I'll admit it: I'm obsessed with the A&E show "Hoarders." And C.J. Omololu's debut Young Adult novel, Dirty Little Secrets, out today, features a protagonist whose mother's hoarding habits have turned her life upside-down. So how did her publisher design a cover that would convey the dark emotions of living with a clinically diagnosed packrat? C.J.'s here to tell us:
"When I thought about the cover for Dirty Little Secrets, I was actually thinking of something more graphic, although I had no idea what. We’d seen so many Twilight-esque covers that are cool -- books like The Dark Divine that are spare and striking -- so I thought it would be more like that. Good thing my publisher didn’t ask me, because somehow, the image of a bag of garbage or a stack of National Geographics probably wouldn’t be as eye-catching as what Walker came up with.
"One of the most stressful moments in my writing life so far was the one right before I opened the attachment to my email that had the cover image. It took a few moments to sink in and for me to decide that, although it wasn’t what I’d pictured, it was the most awesome cover this book could have. The most interesting thing about the cover image is that the girl looks a lot like I did back when I was that age -- dyed black hair, lots of eye makeup, etc. There’s a photo of me where you can see the resemblance (right), although the cover model is much prettier that I was at that awkward stage. I was surprised that they used a dark pink on the cover because I didn’t think of it as a particularly 'girly' book, but the colors are just perfect.
"The cover photo is a stock image, but I think it evokes the mood of the book really well. Funny thing, right about the time that I revealed the cover, I started getting a lot of hits on my blog that had been redirected from another blog -- the blog of the girl who modeled for the cover picture a few years before. I haven’t contacted her, but it’s fun to think about her as a real girl seeing her face on my book all over the place. I hope she enjoys it!
"The image on the front isn’t directly taken from the book, although there is a scene at the end where she is standing outside of the house looking inside. I like it a lot because Lucy’s entire life has been standing on the outside looking in up until this point, and I think it is symbolic of the way she finally takes matters into her own hands.
"The only suggestions I had were on the taglines they were going to put on the cover. We went back and forth with it for a little while -- it’s amazing how much thought goes into those. We ended up with 'A family can only hoard its troubles for so long…' because Walker wanted to have the word 'hoard' on the cover.
"Overall, I love the details -- the lowercase type, the moody blue color and the splotches that they’ve put on the spine and back of the cover. It’s just all so cool."
Thanks, C.J.! I stayed up late reading this book, and I think the cover hints at both the darkness and the hope in the (riveting) narrative. What do you guys think -- does this cover grab you?
Melissa Walker is the author of four Young Adult novels, including the Violet trilogy and Lovestruck Summer. She is co-creator of the popular teen newsletter I Heart Daily, and her author blog, where Cover Stories originated, is melissacwalker.com.
