Good cover design is not only about beauty... it’s a visual sales pitch. It’s your first contact with a potential reader. Your cover only has around 3 seconds to catch a browsing reader’s attention. You want to stand out and make them pause and consider, and read the synopsis.
― Eeva Lancaster
Aspiring authors, get this through your head. Cover art serves one purpose, and one purpose only, to get potential customers interested long enough to pick up the book to read the back cover blurb. In the internet age that means the thumb nail image needs to be interesting enough to click on. That’s what covers are for.
― Larry Correia
I always think that it's wrong to put images of my protagonists on the cover of my novels because readers can identify with characters only if they are given the chance to imagine them independently.
― Orhan Pamuk
Back to the Writersfest reports this week. 😊
Day two, workshop two was Making Word Art, facilitated by Oliver McPartin.
Are you an artist wondering how to get into book design? Are you a writer wondering how book covers are made, and who gets a say? Want to develop your own unique typography to make your work unique? Graphic designer, illustrator and artist Oliver McPartlin offers an insight into the book jacket and typography design business.
This was another more seminar than workshop, so all we could do was sit there and take notes. And I gotta be honest here, my note-taking leaves much to be desired. But we weren’t allowed to record the workshops, so now I’m stuck trying to figure out what I’m talking about. LOL
There were a few technical glitches in the beginning. Mr. McPartlin’s presentation depended on being able to run a slide show from his laptop, and no one seemed to know how to get the interface between the laptop and the projector to work. We were finally saved by one of the maintenance men who doubled as the hotel’s IT guy.
When considering cover art, you must first consider what type of book you’re working with – who the audience is, who’s going to be buying the book. You’ll need to look at the demographics, genre, comparison titles, and do an evaluation pitch for the book to come up with an author kit.
Clichés and tropes are useful to let readers know what to expect. However, people on the cover will lead to that person sticking in the reader’s mind. This is why many books only show part of the face on their cover. Some trends serve a purpose. Big type is easy to read in Amazon thumbnails. But some design trends are just trends. The end goal is to sell more books.
Who gets a say in book covers? The author, publisher, marketing department, designer, retailer, distributer . . . all input is welcome. New authors tend to be more picky about their covers. Seasoned authors tend to be more easy going.
You need to learn the language. Authors and non-designers often know when something is wrong, but not how to fix it. Take direction with a grain of salt but try to meet them halfway. Don’t get attached to your first idea – pick your battles! Showing some flexibility on an inconsequential decision might lead to more important things.
Timelines are usually a season ahead for promotional purposes. The front cover is done well in advance of the back. Things can change along the way, like last minute title changes.
The number of versions needed varies. Short story collections are the most difficult and have the most versions. You can present a bunch of concepts, but not a bunch of variations on one concept. The Carson Method (named for David Carson) is to make fifty versions and tell them to pick.
The creative process is the fun part. Read the book only as much as you need to so you can skim for imagery. Iconography is important and useful. The trick is to use it in an interesting way. Look for the book’s internal iconography, an image that jumps out at you. Make sure the image fits the content.
Draw on visual elements from the text, even if no one will ever catch it. Reflect themes using existing symbols – green for jealousy, a dove for peace, pomegranate for knowledge, a rose for love, a dying rose for death/dying/murder.
Strive for quality. Take a step back and ask yourself if it looks good or not. If not, keep going. Taste is part of the process and is cultivated by practice. Pay attention to signage, fonts, photos, and ads. Spend time in bookstores looking at covers.
Know the elements of your own style so you know what to fall back on and to keep from overusing certain ideas. Follow designers on social media. Keep a stack of design books. Stay up on font trends – what’s overused, underused, esthetically pleasing, current.
Keep a list of techniques you want to try. Spend time with your software.
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WORDAGE REPORT
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
The word for last week is . . . roller coaster. It may seem like a kind of strange word, but it’s fitting for the way my week was, including the weather.
When I was slacking off, I really slacked off – reading, playing games, napping – but when I mustered the energy to get doing stuff, I really went to town. So it was a pretty up and down week.
Weather-wise we seem to have had it all – wind, clouds, sun (a tiny bit), rain, snow . . . it was pretty up and down. My mood, however, pretty much stayed down. I don’t know if it had something to do with a change in my medication, or it was just me. I’m kind of hoping it was the medication, because that would make it temporary. If it’s just me, then who knows how long this mood will last?
It rained/snowed on Halloween, but that didn’t stop the 25 kids that came to our door. I was smart this year and made up bags to give out – 30 of them – and then got small bags of chips to go with them. So there’s not a whole lot of leftovers, as there was in previous years.
I was off to a slow start with NaNo. I kinda knew which idea I was going to go with, but I wanted to hedge my bets, so I was going to consult this oversized notepad I like to write longer ideas down in, only I couldn’t find it. I have no idea where it could be – I’ve gone through pretty much everything in my office, including the storage closet, but it seems to have vanished. Just like my little password book did.
And speaking of passwords . . . I did a factory reset on my Galaxy Tab E tablet (that I rarely use) and passed it on to the daughter so she could set it up for the granddaughter. Well, I’m not exactly sure why, but when I went to check my email Friday night, it wanted me to verify I was who I said I was, and to do so I had to sign into my email. The problem was, I had no clue what my password was because it was in the little password book I lost.
The next option for verification it gave me was to send a code to the Tab E, which I don’t have anymore. The third option was to send a code to my Hotmail account, which I haven’t checked in I-don’t-know-how long, and which took several tries before I got the password right. *sigh*
I did eventually get everything all straightened out, but it would have never happened if Staples hadn’t taken it upon themselves to sync my devices when I had my laptop in for a virus scan.
