It snuck up on me. Partially because I thought it had been longer than ten years, and partially because I’m not good at remembering my release dates from books past. But it’s true.
On August 15th, Just Ella turned ten years old. I published it in 2013. I had a two-month-old baby, a 4-year-old, a 7-year-old, and an 8-year-old. I had been working on writing it on and off for the past eight years. I didn’t know anything about publishing. I had tried to query agents and publishers, but that hadn’t worked out, so I’d decided to take the leap into self-publishing. It was an act of faith. I had no expectations. I just knew that I had created something that I loved and I wanted it to be out in the world in case someone else might love it too.
When I realized a few weeks ago that this significant anniversary was imminent, I had some ideas for how to celebrate. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make any of them happen before or on the actual anniversary, but I have been working hard to create two new formats of this book for you to enjoy.
I decided to create a 10th anniversary special edition hardback book, and I wanted to have a new different style of cover art created for it. A big thank you to my husband for being my pinch hitter and coming in to save the day when the cover artist I chose ended being…not what they advertised themselves to be. He and I have poured many hours into working together to create this cover. I love it and hope that it speaks to all of you who fell in love with Ella and Gavin just as much as I did.
The hardback isn’t available quite yet. I did order a proof copy and hopefully it will arrive next week and look perfect. That one final check is all I’m waiting on before I push publish, so cross your fingers that all the formatting will be perfect (formatting includes interior images). In the meantime, I’ll go ahead and share the new cover with you.
I know it’s completely different from all my other covers, but that was the goal! I wanted to shake things up for this special edition, and I think we succeeded.
Will the paperback cover change? No. At least not right now. If I were going to switch out the cover for Just Ella, I’d need to do it for the rest of the series. The option isn’t off the table, it’s just not something I’m ready to jump into right now.
Will the rest of the series be made available in hardback? That’s totally an option, but I’m going to wait and see how this one does. I really don’t know what the demand will be for a hardback vs a paperback, but if the demand is there, I’m absolutely open to making the entire series available in hardback.
Now I have a question for you. What do you think of this cover? Do you like it more of less than the current cover? Do you miss the original cover (the one with the purple dress)? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
What about an Audiobook? So nice of you to ask! I’m also close to finishing the audiobook of Just Ella! I know, I know. I probably should have done it long ago. Honestly, the only reason that it happened was because I went, “Hm, I have the YouTube videos of me reading it. I can just grab the audio from those videos and SHAZAM! Instant audiobook!” That’s not how it went though. I tried to do that and quickly realized that I was not satisfied with the quality of that audio. But at that point, I was in the midst of an odd week of manic energy, and since I was already committed to the audiobook idea, it had to happen. So that led to me setting up a sound booth in my closet and spending a week re-recording the entire book. TA-DA!
I promise to send out announcements as soon as either of these formats is officially available. In the meantime, comment on this post, or on either of my Facebook or Instagram posts in order to enter to win a signed hardback copy of Just Ella! Giveaway is U.S. only and will close on September 7th.
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Yay! I’ve loved Just Ella since almost the beginning!
The new cover is gorgeous!!!