excited to read it, though.
On July 20, 2010 at 1:45 am Jenny said...
Well, it’s coming out in November, so Christmas is not a bad vibe to have then. I didn’t like the way the purple clashed with the red-orange so they changed it for me. Blame the green on me.
On July 20, 2010 at 2:07 am Micki said...
OMGod, the things you put up with. Oh well, I’m not going to ask the why questions I have that have no answers, and I will say I have seen worse covers in the world.
Thank god there was no salami sandwich in there, or they’d be asking you for the recipe. But horses . . . hmmmm. I’d like to see a horse in a suitcase, peeing on some lingerie. It would send such a subtle message on many, many levels.
On July 20, 2010 at 2:08 am Micki said...
P.S. On MY book; not yours (-:.
On July 20, 2010 at 2:07 am Jenna said...
That is the cover I picked! I do so love being right
On July 20, 2010 at 5:09 am Muria said...
I like the turquoise (bottom right), for what it’s worth. I’d stopped reading romances around the time this was first released (and wouldn’t read anything that wasn’t a historical romance because I ran across some really dull modern divorce romance a few years before). It’ll be a treat to read a new Crusie, no matter what the dog looks like!
I do agree with marly that the scale looks off. If it’s a Yorkie, that suitcase only holds a day’s worth of baby clothing. But I suppose marketing didn’t actually put a Yorkie in a suitcase before they approved the cover.
On July 20, 2010 at 7:19 am Carol-Ann said...
I like your name in green better than the purple, it just didn’t go with the red suitcase.
On July 20, 2010 at 12:48 pm Eve said...
I agree. I like the concept of red and green and the shades go well. But that dog creeps me out (and I love dogs) not to mention it’s too in your face. What I love most about Crusie books and, subsequently the covers, is that there are layers of characters and goodness. This one is – here is a dog, it’s too perfect and that’s why I didn’t take him with me on my trip – he uses all of my hair products. I don’t feel the heroine in that cover at all. Again, sorry just an opinion.
On July 20, 2010 at 10:03 am Amy said...
I don’t think it’s a yorkie, I think it’s a cairn terrier….a blond version of Toto from the Wizard of Oz. I like one of the blue ones, the turquoise on is probably my favorite.
On July 20, 2010 at 12:52 pm McB said...
You know, the next step is “they decided chimps sell better, so I had to write a chimp into the book.” And then they decide that horses sell better yet so someone does a global replace. And the next thing you know, Tarzan is swinging through the trees with Mr. Ed.
Anyway, I like the red better than the pink or purple, although I would have picked the first blue if t’were up to me. Which it isn’t.
On July 20, 2010 at 4:03 pm Jenny said...
As God is my witness, if I hadn’t like the book better with Walter, I wouldn’t have done it. Cross my heart.
On July 20, 2010 at 1:11 pm Susan D said...
Oh, that’s definitely a small suitcase. What my mom’s generation called a Train Case. It carried just what you needed for a night in the sleeping car, while the rest of your luggage was in the baggage compartment. Very classy.
On July 20, 2010 at 1:12 pm Lauren said...
Personally, I like the purple or whatever, upper right hand right corner. I hate it when details on the cover don’t match the book. And you had to do a rewrite on the say-so from the Art Dept ? Tell them to go pound salt & put a dachshund back on there. I don’t like the final version, it looks like Walter first, you second & that’s such a big no !
On July 20, 2010 at 4:02 pm Jenny said...
No, no, I ASKED to do the rewrite once I knew the dog was going to be on the cover. Because I didn’t want to answer a bunch of e-mails saying, “There was no dog? Where was the dog? The dog was on the cover. I expected a dog.”
On July 20, 2010 at 3:42 pm AgTigress said...
I still have my late-1950s ‘vanity case’: made like a standard, rigid suitcase, with a proper lock, and covered in Hunting Stuart tartan, it measures 12 x 10 x 5 inches (or 30 x 25 x 13 cm if you prefer), it was intended for carrying a lady’s cosmetics and other grooming aids, not clothing.
I have had handbags that are bigger.
On July 20, 2010 at 3:43 pm AgTigress said...
Sorry for punctuation typo above.
On July 20, 2010 at 4:01 pm Jenny said...
My god, woman, what were you thinking? We have STANDARDS here.
Tsk.
On July 20, 2010 at 6:02 pm AgTigress said...
On July 20, 2010 at 8:01 pm Wendy aka Mischief said...
Frankly if it’s written by you I’ll read it. You, J.D. Robb, Jayne Anne Krentz,Patricia Briggs and Janet Evanovich are the only authors I can say that about tho. Frankly the only book covers I’ve been impressed with are some from the sci-fi / fantasy genre…Kim Harrison’s are always killer. You always make me laugh and frankly with dogs I find each one is uniquly different, they all have their own personalitys. I’m looking forward to this upcoming book but I have to say I’m really glad you squished the pink cover! LOL Thanks for all the laughs!
