The Cover Story: You judge a book by its cover

We actually started working on the cover right at the beginning of the process.  While working with the editor on the text, we were also working with the Publishing Assistant, Kylee, on the author bio and description of the story.  We struggled with the decision of whether to include an author picture or not, but eventually decided not to for privacy reasons.  The original bio was a little longer, but in the end we cut one sentence so that the balance between the description and the bio would be better.

The description started short: "When Princess Mei Lien sees the injustice of her father's rule, she has to do something about it.  Kindness wins the day over magic, strength and cleverness."

Next, it was too long: "When Princess Mei Lien sees the injustice of her father’s rule, she has to do something about it. But her father, happy with the status quo, uses his magic to turn her into a lotus flower! Will the kind He Ping be able to save her and help her turn the conditions in the village around, or will she fall into the hands of the powerful (but not very considerate) Ju Long, or the crafty (but not very compassionate) Huang Fu?"

Finally, we settled on this: "When Princess Mei Lien sees the conditions of their town, she knows she must do something. Frustrated, her father turns her into a lotus flower to prevent her from protesting his rule. Will kind Prince He Ping find her so they can rescue the kingdom together?"

Before the back cover text was finalized, we also had the opportunity to choose from a few options for the front cover. Our favourites were the first and fourth.

This one looks like the title page.

This is the one we chose, but can you spot the difference?

Rebecca suggested using a "Chinese looking" font, and it worked well with this cover option.

The cover is what sells the book, since most people don't read through it before buying.  We think it turned out great!