As most authors & publishers will tell you, a book’s cover will often go through various stages before a final version is released. The changes can be drastic — like switching out the image, style, etc. altogether — or minor, such as tweaking the lighting on a photo or changing a typeface.
As we all know, the cover of Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick definitely grabs you immediately — it’s intriguing, dramatic, filled with action — and hey, the hot half-naked guy with wings doesn’t hurt, either. But the cover went through various stages before getting to the final product we’re all familiar with. While she was at Wordstock in October, Becca showed some images of the Hush, Hush cover’s evolution. Here are some of those photos so you can get an idea of how the cover evolved.
Early sketch for the cover design:
Early cover art with Patch sans wings:
Early alternate cover with Patch reaching for Nora:
Another alternate cover with Patch carrying Nora (swoon!):
The final cover image — BEFORE the design team decided to invert the photo:
And of course, the final cover that we all know & love:
For the comments: Do you like any of the alternate versions better? What do you like about them?
Novel Novice 
Oh my gosh! Those gave me goosebumps. Those are incredible. SO neat to see how Patch “evolved”. Patch reaching for Nora is beautiful and Patch carrying Nora is heartwarming. They are all so pretty. I do love the final cover though. Having Patch and Nora together may have made it look too much like “another love story” (I look at title, then cover to buy a book). I love how Patch is shown falling with his wings spread out. you have a good sense of what the book is about before even picking it up, but not too much! This is so neat. thank you!
I love the one where Patch is reaching for Nora. It’s so beautiful! But I really like the final cover. I find it more intriguing.
I LOVE the cover with Patch reaching for Nora, but I think it would have given a little of the mystery of the story away. The final cover was awesome and intriguing.
Very interesting! I think I like the final one best but the others are pretty cool, too!