On July 21, 2010 at 11:53 am Wendy aka Mischief said...
oops I meant buy it not read it…when I see a new book out by you or the a fore mentioned authors I’ll automatical by them as I know they will definatly be worth owning and enjoying several times over the years to come =)
On July 21, 2010 at 11:55 am Wendy aka Mischief said...
crap, having a blonde day (I am a natural blonde so I can pick on myself
please forgive all the misspelling in the above post!
On July 20, 2010 at 11:27 pm lurking kate said...
I am sorry but ever since you first mentioned putting Walter in the book all I can think of is poor Walter the squirrel, your dogs and your deck. Now THAT would be a very interesting addition to your book.
On July 21, 2010 at 6:32 am Jenny said...
I think she named him after Walter in His Girl Friday. I would have.
On July 21, 2010 at 2:09 am Clever Cherry aka Judy Long said...
On the bright side I just bought Tell Me Lies & Crazy For You with the new book covers & they look so good on my shelf! Mostly cause I didn’t have them before & now I know I can get a dose of Maddie & C.L. or Quinn & Nick whenever I want.
BTW thanks for the Jennifer Weiner recommendation. I just read Good In Bed from the library. I will buy Fly Away Home for sure now.
On July 21, 2010 at 3:14 am Rachel said...
I’m not really OK with marketing deciding that the cover should have a dog in the first place, but if you think that adding a dog helps the story, then I can accept it. However, dictating the breed? No, no, no. To me, that cover says cutesy schmaltz with pearls, which is not how I would to describe a Crusie book, and certainly not this one. I don’t think the persona projected by this cover remotely resembles either Dennie or Vic. I wouldn’t be tempted to pick up that book in the slightest – and this from someone who only discovered Crusie because of the chocolate cover on Crazy For You. Sorry Jenny, I know you have no control over this, but is the marketing dept insane?
On July 21, 2010 at 6:32 am Jenny said...
They have to be insane to survive working in publishing.
On July 23, 2010 at 11:34 am Meredith B. said...
You have to be insane to work in the book world, period, full stop. Even the librarians are probably going crazy, and they’re performing a legitimate service to the world instead of trying to make money off of the industry. I feel like stabbing a fork into my chest, and all I do is sell the damn things.
On July 21, 2010 at 7:46 am Mel said...
I think this is probably also a marketing way of getting us to buy more books. I already have a copy of Trust Me on This. Now I’m going to have to buy the new one just to see where you’ve put the dog in. I work in academic publishing, and we still have the fights with the Marketing dept over book covers (“that accountancy book can’t have a green cover, people will think it’s boring…?”)
On July 21, 2010 at 1:28 pm LilyC said...
If they think standard Dachshund is too dark, can’t they find a picture of a blonde one like Veronica?
I would still buy it even if it had decomposing squirrels on the front cover. Although I might not read it in public…
On July 21, 2010 at 1:33 pm Jenny said...
No, decomposing squirrels are on the NEXT reissue.
On July 21, 2010 at 3:44 pm Stephanie said...
Well I’m glad you liked it better with the dog in it – as much as we marketers can be and are pains in the collective asses, it’s kind of cool that it led you to add something you liked to the book. The fact that they changed the kind so drastically is really lame though. And also the fact that, despite the fact that you like it better, they were going to add a dog to the cover ragardless of what’s in the book ,
(I don’t work in publishing or anything, but I do work in marketing)
Marketers usually do have their hearts in the right place, I promise. We really want (in the case of the publishing industry) the books to sell and the authors to do well. But I feel like marketing books is so different than anything else – with other industries, you get to chose what you want your message and brand identity to be – and you can change it from year to year or market to market! Not the case with books, and I don’t know that all publishing marketers get that.
Bottom line is I don’t believe you should market any product you don’t know intimately, and whose market you don’t know just as intimately. It feels like too many marketers in the publishing industry only have a passing handle on those concepts, and that frustrates me as both a consumer and a marketer.
/mini rant
But like I said, it’s cool that the inital cover led you to a concept you thought would add to your book. Always interesting how stuff like that works out.
On July 22, 2010 at 4:09 pm Diane said...
Walter will probably stay a dachshund in my head when I read the book. I read my first Crusie novel, Fast Women, because someone told me that there was a dachshund in it (yes, I have a dachshund problem and people enable me) and loved it. So then I read every other Crusie that I could find.
On July 22, 2010 at 5:07 pm Jenny said...
We have four dachshunds (from Dachshund Rescue) and a poodle who thinks she’s a dachshund. We’re all about dachshunds here.
http://www.arghink.com/2010/02/25/apology-with-dogs/
On July 23, 2010 at 1:26 am Jill said...
Since I know that you would never write anything into a book just because you were asked to. And, since you know the addition of Walter to TMOT improves the story. It’s like getting a new Crusie . Yay !
On July 23, 2010 at 7:39 pm Nancy said...
WJS. All I could think is “Sweet. Fresh Crusie in an already fun book.” Is it November yet?