Saturday So What: Judging a book by its cover

This week I posted a cover reveal on my blog for my book. I love it, but I can take no credit for it. Cedar Fort did an awesome job. But it got me thinking, So What's in a cover anyway?

In this age of indie publishing, I think covers are nearly as important as the content they wrap. In a brick and mortar bookstore, there is the option to pick a book up and thumb through for a peek. If you go to Amazon or somewhere else on the web, you get a thumbnail picture to draw people in.

I really hate to say it, but people judge a book by its cover. If the cover is hand doodled, or looks like you've taken a stock photo and then typed the title in Times New Roman font, then people will likely assume that the work inside is equally unpolished. Think of the cover like a query letter to your reader. It's unfair, I know (I stink at queries), but you only get that first impression once.

Here are my thoughts about what I've learned on the anatomy of a good cover.

Picture
The front image has to be eye catching and a pictorial representation of what the inside holds. It must appeal to your specific market. Animated covers are for children's books and some women's commercial fiction. YA or literary fiction almost never does animated, especially a cartoonization of the main character. It tends to appear more middle grade that way. Notice that YA often uses photoshopped pictures of a real person. Whatever the image, it needs to be high resolution and be pertinent to the story it represents. That's the trouble with stock photos. Unless you really find one tailored to your story, the reader might have no idea what is interesting or compelling about the imaginary your book will portray.

Title Text
A workshop I went to said, The Title should never be in a font that comes default in a word processor. Because it looks like you took the picture and typed the title over it. And on basic covers that's what is done. The Title needs to be incorporated in the imagery of the cover. It needs to be adding to the art. If it doesn't elevate the cover, then redo it.

Optional Hook
This is one sentence that sits above the back blurb. It's usually a line from the text, a bit of dialogue, or something that stands out. Not all books have it. It's making the biggest point or hook in a one liner

Back Blurb
This is not a synopsis, it's a tease. Entice the reader to want to buy it, but don't give spoilers. What's awesome and unique? Most blurbs are done in the 3rd person, even if the book is written in 1st. It gets even trickier if the book is autobiographical like mine. Some books have the main character appearing to write the back copy, but it has to be done really well to get away with it. Most importantly, it can't be dull or dry. There needs to be narrative voicing in the blurb.

Endorsements
These are the thumbs up from someone who wants to recommend your book. They can be one or two lines, or a whole paragraph. On books by the big 6, you'll see praise from a best-selling author. But chances are, you can't get J.K Rowling to put her approval on your cover. But your mom or Aunt Fanny isn't a good idea either.  Ask other authors with published works. Most are willing to help, provided they have the time. And the worst they can say is no, so it doesn't hurt to ask. Usually it's a good idea to have endorsements from other authors in the same field, or non author authorities in the case of Non-fiction books.

Put it all together and you get something like this. This is the full cover wrap for my book, including the back.

I hope this little anatomy lesson helps anyone who's trying to compose their own cover. I would have no idea how to do this myself, and I recommend even when self-publishing to invest in a cover artist to help you out if you are not a pro at photoshop.

If you have a topic you want So What to cover, leave me a comment in the notes. If I don't know the answer, I will find someone who does.

The FUN Part!

We spend a lot of time as writers talking about the hard stuff--learning your craft, honing your craft, editing, writing drafts, querying, writing query letters, wait, I had a point here.

Oh, yes! The FUN parts of writing.

It's different with every writer, really, but here are the two parts of writing that I love.

One, the first draft. Where you're meeting your characters for the first time, throwing them into tough situations and finding out what they're made of. Great fun, great stuff. I can do it in a month if I push myself. And I have.

My other favorite part of writing is still relatively new--seeing my work in print. It's like magic. It gives you a feeling you've never had before, even if you've published before. Every book is new and each experience is sweet.

I'm sitting, at this moment, on the cusp of that second experience. The Tyrant King is being formatted for printing/e-books. Literally tingling in anticipation of the magic. For those of you who don't know (or don't remember lol), this has been a while in coming.

I submitted my manuscript to the publisher of my first book last year. They sent it back requesting changes. No big, they did that with my first one. The changes took me longer than I'd planned, but I eventually sent it back to them. And waited. Though I harbored some doubt, I was reasonably confident they would publish me a second time.

Boy, was I wrong.

On the anniversary of the day The Peasant Queen was ACCEPTED, The Tyrant King was REJECTED. By then, I'd listened to my doubts enough that I'd determined to self publish it. To that end, I hired an editor and got the wheels turning for the cover art and lined up my friend to help with formatting and typesetting.

Still, the rejection hurt. It was hard to take, even though I had an alternative plan and was already moving forward with it. After several months, I can say now that I'm glad they rejected TTK because it's SOOO much better after being taken apart by a seasoned editor.

In just a few weeks, I'm going to be doing the new book dance with my hubby and kids. It's those moments that help make all the hard work worth it.

Power To The People

I have watched the tumultuous upheaval of the publishing industry with a bit of distance and a lot of interest. Interest because I hope to be among the published masses someday, and distance because I don't think it's going to be any time soon. (At least if my struggles with my WIP continue unabated.) It'll be a year or two or ten before I will be able to call myself published. But by then, what will the industry look like? More knowledgeable people than me talk about this endlessly, and I'm not here really to add what little I know to the conversation.

What I do want to bring, however, is a little perspective. I tend to think in analogies, so here's one for you.

Once phones looked like this:

 And it was amazing! People couldn't conceive of such a remarkable thing. Some people even called it the Devil box, they were so sure it was evil inspired. You could pick it up and have to tell the operator who you wanted to call, and wait for them to direct your call to the appropriate place.

After a few years the phone grew to this:

You could dial the place you wanted to call yourself. And for 70 years or so, this was the standard, with slight variations.

Then along came mobile phones, phones you could actually walk around with, instead of being tied with a cord to a base and telephone line.

Once cell phones looked like this:

And we poor peons who couldn't afford to even think about such a luxury oohed and ahhed over it.

Fast forward to today:

This generation 4 iPhone can do more than several 1980s computers put together could. And that's besides being a mobile phone.

My point is when the technology began, we looked at it in wonder. How could it possibly get better than this, we said. And yet it did. Again and again and again. And it will continue to evolve as consumers demand different things from the phone industry.

This is happening in the publishing industry. We had a standard, a framework that everyone recognized as the only possibility. And yet times change. People's demands change. All sorts of factors go into this force for evolution.

 In my mind we are at the equivalent of the 1980s cell phone revolution in terms of publishing. There are things going on now that we never thought would happen. But they are. Do we know where they'll end up? We can guess and conjecture, but like watching an old episode of the Jetsons, we won't know if our ideas are too tied to our present experience, or if they're truly revolutionary. (Watch an episode, and see if you don't see things that we already to better or differently than they thought when they made the show. Cash money vs. a card? Or just scanning something in your phone?)

That doesn't mean don't write or publish or submit or self-publish e-books. Life still has to be lived. And without that demand for the industry, it would die out. I just think it'll be fascinating to see in 10, 20, 50 years where the publishing/writing industry has gone. I hope you'll all be along on the ride with me.

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