How To Ditch Your Fairy is almost real . . .

An ARC1 of How To Ditch Your Fairy just arrived! I am filled with squee. HTDYF is almost a real book!

Here’s what it looks like:

You know what the most fabulous part of it is? (Other than the quote from Libba Bray2 ) My name is as big as the title. My name is bigger than it’s ever been! Oh, happy day!

The happiness continues when I turn the ARC over and gaze on the back cover where there’s a marketing plan. A marketing plan!

I’ve never had one of those on the back of an ARC before. And it includes the words “multi-city author tour”. So maybe I’ll be getting to your city and have a chance to meet you later this year!

My very first author tour. Who’d’ve thunk it?

  1. Advance Reading Copy which looks like a paperback only it’s printed on heavier paper and is full of typoes. They’re printed to send out early to booksellers and librarians to get them excited about your book. [↩]
  2. OMG! Libba Bray liked my book! [↩]

39 comments

  1. Mary Elizabeth S.
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    *GASP* It’s beautiful!

    I love the almost-invisible fairy being flicked away like so much unwanted dirt. “Leave me alone, would ya? A parking fairy, of all things…”

    And the marketing plan on the back; OH. MY. PAJAMAS. Were I in your shoes, I’d probably take complete leave of my senses and start shouting out the window or something.

    (Oh, oh, oh, I hope you come to Arizona! Please, please, please?! It’s a good place to go for a signing, good turnouts.)

    ~Mary

  3. Iris
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    -=spaz-spaz-spaz=-
    love the the font size of your name (bigger IS better!) and I cannot WAIT until i can read it! Maybe my library will get an ARC and I’ll get dibs on it!
    -=spaz=-
    YAY!!!

  4. Tam-la
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    Ooh! Fancy! I’d love an ARC! The title sounds interesting! I’d love a fairy too.

  5. Kerry
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    I’m looking forward to this one! Have been ever since you read from it at TLA in San Antonio last year!

  7. Elodie
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    What is with that “girl with the eyes cut off” thing being so popular on covers?
    Otherwise, love love, it is very much the kind of book I would add to my pile at the library, even without knowing it’s from you, and the back summary makes it look so fun and silly. :D!

  10. Karen
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    That is the funniest cover, Justine! Makes me want to read it.

    Re: Elodie, I’ve been told the reason for truncating the face on book covers is that if the eyes are shown, the story seems to be about that person on the cover, whereas if they’re not shown, the reader can more easily imagine herself in that person’s position. It sounds silly, but I think there’s probably some truth to it.

  11. robin
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    Congratulations! I love the way they’ve done the fairy. (Now, how do I go about getting a fairy of my very own?)

  16. Gabrielle
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    Om em gee, you caught Maureen’s eye-missing curse! I do love it though, especially how she flicks the fairy. Totally suits the title. Now I wanna read!

  17. Carrie R.
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    Looks awesome — the cover, the blurb, the copy, the tour — all of it sounds amazing! Congrats! Can’t wait to read it!!

  23. ariel cooke
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    congratulations! selfishly thrilled here–i’m so psyched you have published something new for me to read!

  25. Lydia
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    Awesome!!! I love that cover. Can’t wait to read it!

    Yay for author tour! Hope you’ll stop down south. (specifically Atlanta!) 😀

  27. Faith
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    Oh no.

    Your publisher got bit by the eyeless girl bug. WHY? I’m still psyched about the book… but WHY, COVER ARTIST? WHY? THE EYELESS GIRL TREND MUST STOP!

    *breathes*

    It’s a good thing I don’t judge the book by its cover. I do like the flicky-fairy thing, though.

  28. capt. cockatiel
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    I wants it.
    I wants it more than anything else right now (which is saying something, since any day now my new Darren Shan is supposed to be in at the library, and have I ever been waiting for *that*). It is gorgeous, eyeless girl or not.
    And I have a love of reading marketing plans. I have an ARC of “Spud” by John van de Ruit, and I read the marketing plan on the back… um, a lot. Which is sort of sad, since it’s been out for a while. >.>
    Anyways. Now I’m even more anxious for October and the flood of good books that are coming out around then. (:

  29. hillary!
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    Does this new cover mean that the rest of your books are gonna feature girls with really tight abbs? Like MJ’s.

  30. khyrinthia
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    That is a gorgeous cover.

    And tour?! I hope you come near me. I want to see you D:

  31. Mary Elizabeth S.
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    Huh. Why is everybody bothered by the cropped faces? I like the cropped faces, in and of themselves, because I think it gives the covers just the right amounts of anonymity and reality. (See what a rebel I am? Okay, okay, I’m more contrary than rebellious, but still.)

    ~Mary

  33. limeywesty
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    Looks awesome Justine.
    and your name shall sell.
    why?
    because I say so.
    as soon as it gets me I shall go out and get a copy.
    and get all the surrounding libraries to get a copy too.
    because I can.
    .

  36. Pat Canterbury
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    CONGRATS! Love the cover. Love the marketing plan even better. Size does matter when it comes to placement of names on covers. Hope you make it to Sacramento.
    Pat

  37. Justine
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    Thanks everyone for the lovely comments. I’m so pleased you (mostly) like it.

    As for the eyeless thing. As some of you know I’m not a fan. And, yes, me and Maureen Johnson and Diana Peterfreund (both of whom have suffered the eyeless curse) have discussed the matter at length.

    In comment no. 10 above Karen explains that one of the main reasons for the eyeless covers is that “if the eyes are shown, the story seems to be about that person on the cover, whereas if they’re not shown, the reader can more easily imagine herself in that person’s position.”

    Also these covers sell. The identification thing may be why. Gazillions of teenage girls have responded positively to them over and over again. Indeed, Maureen and Diana’s books sell very nicely, thank you very much.

    Ultimately, the cover is about selling the book. Hence the lack of eyes.

    As for her tight abs: Those are actually appropriate to this book. Charlie, the protag, is an athlete. I was very pleased by the cover model’s sporty look, seeing as how she is a total jock.

  38. Gabrielle
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    Yeah, when Karen said that in her comment I thought about it and it indeed makes sense. I was mostly joking around. ^^ I really do like it. But mostly, I can’t wait to READ it! 😀

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