Hallelujah I Broke My Head - Part 1

I finally done it.  I broke my head.  This is good.  No, this is awesome.

I have broken my head right open (makes it easier to fill with ideas).

I am so happy.

You see, like so many writers, I was chained to the idea of a BOOK - the idea set out by NY Publishing firms, by the Big Six.  

(Okay, so I couldn't find a picture of all six of the big NY publishers together.  But thematically this picture sends out the right message, I think).

But now my head is broken open.

I thought (as so many others do) that a book must be between 80,000 and 120,000 words.  I thought that I had to think up the best title I could, the title that would ultimately SELL my novel to an agent, from an agent to an editor, from an editor to his boss, and CARRY my book all the way to the SALES department where someone would arbritarily (is that a word?) decide that my title would never sell my book to anyone.  Ever.

Incidentally, a small aside to point out that this is one of the major reasons I'm going indie.  Publishers have a whole "the rest of the world are idiots" attitude.  I mean, come on, my title got the back this far, so obviously an agent, editor, publisher, blah blah can get excited about my title.  Why not Mr Joe Public?  Because he's an idiot.  Except I don't think he is.  I am the book buying public (well, not all of it, obviously) and I certainly don't see myself as being an idiot.  Interlude over.  Back to our scheduled programme.  

Hi, I'm back, and I broke my head.


I thought that my cover could best be thought up by a graphic designer who had never read my book but had a two sentence summary.  "The seventy two year old female MC has to save the world from a crystal skull wielding sorcerer on board the Titanic.  Oh, and simultaneously her 16 year old self has to save the world from a crystal skull wielding Amazonian high priest, told in flashbacks."


I mean, cover design is hard. It's not like Brain surgery, but come on, you have to choose the right font for the title.

Seriously?  Is it hard?  I mean, sure, the first time you do a book cover you have to learn that you never ever ever ever use Comic Sans, and that Courier and TNR are okay.  But do you have to learn this the second time you do a cover?  What about the 3rd time?  What about the twenty-fifth time?  With brain surgery, things can go wrong, complications can arise.  The operation can go arse buttocks to elbow (this is a family friendly blog; I probably shouldn't swear) but with typography you pick a fucking typeset and your done. (PS, I included a diagram in case some Americans weren't sure what an arse was.  I think you use ass, is that right?)

Cover design is easy hard.  I mean, look at this one as an example.  It's Blood of the Fold, book three of the Sword of Truth series. Now Book one and Two have a huge scarlett dragon in them.  Book 3 does not.


So why the Hell does the dragon only appear on the 3rd cover in the series?


Methinks the graphic artist read the first 2 books and got bored.  Which isn't a surprise, they're not awesome books.  In fact, they are the North pole to awesome's southnosicity.


Yes, it is a word.  Just because I made it up doesn't mean it isn't a word.  Shakespeare made words up, and people think it's awesome that he did.  Dickens made words up.  But people get all panicky if modern writers make words up.  English is an organic language.  It is alive.  You are allowed to make shit up.  Trust me, I'm a writer.


Not a published one, but that's no form of distinction at all.


I'm a writer.  Not a sheep.  


Though if I was, I'd be a cool ass sheep like this one.


But I'm not.


This blog post is getting long, so I'm going to split it in parts.  Tune in soon for more...

The Typography of Book Covers

Here are some book covers by debut authors or unknown authors.

Now okay the thumbnails are small, but the similarities are easy to spot.

First of all, how many of these books have you heard of?  I've heard of the one on the end, that's it.  I'm very intrigued by the first two.  Definitely by the first one.

So, some interesting covers.  Number three is very generic (a fantasy that has people on horseback riding through the mountains.  My Gods, I must buy this at once.  Yeah, not so much...)

But what do they have in common?

Try some more covers, not all fantasies this time.

Do you see what they have in common?

In the first four pictures, the book title is given far more importance than the author's name.  Because the title is the selling point in these cases.  "Oh, Fallow Blade," says the bookshop browser.  "I wonder what that's about."  In the second lot of four we see a shift to "Oh, the next Terry Pratchett/Dan Brown/ whoever book.  I have to buy that."

