Is it actually proven fact that Borders skipped it because of the cover? I know that may sound as if I'm being horribly skeptical, and HarperCollins' change to the pb cover proof that they believed it would help, but it only shows that the original cover + whatever book-pushing they did on the first edition didn't get it into Borders. (this is interesting, maybe.) That's not the same as saying that Borders did not take the book because it had an Asian girl on the cover. Or even because it had an Asian girl on the cover of a fantasy.

Of course I agree it's important to talk about underrepresented books (and I can say this without a hint of defensiveness as I did talk about Silver Phoenix*), but I remember quite a bit of buzz about it when it came out, from the YA book bloggers and also from other authors. This is a good reminder to leave a comment politely challenging the inclusion of Eugenides and Katniss as CoC in the Fantasy Showdown though, which I should have done right away.

*Probably 0 teen readers myself too, and few of any other variety, but some!