Here’s something you may or may not know about writing books for traditional publishers.
The author doesn’t exactly “pick the cover” or “name the book”… per say. 🙂
I mean, we definitely have input and can express our opinions, including pitching a fit, including tears, in three consecutive meetings…. I mean, I’ve heard of people behaving like that.
Ahem.
It was me.
Anyways. I am so proud of the cover and of the title. Perfectly Unique fits me so well, it fits this book, and it fits the vision for what I pray God continues to do with these words- put them in the hands of teenagers that need to know that God made them each on purpose.
But the cover? Now that’s quite a story.
In early Spring 2012, I was sitting at Panera with my agent Kyle and we got an email from Zondervan with the design for the cover of Perfectly Unique.
He opened it and turned his computer screen to me. I teared up. Immediately.
[Shocking absolutely no one who has known me longer than this blog post.]
It was perfect. It was everything I would have wanted. It was personal to me and totally spoke my language.
“Who did this?” I asked him.
“Just a designer at Zondervan I guess,” Kyle said, “I don’t know who.”
“Well,” I looked at him, “email this editor back and tell her to give that designer a BIG FAT HUG because he/she NAILED IT. How in the WORLD does that person not know me? It looks so so much like me.”
In a world where the author has zero say in the original design or which humans lay their hands on the making of this book, it was just a real gift from God to absolutely cry over the beauty of this thang.
. . . . .
I put the jpeg on my iPhone and showed that puppy off like it was a trophy. I would stop any friend that I saw ANYWHERE and “offer” [is that the right word?] to show it to them.
I have a few graphic designer friends and each one I would say, “I mean, seriously. Are you DYING? Isn’t it AMAZING? It looks JUST LIKE ME, right?”
And because they are generous human beings, they would say yes and smile and truly, everyone has liked it.
I remember showing my pal Micah at a table in Portland Brew [our neighborhood coffee shop] and, as previously stated, totally gushing.
. . . . .
About three weeks later I was texting Micah about his lovely wife and her birthday or something and then he said this about my book cover. [He’s in white, I’m in green.]
WAIT. WHAT. HUH. [And dear reader, just FYI, this is what the VAST MAJORITY of text message convos with boys look like for me. Just so you know. I’m a talker. And boys love that, right? #sarcasm]
Micah Kandros is one of the best graphic designers in Nashville and Zondervan had NO idea we were even friends, but what a miracle that one of my friends who knows me well but is also an insanely talented artist designed the cover for Perfectly Unique. I am so grateful to Micah for the beautiful design. [You should look through his other designs and d.r.o.o.l. So so amazing.]
And what Micah couldn’t have even known is that in the depths of my worst season of self-dislike, I WORE PURPLE CONVERSE. No kidding.
So no, those aren’t my feet [people ask all the time], but in 9th grade, they could have been.
Every time I look at this cover, I see that teenage Annie and I know that God has redeemed and restored some deep things in my heart since those days. And I’m honored that He made a way for me to share those stories with teenagers all over the world.
Feel free, then, to judge this book by it’s cover. 🙂
By: Annie, Annie Blogs
Annie Downs is an author and speaker who loves living in Nashville, Tennessee. Flawed but funny, she uses her writing to highlight the everyday goodness of a real and present God. Her first book, Perfectly Unique, released in stores September 2012. Find the book at DaySpring.com for only $7.99. Read more at annieblogs.com
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