NEW WORDS:
2250+509+1197+1224=5,180
UP: 563 – words
Guess I had more to say than I thought last week. And the blog posts were all up early, too. I gotta tell you, it was a nice feeling to be able to relax at night instead of scrambling to get a post finished.
It made it easier to turn my attention to other things too, to read or stitch without feeling guilty. I hope this is something I can keep up in the weeks to come.
Goals For Next Week:
Keep up the good work with the blogs
NANOWRIMO:
Day 1 – 1730
Day 2 – 1651
Day 3 – 1651
Day 4 – 1724
Total for week 1 – 6,756
Total for month – 6,756
I will admit that I got off to a very slow start with NaNo this year. In fact, I was pretty lethargic about it, even on November 1. I had pretty much decided on the idea I was going to go with, but despite it’s potential, I was still pretty meh about the whole thing.
Late Wednesday afternoon I finally spent an hour searching for a name for my main character, and this was followed by working on a mock up of a cover for it so I could make my official announcement on the NaNo site.
And I will tell you for true, I hate the title and as soon as I can come up with something better I will be changing it. But so far I don’t know enough about the story to do so. It’s revealing itself slowly to me. I’m making my daily quota, but just barely. And it’s been mostly later in the day when I’m writing.
Goal For Next Week:
Keep making the daily quota; maybe try to get my words in earlier in the day.
POETRY:
Despite the fact that I had a form all ready to go, in the spirit of Halloween, I decided to go with a classic poem. I posted The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe, and included a video of Vincent Price reading it.
One of my goals before NaNo started was to have a couple of forms done, or close to being done, just to have ready to use in case I needed to focus on the words for NaNo. Well, I did the example for one of the poems that I’d researched and distilled the information for, and then researched and distilled the information for another form and before I knew what I was doing, I did an example for it too!
So that makes a total of four forms ready for posting, and three that just need an example. But I gotta tell you, one of those forms is going to be more challenging than one of the coded Welsh forms!
Goal For Next Week:
Take my time getting the remaining examples written.
CRAFTING:
This week it was back to the library for stitching, where admittedly we all got more talking than stitching done. Everyone was impressed that I wore my witch’s costume.
One of the ladies brought her woven basket to work on – she was down to just having to hand sew the strips at the top down. I would like to feature mine on my Monday post, which means I’ll need to unweave it so it’s flat and take pictures. I wish I’d thought to take pictures from the beginning though.
We talked a bit about the upcoming stitching retreat – 5 of the 7 of us who were at the library were going – and settled on our car pooling. Then I’d no sooner got home than one of the driving forces behind the retreats phoned me and talked me into signing up for one in March, too. LOL
I’ve given up on finishing my zentangle sampler, but I think I’ll take it with me to the retreat (which is next weekend!) to work on. Meanwhile, I have another bag I’d started years ago. The embroidery is finished, it just needs to be sewn together.
Goal For Next Week:
Finish my basket, sew together brown bag.
WHAT I’M READING:
I’m a little over halfway through The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman, and I’m finding it fascinating.
On the Kindle I finished Pawsitively Poisonous, by Melissa Erin Jackson. And I’m working on Dead Even, by Patti Larson now. BUT I updated my Goodreads, and I’m showing as having read 66/50 books read for the year. Guess I’ll need a bigger goal for next year, eh?
Goal For Next Week:
Keep up the moderate reading habits
THE WEEK AHEAD:
Well, I’d have to say that new leaf of mine is beginning to grow. Maybe not in the direction I was expecting, but it’s starting to push through.
This despite the fact that I didn’t spend as much time in my office as I would have liked, but that’s not entirely my fault. I don’t know what’s gotten into the cats lately, but they’ve been super cuddly. Khaos spent an entire day snuggled up to me in the recliner. Even after I had to gently move her so I could have a lunch/bathroom break, she was right back with me when I sat down again. Incidentally, this was the day I got all that poetry done. Maybe she’s my poetry mews?
Tuesday should prove interesting. My car needs to go in for servicing and to get the tires switched over to the winter ones. The hubby needs his car to drive his father to a medical appointment in Oshawa. There is a stitch-in at the library. Looks like I’m walking. 😊
With four poetry forms ready to go, I don’t feel the need to knock myself out writing poetry this week. Maybe I’ll start working on the hard one. After all, I’ll have four weeks before it’s needed.
I’ll finally be in a place to post an excerpt from this year’s NaNo for Fiction Friday this week. Hopefully it’ll be a decent one, although I have to say I’m not impressed with what I’m writing so far. Don’t get me wrong, with a little planning I think this story could be a winner, I just don’t have time for planning right now.
Like I said above, I’d like to get that brown, embroidered bag finished in time to take to the retreat with me, but I’ve been putting it off for twenty years now. Do I really think I’ll do it now? *shrug* Who knows? Stranger things have happened.
Friday I’ll be off to the Nottawasaga Inn (pretty much in the middle of nowhere) with my guild sisters. It should be a fun time. We have to drive right by this big outlet mall on the way, and there are already plans to stop and shop – no rush to get there, right? LOL
Time for some more lists, to keep me organized. And to remind myself of what all I have to do before I leave, and all of the things I want to take with me. You know, like my lap top, so I don’t fall behind on NaNo.
Three days away from home in the middle of NaNo. Good lord, what was I thinking?
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