cover design

The Power of a Book Cover

James Uncategorized , , , , , 2 Comments

“You can’t tell a book by its cover.” But, we do – all the time. The cover is super-important and is the first contact with the book when you pick it up. Covers signal genre, but the good ones do more than that. They give face to a book’s personality. They create excitement and anticipation. A cover has the power to communicate the book’s genre, tone, and theme, as well as to pique the reader’s interest. A well-designed cover can also make a book stand out in a crowded marketplace, and can help to establish the author’s brand. A book’s cover and its content should be inextricably linked.

Here’s the reaction to the cover of MUTINY from my middle daughter (age 47) yesterday:

  1. She picks up the book and looks at the cover, commenting, “I love the color” and “it looks really interesting.”
  2. She reads the back cover and adds, “So, the outcome shocks everyone. I want to know more.”

So, she’s hooked. Meanwhile, my cover designer has changed the spine width to make it fit better. But this led to another issue – the title is too close to the margins. So, I need to wait for the revised cover before uploading it to Amazon for the final version. Once this is done I can order more copies for the book launch :-).

Despite this setback of a few days, the Kindle orders are coming in from readers keen to get a head-start on MUTINY.

Just another exciting day in the life of a self-published author.

Minor Tweaks before Printing

James Uncategorized , , , , , 0 Comment

The following image was uploaded to Amazon’s paperback portal. I have already sent the manuscript in pdf and it met the printing criteria for a 6×9 inch format. The cover did not quite fit the criteria and came back with the following:

MUTINY

The message from Amazon was, “Your expected cover size is 13.140×9.250 but the submitted file size is 13.077×9.250” – so a minor tweaking is required. And the spine was too narrow. Once these adjustments are made, I can finish uploading and order my first ‘author copies’ (more on that later). You may wonder why there is a toy submarine on the rear cover. For readers, this will become apparent in the second-to-last chapter, and its colour is important! The ISBN code covers the submarine, so a minor tweak may be needed here too.

Out for Design

James Uncategorized , , , 0 Comment

Update: my new book in Word format has gone out for formatting – for Amazon paperback and Kindle. You can find many options for this work at: https://www.fiverr.com

In the same way, my brief for the book cover design has been sent out to another excellent designer I used for 3 WISE MEN.

I will let you know how this progresses. I expect the formatting to be ready within 48 hours and the cover design may take a while more.

Quite an exciting wait to see the book come together.

The Motivation to Self-Publish

James Uncategorized , , , , , 0 Comment

Writers are increasingly frustrated by the lack of any feedback from literary agents or publishers – who have little to no time to do so. This can take authors down the self-publishing route. I am at the stage where I have a stronger motivation. Yes, I have tried and tried and tried again, with input from two (very helpful) professional editors, to break into the traditional publishing world. Submitting a query letter to potential agents helps hone the writing craft and adds fire to writing “the hook for your book.” But, I have now reached the stage where I owe too much to the wonderful people who helped me research the background for my new novel – arranging visits to Museums, providing accommodation and encouragement. I owe them a finished work after all they did for me back in 2019. They will be thanked in the introduction to my new novel. Meanwhile, the final editing continues and I will shortly outline the next steps, including cover design and conversion of my word docx to the printing format.

Even the back cover is important!

James Uncategorized , , , , , 0 Comment

You find an interesting book on the shelves and, after a glance at the front cover, flip it over to get more in-depth information on the back. For Spy Chase, this has been a work-in-progress. The goal was a brief ‘synopsis’ to attract readers, but also to highlight the excellent review – now standing out in a different color and with italics. Is this selfish promotion? Probably, but what counts for me, as the author, is when I get such encouraging feedback from readers. Last week, a friend (who loves her books) raved about Spy Chase and how she loved the mix of detail and the fact that she couldn’t put it down. This is a common theme and my goal was to include a review on the rear cover that conveyed this kind of reader-reaction.