I was totally tickled. Like my friend Michelle said, it's like a Jane Austen book with my name replacing Jane's! :-) Spanish PA goes on sale February 13, 2009.
So then I pestered Kristin about the Russian PA, because that was the first foreign rights sale we ever made, and should have come out already. And it was, and Kristin got a cover from Whitney, her foreign-rights co-agent. And behold:
My first Barbara Cartland cover!
Seriously, I couldn't stop looking at this cover. I mean, what a couch. Now I've got to have one like it. And of all the ladies who've graced PA's cover, this one actually looks most like what Gigi might--and with that attitude too.
If you look closely, you'll see that the front cover and the back cover are actually mirror images. The woman is painted over where the couch would have been on the right side. And if you look even more closely, you'll see that the it's the top curve of the same throw pillow under the plant on the right, they just painted out the buttons on it!
I am enthralled. ENTHRALLED!
P.S. The Russian title Idealnaya Para, means The Ideal Couple. (Or so I gather from googling.) And it is already available. Inform all your Russian friends! :-)
P.P.S. If there are any art history majors out there, I'd love to know what painting they used for the Spanish PA. It looks like a Victorian era artist, but I tried Leighton, Tissot, and a few others and came up empty.
Update 1: Thanks to Seton, now we know that the cover is based on a painting by Tissot, named "Study For."
Update 2: Thanks to Courtney Milan, I now know that the Russian PA is coming out in two different editions.
For 240 rubles, you can have this, same as above.
If you have only 200 rubles to spare, you still can have it, albeit in a slightly more somber package. :-)
Will wonders never cease? :-)
13 comments:
Wow. The Spanish one looks beautiful and classy.
I am . . . not sure what to think of the Russian one. But I just spent a while looking at other Russian covers, which range from beautiful to awful here: http://www.ozon.ru
Here's a Russian Jo Beverley: http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/4251900/
And Laura Lee Guhrke: http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/4251901/
And they have two versions of your book up, with different prices!
http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/4176444/
http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/4176433/
My favorite part is running it through Babelfish. :)
Thanks for sharing these! It's always interesting to see how a book is envisioned by publishers in other countries. I like the direct gaze on both the Spanish and Russian cover models--it's refreshingly undemure, which seems in character for Gigi. The Spanish cover reminds me a little of a Sargent portrait, except the model is sitting rather than standing.
Oh, Sherry, how exciting!!!!
I love the Spanish cover. Very romantic!
I'm soooo happy for you!
I like both covers. Foreign covers are a gas.
The spanish cover totally looks like a Tissot - the use of the light, the physical type of the model. It doesnt look like a Leighton to me.
Found it.
Knew it was a Tissot. It's called "Study For" if this link doesnt work:
http://www.jamestissot.org/Study-for.html
It's good to know my art history major was good for sumthin'
The hairstyles of the two covers seem to represent two different eras: The Spanish cover reminds me of the Regency period, whereas the Russian cover is more Victorian.
Do you think covers are interchangeable or do they represent the taste and sensibilities of different societies (countries)? A good cover would make me reach for a book and read the blurb, but a bad cover wouldn't necessarily make me reject a purchase.
I also prefer the Spanish to the Russian.
Congrats on the Shana Abe cover quote. You must be over the moon!
Apparently I have more of a Spanish sensibility than a Russian one. Now I'm burning to know what the German cover looks like, and if I would have been tempted to pick it up in a German bookstore.
Courtney,
You need to tell me how you search and surf in Russian!
I guess the publisher is coming out with a hardcover and a paperback at the same time.
The Russian cover is more or less what I expected, since the other Russian romance covers I've seen tend to have a woman on the front. It was the extended background on the whole jacket that totally had me giggling in glee.
Stephanie,
I like the direct gaze too. Though until you mentioned it, I hadn't even realized that the Spanish one was a direct gaze, since she seems as if her mind is a bit elsewhere. :-)
Sarah,
Yes, it is exciting. I've come to realize that seeing cover IS my favorite part of the business side of publishing. Good, bad or ugly, it's like opening Christmas presents.
Seton,
Thanks!!! You are awesome.
I can't believe I even sort of guessed in the correct range, since art is like, so not my strong suit.
Thanks for searching it out. I tried on ArtRenewal.org, but they didn't have it in their Tissot gallery.
Kim,
Whenever I've seen a Russian cover, it always seems sort of Victorian.
But the Spanish one is actually more or less in the right era. Tissot was famous for painting Edwardian ladies, and PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS I think of as an Edwardian book.
(DELICIOUS is set like 6 mo before PA, but DELICIOUS I somehow think of as a Victorian.)
I think the covers probably represent how romances are perceived by the society. Russian covers tend to have this portrait of a woman on the front. It is a fairly distinctive look.
The Spanish one suggests to me that it might be marketed as a more mainstream entity. I'm not sure.
Janine,
Thanks!
M,
I expect the German cover to be more clinch-y, mantitty-ish, since romance is THE pulp fiction in Germany, from what I know, and my German publisher (Harlequin Germany, in fact) distributes its books at train stations and such places.
Although I miss the blue background, your new webpage is quite nice. It's a more neutral color, but with a nice border. Writing a book, then promoting it and designing webpages on the side - obviously an author's work is never done.
Thanks for the new brief snippet of Not Quite A Husband on your homepage. Does that take place in the beginning of the book or after Quentin tracks down Bryony in India? I understand if you can't give any clues.
Hi Kim,
I don't mind doing the webpage from time to time. It's actually kind of fun once I make myself start, something of a repository of my career. But the other parts of self-promotion--unless people ask me for something, I don't push. Cuz I hate pushing. So overall I actually don't spend that much time on promo.
As for the trailer, well, it's from page 18 of a single-spaced manuscript, how's that? :-)
Buenos días desde España. Mis felicitaciones por el libro "Acuerdos privados" que en muy pocos días ya podremos leer aquí. Te deseo todos los éxitos que te sin duda mereces.
Yo publiqué mi primer libro en Marzo de 2008 con Ediciones B de Vergara. En este año 2009 publicaré otros dos libros también con esta editorial. Yo podré disfrutar leyendo el tuyo ¡espero que algún día tú puedas leer también mis libros!
Un abrazo desde España y mucha suerte.
Now use the Google translator to put the text in English so you can understand my message.
Good morning from Spain. My congratulations on the book "private agreement" that in a few days and we can read here. I wish you all the success that you undoubtedly deserve.
I published my first book in March 2008 Ediciones B Vergara. In this year 2009 will also publish two other books with this publisher. I enjoy reading yours I hope that one day you can also read my books!
I am sending you a hug and a kiss from Spain and I wish you good luck.
Dear Nieves,
Warm congratulations on your books! And thank you for stopping by. I do hope that one day I can read your books too.
Best of luck with your 2009 releases.
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