It is actually! Not the same as the girl on Ashes, but one of those rare occasions they were able to get the same model as they (well, as Cliff) used on the cover of CoFA despite it being an entirely different photo shoot.

The thing is, everyone has their favorite characters they’d like to see on the cover. I totally appreciate that. I’d like to see Cliff’s take on Izzy and Alec and Magnus myself. But there are a lot of things at work when it comes to a book cover. There was a reason Harry Potter was on all the Harry Potter book covers. Publishers tend to stick with main characters for several reasons: 1) Bookstores prefer it — while there are many series that have serious fans who would jump at the chance to see, say, Izzy and Alec, or Jordan and Maia or Magnus on a cover, there are many more casual readers who, in the year gap between books, probably haven’t thought about them that much and are likely to pick up the book thinking “Who the heck are these people?” They might also be put off, thinking that the books have switched focus and are no longer about the heroes they remember but about someone else entirely. (Putting Sebastian on the cover of City of Glass was a risk actually, and as I have probably every day since answered the question “Who is the guy on the cover of City of Glass?” I can’t say it isn’t one I don’t sometimes regret even though I think the cover is very striking.) And bookstores aren’t just about selling to passionate fans; they’re about selling to casual readers, too. Since those are most readers, they have to be.

2) Clary is the heroine of the books; this story is her journey. In a way, everyone else — including Jace — is secondary. Part of the genesis of the idea of these books was to write a hero’s journey story about a girl, instead of a boy. Harry’s on all the Harry books; Percy’s on all the Percy books; I’m not going to dispute Clary’s right to be on these books. And a Clary/Jace cover was inevitable. :)

You know, I don’t know the answer. The “might misconstrue it as them being gay” (or in the case of Magnus and Alec, be quite entirely right about them being gay) is the most upsetting possible reason, and I hope it isn’t that. Certainly no one has said that to me. What they have said is that these books are crossover paranormal romance/fantasy and having too boys on the cover means the romance market will reject it, assuming that it is an adventure novel, or a book meant for boys. In publishing, the issue of “boy books” vs. “girl books” is a huge one and “boy books”, if they are not middle grade, are considered not to sell well.

In your career, there are issues you want to lie down and die for, and ones you don’t. Making sure that they picked an Asian cover model for Jem was one I was willing to put my career on the line for despite the publishing party line that covers with non-white people on them don’t sell (no, Simon and Schuster never said a word to me like that, they know I wanted an Asian cover model for Jem and there was never even a discussion.) Getting Jace and Sebastian on a cover together (which I actually suggested once for City of Glass which is why I know about the ‘two boys on a cover’ thing) isn’t. 

I cannot say! I do know his name, but Cliff keeps his models’ identities basically secret. And Cliff is an artist and I do respect that, esp. considering how wonderfully he’s done by me cover-wise over the years.

Well, first — I am not “putting faces on covers.” I lack the artistic talent to create these covers or the Super Publishing Power to say what goes on them. I can make requests and tweaks and put in my oar about model casting and that’s about it. 

The full faces vs. obscured faces thing seems to be a debate that will rage forever, like the debate between people who hate cilantro and people who like it. I am completely unbothered by having faces on covers or anywhere else. I love illustrations. I love illustrated books. My Alan Lee illustrated copies of Lord of the Rings are precious to me, and the images of the characters depicted therein have not ruined my mental images of Frodo, Pippin and Aragorn. Nor would I prefer them replaced with pictures of the actors from the films, even though I adore them all. I do not own a single movie tie-in edition of a single book; I don’t like them; that’s just me.

However, this isn’t about my preferences: it’s about trends in book covers. For a few years there the cut-off-head fantasy cover was everywhere. Like any cover trend it became overwhelming and bookstores began to worry that the covers were indistinguishable from each other. Bookstores have a huge amount of power: if they do not like your cover, they do not have to stock your book, and if your book isn’t in Barnes and Noble, well, not to put too fine a point on it, but you are screwed and your readers are too. And since “showing faces on covers” is hardly a moral or ethical decision (in fact, I’m very pleased that the cover of Clockwork Prince shows Jem’s whole face since if it cut him off at the chin you couldn’t tell his ethnicity at all, and there is enough of a paucity of covers with PoC characters on them I feel that would just add to the problem) if it comes down to having full faces on your covers and having them stocked more widely, or refusing to allow full faces on your covers and having them stocked less, I think most authors (and readers) would go with be able to have the book more widely available and easier to get.

So anyway, thanks to the vast number of you for all the kind words about the CoLS cover; it is my favorite of the TMI covers, and I am glad so many people like it. I am not the artist, but I am happy just the same. And as for those going “But if Jace and Clary are on this cover, what will be on CoHF” — well, that would be the cover they pull out all the stops for. It is the last book, after all. Expect something special. :)