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.