Kristin Nilsen on Celebrity Crush Covers for Middle Grade Readers

I love talking to authors. Our experiences are so similar, yet so very different, that every one of us has a new story to share. Everyone says that the moment you get your cover it really hits you – you’re an author. The cover is your story – and you – packaged for the world. So the process of the cover reveal can be slightly panic inducing. Does it fit your story? Is it what you hoped? Will it sell? With this in mind I put together the CRAP (Cover Reveal Anxiety Phase) Interview.

Today’s guest for the CRAP is Kristin Nilsen, author of Worldwide Crush which releases today

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

Definitely! I obsessed about it! No matter what your teacher told you, people definitely judge a book by its cover and it felt very make-or-break to me. Especially because my story may appear to be one thing on the outside (fluffy first crush, celebrity-style) but deliver something very different on the inside (humor! a quirky grandma! poignant coming–of-age arc!). I was so afraid the cover wouldn’t sell the story properly. 

I also have very strong opinions about cover art for middle grade books right now – there’s a trend that is so strong, it makes every book look exactly the same. I won’t say what that trend is because I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus, but I will say I was terrified of getting one of those covers. And I was prepared to say “We are underestimating middle grade readers. They are attracted to more than one thing.”

Did you have any input on your cover?

I had input, yes, but it came with boundaries and I was very nervous about overstepping those boundaries. Which I did. And then I got a call from the publisher which felt very much like getting called to the principal’s office. Being able to say “no, I don’t like that” was both a blessing and a curse. 

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

Since I’m a debut author, the only person waiting for my cover reveal with bated breath was me. And the people and animals who are within arm’s reach of me. This makes a reveal announcement a little awkward; it felt less like a public event and more like a personal one. So a reveal date, per se, was not set for me (because no one was watching except maybe my mom), and I was free to reveal the cover when it was officially finalized.

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

I felt the opposite actually; I was free to reveal the cover when it was complete – but I couldn’t. I wasn’t nervous anymore because we did, indeed, arrive at that place where I was like YES! THIS! But releasing it to the world felt wobbly. I wasn’t ready. I needed to cradle it in my arms a little longer. So while it was revealed on the publisher’s website, I waited to announce it on my social channels until the two of us had truly bonded. 

What surprised you most about the process?

Two things: first, how I longed to be a part of the process and then actually hated being a part of the process. Okay, I didn’t hate it but it was sooooo STRESSFULLLLL. For a brief moment, I wished I had never been asked for my input because getting to perfection seemed out of reach but I couldn’t stop trying. And I knew I was the thorn in someone’s side. I pictured people rolling their eyes every time they saw an email from me. 

And second, it revealed how much of my book lives inside my head; what does a celebrity crush mean to you? It’s different for everybody. When I say celebrity crush, I picture something specific but the designer pictured something else entirely. We had to come to an understanding about what a celebrity crush means for this book, without our personal interpretations interfering.

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

No, I really don’t! Although I’m ecstatic about how my cover turned out, I’m still licking my wounds a little bit. I have butterflies just writing this sentence! And I’m sure I will have the same anxiety with my next book. Because it’s that important! 

For me, I think I will work on my communication about the tone and style of my story and also provide quotes from the book that describe my characters fully so the designer will know what the reader is expecting. But for those who don’t have that kind of input, my advice would be… be a good person and manifest hard!

Kristin Nilsen is an erstwhile librarian, a collector of crush stories, and the author of Worldwide Crush (July 2023), a middle grade novel inspired by her own childhood crush on Shaun Cassidy. She co-hosts The Pop Culture Preservation Society, a weekly podcast celebrating the cultural nuggets of the classic Gen X childhood. Kristin lives in Minneapolis with her Gen X husband, her Gen Z son, and their rock and roll goldendoodle, Axl Rose Nilsen. 

Michael C. Bland on The Inspiration For "The Price of Rebellion"

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. 

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Michael C. Bland, author of The Price of Rebellion which was named “Best Science Fiction” in the 2022 Indies Today awards.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

The idea started when I was riding the “L” in Chicago one day. Everyone’s faces were buried in their phones as the train roared from one stop to the next, and I thought, “I could strip naked and no one would notice.” Yet the subway car had cameras on the ceiling—so someone could be watching without my knowledge. From there, I wondered if that someone could be watching with malicious intent—to blow up the train, hold us hostage—and if so, how could I protect myself.

I then imagined living in a world where virtually every moment was watched. We’re moving closer to that future already, with more cameras being installed every day. If I did something wrong—or if someone I loved did—how could I protect them? What could I do?

These questions were the origins of The Price of Safety, and they continue with the second book in the trilogy, The Price of Rebellion. (You don’t have to read the first to read the second. The Price of Rebellion stands on its own, and contains quick summaries of what you need to know from the first book, though the experience is richer if you read The Price of Safety first.)

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

The plot stemmed from two focal points: family and technology. I know, weird focal points. I wanted to explore what the world would be like in the near future, with the technology developed, the risks they bring, and the ways they can work both to the characters’ benefit and detriment. But I wanted to ground the story, not just for myself but for the reader. We will still have family in the future, still have loved ones and will fear for their safety. I wanted that mix of sci-fi and family dynamics, as I haven’t found a lot of that in this genre.

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Yes, I’ve had the plot shift under me more than once. With The Price of Rebellion, the plot changed dramatically when I started to outline the plot in detail. I have to outline each novel, not only because that’s how my brain works but the future I’ve created has a lot of interwoven “rules” for a lack of a better term. As I started to build out this plot, I realized there was a major event that not only was a surprise, it changed the entire trajectory of the story. There were other changes to the plot as well, but each one had to serve the overall narrative. This meant I had to reject some ideas as they didn’t fit, but this also led to other ideas that made The Price of Rebellion stronger.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I have a ton of ideas. New ones hit me all the time. However, that doesn’t mean they’re any good, and even those that are viable rarely come fully formed. Some are just snippets, and others are vague. In the end, I might have one great idea for every fifty bad ones, but that’s how my mind works, and I welcome each idea, as they’re part of my process. 

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

I gravitate toward ideas that have interesting hooks. Then I start developing the top ideas, to see which ones generate enough inspiration and excitement to expand into a full story. After I’ve developed the ideas to the point where they seem viable, I craft blurbs of the potential stories, and from there, I determine which story I want to focus on. A novel can take two to three years to work on, so I want to make sure I choose the best story to focus on. 

I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

I don’t have a writing buddy. We have two small Chinese Crested dogs, but they mostly follow my wife around, so my distraction level is minimal…though the puppy will occasionally appear with a toy, hoping I’ll play with him. That becomes a distraction, but he’s too cute to resist.

Michael C. Bland is a founding member and the secretary of BookPod, an online book support group. “Elizabeth”, one of his short stories, won Honorable Mention in Writer’s Digest 2015 Popular Fiction Awards contest, and two of the short stories he edited have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His debut novel, “The Price of Safety,” reached #7 in Amazon’s rankings for Dystopian novels and received Finalist awards three times: by the Indie Book Awards for both Science Fiction and Thriller, and by National Indie Excellence Awards for New Fiction. The second book in the planned trilogy, “The Price of Rebellion” was named “Best Science Fiction” in the 2022 Indies Today awards.  He currently lives in Florida. Learn more about Michael via his website: https://www.mcbland.com/