This week, the paperback edition of THE MEPHISTO CLUB goes on sale in both the U.S. and the U.K.  If you haven’t read it yet, I hope this is the week you pick up a copy.  The first two weeks on sale are critical to a book’s success — if the book doesn’t do well during those initial weeks, it’s cleared away pretty quick, to make room for books that do sell well.  And the sales die a quick death.

Once again, we’ve had a change in the cover design between hardcover and paperback.  The U.S. hardcover looked like this:

mephisto hc

I thought it was very striking and effective, but a bit … literary.  While it would have made a very nice paperback cover, my publisher and I agreed that it might not play as well to the paperback audience.  So Ballantine came up with this cover instead:

mephisto paperback

The bright yellow is eye-catching, and the girl silhouetted under the archway gives you a clue that the book’s got some medieval themes to it. 

Here’s my UK cover - a completely different take on the story, but just as effective.  And hypnotically eye-catching.  I love this one as well:

mephisto uk

It’s the first time I’ve come out simultaneously in the U.S. and the U.K.  I’m curious how the books will do in two different markets, with two different covers.