Charlotte Collins en francias

The cover of the French edition of Charlotte Collins appeared as if by magic on my Facebook wall yesterday, and I am just thrilled with the way it turned out. (To read more about the advent of the French language edition, read this blog post.)

As an indie author, I’m used to having maximum input (read: total and complete control) on all the decisions concerning my books, and strangely enough, one of the most fun parts of my adventure into foreign rights has been relinquishing control and seeing what my publisher Bragelonne does with my work. What art would they pick for the cover? And would I be able to see the French influences in the design?

I love the cover. It’s absolutely nothing like what I did for the US edition, but I think it works well.

Here’s the US edition for comparison:

On the French cover, the woman in the top third is simply lovely, even if she’s a bit more embellished than I picture Charlotte as a character. She has the correct bearing, very demure and shyly attractive. In the center third, the font is large and clear and the background isn’t so embellished that it detracts from the main image statements and title. Now, the bottom third threw me a bit. Parliament? It’s a lovely image, but most of my book takes place outside of London. However, upon further reflection, I think I understand the choice. It’s a clear statement of setting, which I think is necessary since there is no indication on the cover that this is an Austen-related tome. I wonder why that was not included, but hey, they are supposed to know their market, so I will just see what happens.

I look forward to getting the translated text and reading it myself, but for now, I get to enjoy a cover I didn’t have to create myself!

3 thoughts on “Charlotte Collins en francias

  1. Dear Mrs Becton.
    I am a French guy, so allow me to correct the title of your blog article that I discover today after a few weeks: it should be “Charlotte Collins en français” (not “en francias” which sounds more Spanish).
    Regards,
    La Marque Jaune

  2. ~ I don’t know which one you saw. There is a 1995 A&E version which is THE best, I think … with Colin Firth. It is more than one epidose viewing though. There was a movie version in 2005 with Keira Knightley and there are older versions as well. Two winters ago, PBS aired remakes of all the novels and they were shown in segments so perhaps you saw a part of one?!Tanya

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