Category: Author Art

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Reading is Fundamental

This is the third and final post on creating an excellent book cover. The first post discussed refining your vision to keep it clear and simple. The second talked about bringing that refined vision to reality with a contract artist. This third is about the all important titling. Now I am not talking about the actual words you use, although that is important and worthy of its own post. Rather I am referring to the readability of the title.

That sound basic? You might be surprised at what a perusal of Amazon offerings reveals. Your book is going to first be seen in a 150 pixel thumbnail! That may make or break a potential reader’s interest right there. I will not embarrass any author’s book cover here, but it will not take you long to see a block of color and maybe a figure. At the bottom a series a squiggles hints at a title. Sometimes certain fonts drop right out of existence altogether at that reduction.

Now you have determined a sufficiently large font size for your book title. You have left appropriate space in your cover for it. (You did leave space, right? Do not cover your protagonist’s face!) What about font choice? Beware the dark side here. Avoid the temptation and the pitfall of overly stylized fonts. You know the kind. Some are so sci-fi that you spend a minute just trying to figure out what it is supposed to say. Fail. Such fonts can easily be cliche or dated; both messages will not serve you well.

Classics are classics for a reason. Use them to your advantage. Consider book interiors. 90% of them are Times New Roman or something similar. “Hundreds of years of book tradition” (as one online expert put it) make for a difficult trend to buck. Find your individualism someplace else. I am not saying be boring on your book cover. No way. But there are a lot of interesting and pretty things you can do to a readable font. I consulted my own local font expert for some tips as I navigated and polished my title presentation.

Make sure (to avoid headaches) you have your exact pixel size and proportional dimensions accurately nailed down. I had a minor issue with the ratio which I did not discover until after the font work was more-or-less done. Thank goodness again for leaving all the elements in layers. I had the extra room to widen because the original art is suitably large for the coming print edition. I also had each word and even the symbol ready to be scaled and nudged individually as needed.

As I have found out on this journey, a book is comprised of so many elements. The writing is the bulk of it, but all these supporting factors play a part. How many car choices come down to finish and color? Both cars in question may be quality vehicles, but the exterior of one grabs the attention and compels a second look. Make sure you do justice to your months or even years of writing by investing the appropriate final portion of effort. Do not leave your cover in jeans when black tie is called for.

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Tethered Worlds is a well dressed story that never goes out of style. Put on your spacesuit and join an adventure. The time spent may inspire you to tailor other aspects of your life to exactly fit your daily challenges.

You can also check out Lorenz’s site and see his interesting work.

The Book Cover Series:

Done Last – But Seen First

Don’t Trip Running the Bases

Titles are Only Catchy if Comprehensible

Making a Superb Back Cover Blurb

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Put Some Finish on Your Finish

There are book covers out there that would make your brows seriously rise in skepticism. You might think, and rightly so, that some authors just phoned it in. (Perhaps using the “generate cover” button available on some programs.) How can one work so hard and so long on a written piece and then approach its cover so lackadaisically?

As noted in my previous post on this topic, Book Covers: Done Last – But Seen First, a good novel can overcome its cover. But it should not have to! If you have thought through the basics, and you know what will serve your novel, it’s time to take it to the next level. If you have hired a professional, work with them and make the second revision better than the first. You are the customer. You are paying. (Even if you have hired your cousin and are paying with a dinner at Applebee’s.)

I wanted a slightly rough, painterly style. My artist had demonstrated it already, and his first take from my written descriptions was on the right track. Now we strived to make it even better. I sent him a sketch of how I envisioned it. He was influenced by that and the revised piece advanced even closer to what I wanted. If you pick a pro, act like a pro. Engage in some healthy back and forth. You both may find new things that work better as you do.

But be wise, and pick your battles. Do not nit-pick over micro things you can adjust yourself. Time is money for your contracted artist. Do not squander professional goodwill. Ask for your image to be left in layers. This was of immense help to me in making final adjustments. It also was instrumental in fully utilizing pieces of the art for my various web presences. Additionally, after all the details I originally wanted were added, I made the wise decision to drop some for simplicity and clarity (see last post). This was an option facilitated with minimal trouble by the layers.

In the next post, the final for the Unwelcome Star e-book version cover, I will discuss the last crucial elements. Font and readability.

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Tethered Worlds takes place in a vast and complex universe. But that does not mean the cover has to be overly complex. Read this series and go along on an adventure. You may find that the time spent in it spills over into your real life daily challenges— and triumphs.

You can also check out Lorenz’s site and see his interesting work.

The Book Cover Series:

Done Last – But Seen First

Don’t Trip Running the Bases

Titles are Only Catchy if Comprehensible

Making a Superb Back Cover Blurb

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Sometimes You Can Judge an Book by its Cover

One might meticulously craft a written piece, be it a novel in my case, or perhaps an important PowerPoint presentation. Yet, despite however good those words are, the first impression people will get is your book cover or first slide. There’s information out there regarding good book cover construction. I know, I looked. Here are a couple distilled points that resonated for my project.

First, you must win the war against complexity. Fight the urge to include every key item and/or character on your cover. Today, the majority of book buyers are not going to hold your book in their hand at a brick-and-mortar store. They are going to see a thumbnail at an e-retailer. Finely painted conflagrations of detail and layers of subtlety are probably not going to come across at that size. Simplicity sells. Help the viewer get one solid idea about your book at first glance.

For me, it started with doodles that crept onto pages of notes, or images that found themselves forming when I felt like sketching. An iconic image of the egress, the central piece of technology from the Tethered Worlds series. Its clean lines and planetary backdrop made for great imagery. Its simplicity also did not suck all the oxygen out of the cover, leaving room for one more element which I will cover in the next post. So communicate a clear, clean concept. It does not have to be completely understood, that is what the novel is for!

You will need to find someone who can bring your vision to reality, or you can do it yourself. Although I’m a professional artist, I decided I wanted a fresh, loose take on the cover I envisioned. I contracted a fine artist named Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe. He started homing in on what I wanted from a detailed document I wrote which included examples of covers I thought good and subpar. I even included examples of his own work I wanted him to emulate style-wise.

A good novel or PowerPoint presentation may overcome a less than stellar cover or first slide. But why make your work jump that hurdle? Sure, some established authors need only put their name on the cover. But until then, novels are complex creations that need to be packaged in such a way that people will read them. So make sure all your work’s components are functioning well and pulling in the same direction. Don’t gloss over the small stuff. The cliché that “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link” IS a cliché because it is so often proven out.

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Tethered Worlds is a series upon which I have spent many non-writing months just working out the details. Be they creating a universe rich enough to support a series, or working out optimal text formatting. Read it for yourself and find out if it inspires you to create something and see it through to the end.

You can also check out Lorenz’s site and see his interesting work.

The Book Cover Series:

Done Last – But Seen First

Don’t Trip Running the Bases

Titles are Only Catchy if Comprehensible

Making a Superb Back Cover Blurb