Despite the well-known saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” readers often shop with their eyes. Humans seem to be wired this way. “More than 50 percent of the cortex, the surface of the brain, is devoted to processing visual information,” points out Williams, the William G. Allyn Professor of Medical Optics. So,… Read more »
Do you judge a book by the cover? Readers and booksellers often do. Having the right book package is one of the most important aspects of the publishing process. Over the past few months, our DIY MFA photographer Melinda VanLone took us through a series of posts about crafting the perfect book package–one that is not… Read more »
Now that we’ve explored all the main genres and some off shoots, let’s take a look at them all together. Can you pick out which covers belong to which genres (hint: Paranormal Romance in the upper left, Mystery in the bottom right)? Can you see how some blend two genres together? (Hint: Deeply Odd, a… Read more »
Thanks for sticking with me! We’ve already talked about creating a professional book package for fantasy and romance books, but we’re not done yet. Continuing on our genre cover journey, let’s dive right in: Science Fiction This genre includes several subsets for the purposes of cover design: “hard” and “soft” science, space opera, steampunk and dystopian. In… Read more »
Continuing where we left off, let’s take a look at those genre specific cliches that can help make your cover a success. Are these hard and fast professional book package rules? Of course not. But someone looking to hook as many readers as possible would do well to pay heed to their genre guidelines. At… Read more »
Hopefully by now you agree that a great book package is vital to your publishing success. That thought might even be overwhelming, especially if you have no graphics background. First, take a deep breath. Like any problem, if you break it down into steps it becomes much more manageable. Step One: Change Your Hat Take off… Read more »
Have you waded into the murky waters of indie publishing? You’ve probably noticed advice everywhere. Do this. Don’t do that. No wait, do the other thing. You’ve spent a year, or two, or ten, crafting words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs. Angsting over every detail. Now it’s time to hit that giant shiny PUBLISH button…. Read more »
