Y’all. Y’ALL. EXCITING THINGS ARE HAPPENING. And now I get to share one of them with you!
Recently, I received sales proofs of The Year of Shadows jacket in the mail (i.e., not the FINAL jacket, but pretty darn close, and something S&S will use during the next few months as we gear up for the release), and they are STUNNING. And I’m not even tooting my own horn here, because the beautiful art and design of The Year of Shadows are all the work of . . . well, you’ll see.
Because, THIS WEEK, I’m going to reveal the cover — in a multi-day cover reveal event! S&S and I thought this would be a fun way to reveal not just the cover, but also lots of extra goodies as well.
Here is the schedule for the week of what will be revealed where and when:
- Tuesday, January 29 – At Icey Books, you’ll meet the illustrator for The Year of Shadows, and see his/her (OOO MYSTERIOUS) initial character sketch of the main character, Olivia!
- Wednesday, January 30 – At The Book Smugglers, Thea and Ana will host a joint interview with the illustrator (duh duh DUHHH??) and Simon & Schuster Art Director Lucy Ruth Cummins, as they discuss designing the look and feel of The Year of Shadows. You’ll also get to see three rough sketches of the interior illustrations!
- Thursday, January 31 – At Mundie Moms and Mundie Kids, the FINAL COVER will be revealed in all its beautiful beautiful glory (I might be biased, yes, but seriously, YOU WILL SEE WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT) — as well as the flap copy AND . . . the first page of The Year of Shadows!
I am BEYOND THRILLED to reveal these The Year of Shadows goodies with you! As I’ve mentioned before, this is a special book for me. I mean, all books are special to their authors, but this one is particularly close to my heart, for reasons I’ll elaborate upon in a different post. Needless to say, every time I’ve opened an email containing The Year of Shadows art, I’ve nearly burst into tears — and when I opened the jacket sales proofs, I actually did burst into tears. Lucy and Mysterious Illustrator have done such an incredible job bringing Olivia’s story to life — and I can’t WAIT to see what you think!
BUT WAIT. THERE’S MORE.
I’m giving away some awesome prizes to celebrate cover reveal week. SEVEN awesome prizes, in fact! (One for each day of the week? One for each Harry Potter book? One for each of the shades of purple in UNICORN’s tail? Take your pick!) You can comment on each day’s post for a chance to win — that will increase your chances of winning! — but even if you comment all three days, you can only win ONE prize. That means SEVEN prizes for SEVEN different winners!
And said prizes are . . .
- an ORIGINAL piece of art from Mysterious Illustrator
- two prints (of your choice!) from Mysterious Illustrator
- three film scores that I listened to when writing The Year of Shadows (your choice from the following list!)
- Phoebe in Wonderland
- Where the Wild Things Are (soundtrack by Karen O)
- Where the Wild Things Are (score by Carter Burwell)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- The Year of the Dog
- Lars and the Real Girl
- and . . . an ARC of The Year of Shadows!
That’s right — one lucky winner will receive an ARC, hot off the presses!
The giveaway begins with the first post at Icey Books tomorrow, ends Thursday, February 7th, and is U.S./Canada only. But don’t worry, international lovelies; there will be international The Year of Shadows giveaways in the coming months!
So, to sum up: The Year of Shadows. COVER REVEAL. PLUS FUN EXTRAS. AND PRIZES. TOMORROW. WEDNESDAY. THURSDAY.
