“Maybe we should bring back Fabio!” We were talking about book cover design, and the things that could be done to purchased stock photos to play off the book’s theme. It was clear that one male model in particular has seen a lot of use on book covers, not unlike Fabio did years ago. I imagine cover art was the last thing being talked about at most writer’s workshops ten years ago. At that point, for most authors, cover art assumed a publisher… with an art department and editorial staff to direct. Now, though, with epublishing and self-publishing trending, it has become part of the toolkit authors are expected to carry. The problem is… if other authors are like me, the last time they took a photo it was of the family on a Disney ride and the last time they actually drew something they were in primary school. It is a new skill we need to learn, and so we discuss it at meetings and take lots of notes at conference workshops. I would suggest, though, that while we may not be artists by trade, we are creative by nature. At the same time, most of us are prolific readers. So perhaps the very best thing we can do is analyze what is already out there. Below I have listed some examples of what I think might work for the type of writing I do. But here’s the thing…. Cover art is very genre specific. So go to Amazon, sort by type of writing, and look at those covers. That will be the best design teacher of all. The bottom line…. Just like Fabio was a model first and a business person second, authors also can prioritize writing and still ensure that their covers sell the wonderful words inside. Here are my top three cover design lessons... 1. If you write a specific genre/style, replicate basic elements on the cover to brand yourself. Sophie Kinsella and Jill Mansell do this extremely well I think. Look at how the font used for the name is consistent; and while the books are not series books, the graphic elements are similar enough that the author is represented without distracting from the content of the story. 2. White edging on ebooks does not work. White on white on white… enough said. 3. Bigger is better. Fonts for author name and book title should be large and bright enough to be clear when a reader is scanning the category list. I don’t love the cover for number two, but at least if I have read books by Lynne Truss I know this is one of hers.
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“They cancelled the press conference because the shooting was so awful.”
My imagination went into overdrive. I wanted to ask them what they meant, but there were little kids present and they seemed to be talking in code around them. Instead I pulled out my phone and tried to look up the news… anything about shooting. But it drew a blank. What could they have meant? It wasn’t until hours later that I found one possibility; the shooting of the two coast guard officers in Alaska yesterday. Still, it is sad to say that they could also have been speaking about any number of other shootings. A quick Google search of shootings ‘April 12, 2012’ returns pages of possible results. The fact that gun control laws are even open for debate in our country seems ridiculous to me. Some statistics here might help: According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2000 there were 2.97 firearm homicides per 100,000 people and a total of 4.55 homicides per 100,000 people overall in the U.S. (which allows private gun ownership) versus .52 and .12 firearm homicides per 100,000 people in Canada and the UK respectively (which don’t allow private gun ownership). Their total homicides where much less as well; coming in at 1.58 and 1.45 per 100,000 people respectively. I am a whimp when it comes to violence. Much as I loved The Hunger Games book, it took me until this week to actually get up the will to read it; and I am still not sure I want to see the movie. I don’t write violence in my own books. And ever since Columbine (which I still have nightmares about), I avoid watching T.V. news when there is any kind of big, violent event. I hate that I am raising my daughter in a world where video games callously normalize guns and violence; it was only last year, at seven, that she even got a squirt gun. But on the other hand, I appreciate that we live in a country where our rights are protected; where we can debate these things openly and reach our own conclusions. And with a good imagination that is just what I do. Last night I imagined the democrats and the republicans in congress having a huge water fight on the Mall in D.C.. The press wanted to hold a conference, but they were all too wet. |
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June 2020
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