Today’s guest for the CRAP is Shannon Doleski who was born and raised in Cazenovia, New York. After graduating from Niagara University with an English Education degree, Shannon was an English teacher and swim coach in New York and Maryland. She and her family live in West Texas. Mary Underwater is her debut novel.

Did you have any pre-conceived notions about what you wanted your cover to look like?

I kind of had in my head that I wanted a very plain cover that was navy blue with a small submarine online in white. And that was it.

How far in advance from your pub date did you start talking covers with your house?

In June 2019 (so a year from when I sold) my editor sent me the sketches for my cover. She said that because my cover artist would be doing paperwork (cutting out paper and taping them to a background to be photographed) they wanted my input earlier than usual. I loved the sketch and paper colors the artist and designer sent. I asked for some additional sea creatures mentioned in the book – a crab and jellyfish. The artist added them. I really enjoyed how my designer and artist used aspects of my novel (one of my characters creates stop motion animations, and they wanted to make the cover feel like that).

Did you have any input on your cover?

I was really lucky to be able to make additions/suggestions to my cover once I saw the sketch. I know that some authors put together examples of covers they like before the cover design, and that was not my case, which I was grateful for. I would have picked too many covers and designs from all over with different styles. It would have been a disaster. I trusted the design and marketing teams to know more than I did about upper MG covers.

Was there an official "cover reveal" date for your art?

In July, I received the email with the cover art. My pub told me I could collaborate with a blog for the reveal or do it myself once preorders went live. But then marketing decided that the title font didn’t fit with the seriousness of the story, so it was postponed. In September, they presented a new font that they thought fit the tone of the book, and I was allowed to do the reveal right after that. I chose to reveal the cover with preorder links myself, instead of working with a blog. I think it’s a personal choice. I liked having control over the reveal. I think it depends on how comfortable you are, as an author, with social media and all its aspects, like creating graphics for different sites. I also got to do a lot of fun countdown stuff to the reveal. 

How far in advance of the reveal date were you aware of what your cover would look like?

I saw the sketch in June and the final in July, but then with the font changes, it was revealed in September. 

Was it hard to keep it to yourself before the official release?

Hahahahaha, yes! Those two months where they changed the title font were difficult. In person, I did share with my close family and friends unofficially beforehand. 

What surprised you most about the process?

How different the process can be from house to house!  Other friends and members of my debut year had totally different experiences. 

Any advice to other debut authors about how to handle cover art anxiety?

I think we build up the cover so much because it makes our book feel so real. And it can be really hard to give up creative control of our babies. My advice would be to know that that kind of self-inflicted pressure is normal, but we need to trust our cover artists and designers. But if there’s something nagging you about it all, speak up. Use your agent to facilitate if necessary. Your team wants the author to love the cover as much as readers!