[Meghan Dietsche] Goel [children’s book buyer for BookPeople in Austin, Tex.] understands why the publisher chose a real girl’s face. The 2007 Newbery Honor-winning The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt was “difficult to sell,” she said, because its jacket was simply a chalkboard. “We just could not sell it with that cover, even after it became a Newbery Honor,” she said. The paperback edition, by contrast, is faring better with a lively illustration of a boy behind a tipping-over desk, she noted. “Covers matter. No matter how much we’re behind the book, if the cover isn’t appealing it isn’t going to do well.”

Andrew Mackay

I’m a publishing specialist with BelieversPress. As an all around book geek, I enthuse over good writing, good books, and learning how to make them happen. I put those passions to work everyday at BelieversPress, helping over 240 authors get their books from manuscript to finished book.