The end of a new book...

Okay, so I'm playing catch-up a little with my blog posts here after a lot of domestic reshuffling, and finally...sound trumpets, please...completing my latest book before it went off to my editor for her first sight of it.

Every book is different to write and sometimes I feel a bit sad when they're done, as if I'm losing a friend, because we've spent a lot of time together. I was really glad to get to the end of this one though as it's been tricksy with me all the way through. The timeline/plot is quite complex and that made it fairly difficult to write a first draft. It also meant that the second draft needed more work than I'd normally expect to do as I had to make some structural changes and speed up the pace in the first half. My normal 'it's a total train wreck!' reaction that generally lasts for the first third of the book went on until almost the end this time. It was only on the third draft that I thought 'hey, this is actually not bad at all.'

...I swear if books could snigger this one did at that point...

Foreign Rights News

I'm delighted to share that the German language rights for SKIN DEEP were sold to Dressler over the summer and that my agents have had an offer for the Thai language rights recently. The book is due out in the UK in under three months now and I'm starting to get excited but I have to say the thought of it being read by kids in Thailand really blows my mind. It's great to see your book in print, especially when it's going out in other countries like Australia and Germany, but I think it was the Thai offer that made me really sit up and drop my mouth open - it's such a very different culture to the UK and I love the idea of the book being read over there. So forgive me for getting a bit over-excited and squeeing - I have to do this:
SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

The Australian cover for Skin Deep

It's interesting to see the difference. The Australian editor at Egmont felt this was better suited to their market than the UK cover.

On the question of how much say the writer gets over the covers with large publishing houses, the answer is very little. However, I view it like going to the hairdresser. I pay my stylist, Alan, to know exactly what he's doing and what will work with my hair so I tell him the approximate length I want it to be and then I leave him to get on with choosing the style because he's the expert, not me.

I'm happy with both of these covers, but it was fascinating to see how differently they turned out.

Skin Deep has a publication date

This is the cover for the UK edition of Skin Deep, to be published by Electric Monkey, a new imprint from Egmont, on 5th March 2012.

“Ugly people don’t have feelings. They’re not like everyone else. They don’t notice if you stare at them in the street and then turn your face away. And if they did notice, it wouldn’t hurt them. They’re not like real people.

Or that’s what I used to think.

When I was younger.

Before I learned.”

One night, one stupid mistake, and nothing will ever be the same again.

When Jenna reluctantly gets into a car with her friends, she has no idea how the events of that night will change her forever. After the car crash that leaves her best friend dead and Jenna so badly burned that she is permanently scarred, she struggles to rebuild her life. Every stare in the street, every mutter as she passes, every time she looks in the mirror, makes her want to retreat further from the world. Until she meets Ryan.

Ryan’s a traveller. When he and his mother moor their narrow boat on the outskirts of a village, she tells him this time it will be different. He doesn’t believe her; he never does and he’s always been right so far. He can’t imagine why this place shouldn’t be just like all the rest. Until he meets Jenna.

But as Jenna and Ryan grow closer, the effects of that January night continue to reverberate through the community. And one day a body is found.