The Unique Selling Point or USP (seriously, if you want to market your books effectively, you will need to learn marketing.  And that means learning things like USPs and how to do market research and so on) alters in the second batch of books to be about the author.

Interestingly, even by book seven, Harry Potter was still considered of far more importance than JK Rowling.  That's the power of branding.

So, for the debut author it seems that you're title should be at the top of the book.  Should it?  Readers are subconsciously targeted by the layout of your cover.  If you give your name all the attention, it might suggest to readers that you are far more well known than you actually are.  And having the readers subconsciously thinking "Hmm, this is a popular author," can't be a bad thing, can it?

Oh, and it's not lying, it's marketing.  Well, it is lying, but marketing IS LYING.  And we are having to compete with companies that have multi-million pound turnovers per annum.  We need whatever help we can get.

What do you think?  Where's the title going on your next book cover?

These book images are all copyrighted.  I don't own the copyright.  I have used them simply for illustrative purposes.  I am not claiming to be the author or publisher of any of these books.  If you are the author or publisher of any of these books and you wish me to remove the image, please email me at Chriskelly82*AT*aol.com, replacing the *AT* with an @.

Thank you.   

 

My book cover requirements - book cover part 3

I've had four book covers done so far, all with the same artist. I give her a rundown of what the book is about, the feel of the book, the main characters, and then let her go to town. She always comes back with amazing designs. I've chosen to work with freelancers for art design, editing, and interior layout rather than do it myself, though. I just do the writing and publishing. :)

S.L.Armstrong left this as a comment on the previous post.

I'm going to do the same with The Guns of Pleasure and Death.

Let's see, synopsis.

16 year old Matilda Raleigh is deep in the Amazonian rainforest, searching for Manoa (El Dorado) with her father.  When they finally find the lost city, their entire party is killed by savage jungle tribes.  All of them except Matilda, who commits unspeakable evil to save her life.

72 year old Matilda Raleigh is dying from consumption.  After a lifetime of fighting evil, of trying to atone for her past, she is faced with one last quest; the evil magic wielded by those jungle savages has resurfaced, this time wielded by a power hungry madman, and she is the only one who can stop him.  But to stop him means committing an act so evil it will damn not only her, but 1500 innocent people to an eternity of Hell.

The book has a steampunk setting, but the general tone is very much sword and sorcery, a la Conan.

 Matilda Raleigh is a chain smoking, kick-ass Victorian behemoth, a woman who will not stay down and out for the count, wise-cracking, pistol-whipping, big-jacket-wearing old-style Hero with a capital haitch.

Now translate that into an image.

Book Cover Design - stage one

That last post was just to point out my tastes, aesthetically. Now I'm going to sum up parts of my novel, and see where they fit into possible cover ideas.

The 5 most important points in the Guns of Pleasure and Death

1)the guns
2)the skulls
3)Matilda
4)Britain
5)the guardian/Midas


The genre is Sword and sorcery crossed with Steampunk, but in the tradition of Victorian Penny bloods.

So where does that leave me?

Confused.

Locations: the Amazonian rainforest, Edwardian London, on board the Titanic.

Nope, still nothing is suggesting itself to me. Damn.

This is harder than I thought it was going to be. How did you come up with your book cover?

Book Cover - Preliminary Thoughts

I've started thinking about my book cover design.  On the one hand, my novel is sword and sorcery, so I'm considering elements of pictures like these. 

Now my main character isn't a guy, and the story isn't a fantasy.  There are no barbarians here-in, no axes either.  Oh, no, wait, there are 2 small handaxes.  I do like the way these barbarians strike such dominating poses. 





On the other hand, the steampunk elements are vastly important, too.

To the left, a complicated but gorgeous cover.  I love her goggles.  To the right, a simple yet captivating design.

I prefer the one on the left, personally.

This is a great cover.

Now that I've looked at ridiculously complicated book covers, it's time to consider ones I actually have a chance of pulling off.

This is my favourite book cover, ever.  So simple, understated, elegantly designed.  Lovely.

The UK release of Storm Front.  Gorgeous little cover.

When it comes to book covers, I prefer the minimalist approach.

This shall have to be considered carefully.