Time After Time: Behind the Scenes

Over the last year, I’ve enjoyed so many wonderful compliments on the Time Between Us cover, and over the last week, I’ve heard nothing but enthusiasm for the new cover of Time After Time. Of course, I have absolutely nothing to do with either one of these beauties, so I thought I’d take you behind the scenes and introduce you to the talented individuals who deserve all the praise!

You’re about to meet Whitney and Lisa, Madison and Max, and a whole team of incredibly talented people who worked together to bring “Anna & Bennett” to life for these two gorgeous covers.

Cover designer, Whitney Manger, and my editor, Lisa Yoskowitz, knew from the beginning that they wanted to create a cover that was beautiful, but also presented some mystery.

Whitney: Travel is a passion of Anna’s, so we wanted to show her in a beautiful, faraway place. For Book One, we felt a beach scene was perfect—it could feel serene and romantic yet also haunting and quiet.

When I was reading the manuscript for Time Between Us, I was always fearful that Bennett would disappear, that he would slip between Anna’s fingers just when she began to open her heart to him. I wanted to capture that tension on the cover—and I wanted Bennett to feel connected to Anna yet far away at the same time.

Lisa: I love covers that work on multiple levels and leave questions for the reader to answer. Is Bennett walking into Anna’s life or out of it? There’s this literal distance between the characters—are they on the same plane or is an image of Anna superimposed over Bennett’s scene? That spatial distance could indicate that Anna is standing in the foreground on the same beach as Bennett or that her feet are planted in an entirely different time and place, so the “time” between them could be literal or metaphorical.

Whitney and Lisa loved this concept — literal and metaphorical “time” between two people — and had a vision for carrying it across both covers.

Whitney: We wanted Bennett to be an important component of the covers for Books One and Two, but I didn’t necessarily want readers to notice him right away. We wanted him to feel far away from Anna—not just physically far away, but also metaphorically distant.

Lisa: Even though there is this distance and the characters aren’t touching on either cover, or even necessarily in the same scene, the cover conveys the promise that they have been and/or will be together.

When they shared the design with the larger team, everyone unanimously agreed that this was the perfect cover concept for these two books. The next step: Finding the perfect Anna.

Lisa: Casting a cover model can be one of the most fun and most challenging parts of shooting a cover. You want someone who is able to convey emotion and personality in a still shot, someone who matches the look you’re going for, and someone up for the challenge of shooting many different photos in many different ways.

Madison fit that bill perfectly, as well as being the perfect Anna. We saw a lot of models, and we knew Madison was “the one” right away. The stars aligned so that she could grace both covers.

Whitney: Anna has a strong, independent spirit but also has a side to her that is vulnerable, especially when she starts falling for Bennett. When I met Madison, our model, I thought she embodied those two sides of Anna’s personality. There is a strength to her beauty and to her presence, but there’s also a sense of fragility.

Of course, when it came time to shoot the cover of Time After Time, they needed to find the perfect Bennett to complement the perfect Anna.

Whitney: When we cast Bennett, we knew it was likely that he would be out of focus on the final cover, but we still of course wanted someone as handsome and as hot as we envisioned Bennett when we read the manuscript! Max fit the bill perfectly, and he and Madison had great chemistry.

Readers really seem to connect with both covers. We heard such amazing feedback when we first revealed the cover of Time Between Us, and last week’s cover reveal for Time After Time was met with even more enthusiasm! People are clearly excited about how well these covers work together.

Lisa: Whitney did such a masterful job bringing the cover concept to life. Each has a sense of romance, but not sappiness; of longing and seeking, but not of depression; there’s mood, but the covers aren’t moody. And it doesn’t hurt that they’re stunning to look at!

Whitney: The covers for Time Between Us and Time After Time were a labor of love. I was totally swept away in Anna and Bennett’s haunting romance, and I wanted the covers to be beautiful yet at the same time haunting and stirring. But I also wanted the covers and their palettes to be distinct from each other and to be able to stand on their own. My wish is for readers to want to dive into both covers and be Anna—either on a beautiful faraway beach or a golden-hued park in the autumn—with Bennett waiting for her in the distance.

For the cover of Time After Time, the design team wanted to complement the beachy feeling of Time Between Us with a more woodsy setting and the warmer reds and golds of fall. Whitney and the team wanted to stay true to the original concept — showing that physical distance between Anna & Bennett — but this time, closing the gap between them a lot more.

For Time After Time, the perfect Anna…  Needed an equally perfect Bennett.

Meet Madison and Max!

I’ve already gone on and on about how amazing they are, but I’ll say it again: Madison & Max bring Anna & Bennett to life so beautifully! Can’t. Stop. Staring.

 (click on images to open larger)

Michael Frost is the incredibly talented photographer who shot the beautiful cover for Time Between Us (among many other gorgeous covers). The team was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with him again on Time After Time.

He shot both covers using nothing but natural light. The effect is gorgeous.

Here’s Madison with the stylist, Agata. She’s fanning her with this big disc to create a natural breeze and give Madison’s hair some movement for the photographer to capture. The first picture shows it low and the second one high, so you can see the action.

Finally, Whitney does her magic, bringing her initial concept to life with THIS:

I’m completely in awe of these talented people. I can’t seem to stop thanking Whitney, Lisa, and the rest of the team at Disney*Hyperion for creating these two beautiful covers. My stories are so lucky to be wrapped in this loveliness!

The last week has been pretty incredible. I’ve loved hearing your comments on the cover and the story, and now I’m even more excited to get this book in your hands and hear what you think about Anna & Bennett’s next daring adventure. Thank you for your kind words!

The winner is:

EMILY!

Congratulations, Emily! I’ll be sending you a signed audiobook of Time Between Us and a coffee mug (complete with biscotti, in case you have any “big talks” planned). In October, you’ll get one of the very first copies of Time After Time!

Wasn’t that fun?!?

What did you like most? The photos? The backstory? All of it?

Will you take a moment to leave you comments and share your thoughts with the team? None of us ever get tired of hearing from you lovely readers!