I wore this all day Thursday. In my head.

On Thursday, January 29th, THROWN was an Amazon Daily Deal. It was its first time as a Daily Deal, and man, it was fun! I had no idea. I had forgotten it was going to be a Daily Deal until one of my friends who’s an agent emailed me that morning. And then I was off to the races. It must be how Nora Roberts feels every time she releases a new book.

Let me tell you, it’s super fun to check your ranking on Amazon when it keeps dropping–which is good. It’s like golf, the lower your ranking, the better. I have never had a book do this well. Not even close. It was thrilling, although I admit, I got a little greedy. I got to around 116th among all books sold, and I was hoping to break 100. It may have happened, but I don’t think it did.

However, among Literature & Fiction, Contemporary, THROWN hit #9. THAT was incredibly fun. I could look on the first screen of that category and see my cover, nestled among some of the big guns, but National Book Award Finalist ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE was ahead of THROWN in three versions (you know, paperback, hardcover, audio, etc.), so really my book was #6. Happy sigh.

Oddly enough, it didn’t make it as high up on the Romance list. Weird. Any thoughts on that? I think it might be the cover, because although it’s exquisite, I believe some people think it’s a Young Adult book about a girl and her trusty steed.

Good thing I didn’t turn this into a drinking game, or I’d be at Betty Ford right now. I’m so excited that THROWN is now on the Kindles of  lots of new readers. I hope they love it, because I loved writing it. Thank you all, wonderful readers!

There are authors who dream of their debut novel’s future cover the way some brides dream of their wedding gowns.

I am not one of those authors.

Did I have something in mind as I wrote the book? Yes, but it was a cartoon. I’m not a designer in any way, shape or form, and I knew the professionals at Pocket Books would come up with something far better than my cave painting. Designers are, after all, magicians of sorts.

The designer who did my cover is a veritable Dumbledore. Beyond a magician—a wizard.

I adore my cover. ADORE. It blew me away. When I opened the pdf, I actually gasped (just ask my cube mates). I had nothing in mind, really, except I thought maybe there’d be a man, possibly half-dressed, somewhere in the vicinity. Instead I got this stunning, painterly image, elegant, sophisticated, graceful and powerful. It was astounding. As one of the Firebirds (co-finalists in the Golden Hearts last year) put it, the cover gods smiled upon me.

Now, as I’m writing the follow-up book to Thrown, I feel extra pressure to make it live up to this woman and her steed. I want to be worthy of the gorgeousness. I don’t want to disappoint the cover! Can you blame me?

This December, look for this cover wherever you like to buy e-books. (And buy one. Please!)