Tag: book covers

Love’s Savagely Bad Book Covers

this is not the worst cover everHere’s the deal. In March Kat Brooks wrote a post for IU called The Case for Legible Titles. Three months later Brooks did it again, talking about Title Envy. (I’m not going to mention the post she did in 2012 about, you guessed it, book covers. Judging a Book by Its Cover) Oops. That slipped out. All of these posts and others are linked on a very special page, cleverly called Resource: Book Covers.

Brooks doesn’t think anyone is reading her posts. So I told her I had the perfect title. Then she kicked the post back to me and said “Are You Stupid?” wasn’t acceptable and proposed this one instead.

Why do covers matter so much? Read all those posts and you’ll see several reasons. I’ll boil them down to just one. Bad cover = Less Sales. It’s a simple equation and you don’t have to be a math genius to understand. It comes down to what causes a person to buy (or even more important, not buy) your book. Here’s how it works. Continue reading “Love’s Savagely Bad Book Covers”

The Issue of Self-Publishing Control: Book Titles

savage1Control: I believe that is the best aspect of self-publishing. Sure, in the discussions that rage endlessly across the internet about trad-publishing vs. self-publishing, the major issue always seems to revolve around money. Yes, we get better royalties when we self-pub. When my first book was published by a NY house, my royalty rate for the first 100,000 books sold was ten cents per book. You read that right: ten cents. After that, it “jumped” to twenty-five cents. Continue reading “The Issue of Self-Publishing Control: Book Titles”

Cover Reveals – Should We Bother?

True Colors Melissa PearlIt’s easy to wonder if cover reveals are worth the time and effort. Some authors do them well in advance; some do them the week before release and others don’t bother with them at all. Being a fan of cover reveals, I thought I’d throw in my two cents worth and see what you guys thought.

I read a great post by Jonathan Gunson a couple of years ago. Basically what he said was that the sooner we start promoting a book before release, the better. My publicist (Mark My Words Publicity) recommends a 9-week build up. Most consumers need to see a product multiple times before purchasing. (See Lynne Cantwell’s article on Effective Frequency.) Readers need to be teased and enticed. You want them to be so aware of your book’s release date that they will have the date circled on their calendars and be looking you up on Amazon the moment that day arrives. Continue reading “Cover Reveals – Should We Bother?”

Be Your Own Graphics Designer

This is an ongoing, basic course in graphic design for writers.

The complete resume of my education and credentials in graphic design can be expressed in one word: Nada.

And that’s why it might be worth listening to me. You’re a writer, possibly a small publisher. Like me. You probably don’t have art talent, can’t afford expensive programs, don’t have the time to study books or school courses aimed at producing designers and artists. Like me. And, like me, you have very specific needs: book covers, logos, banners, website graphics.

And speaking as a non-designer who has done pretty well in creating those things, I am telling you that you can do it. Using free or cheap programs, without a lot of didactic learning. Using ingenuity rather than money or talent. And having fun. Continue reading “Be Your Own Graphics Designer”