My Cover Art

I made these covers, for Mary Mackey's Earthsong Trilogy, soon to be re-released as ebooks (yay!!). They're Jean M. Auel-esque (pre)historical romances. She has a bunch of other awesome books, most recently Widow's War (Civil War era women's fiction) and Sugar Zone, a collection of poetry.

I guess I sort of do this freelance now, because I really liked the project. Just letting everyone know. if you're interested in commissioning me for cover art, email me at proseblog[@]gmail[dot]com.

I am proud of these covers. If you hate them, please don't say anything. :)

I also did this cover, for Sukie Miller's nonfiction book AfterDeath, available here.

Packaging >> Positioning

We're getting fancy, guys. We have jargon. Packaging. Positioning.

On Monday, we talked about covers and the effect on readers. Namely, whether readers pick up the book. Covers should communicate content and tone--no easy feat, to be sure.

But picking up the book is not a won battle, friends. We want readers to buy that sucker. Sometimes, for the casual book buyer, an appealing cover induces a capitalistic coma that draws reader, book in hand, to the cash register. Zap.

More often building awareness of a book, branding and positioning it in the marketplace, is the effort that wins the battle.

Positioning means the image/collection of images that pops up in a consumer's mind when your product gets mentioned. So, when you hear a title like GHOST COUNTRY, you think thriller, serious, fast-paced (as opposed to, say, unicorns, happy, and paaarties). Positioning also means how consumers compare your product to others in its category. So how are Patrick Lee's thrillers different than, say, the Jason Bourne books. It's about how the book gets packaged (cover, typeface, copy, etc.). But it's also about how it gets talked about.

Like a cover, the buzz surrounding a book should reflect tone and content in interesting ways. As with any product, marketing (which is a large part of brand-building and positioning) has to break through the noise--and books, regardless of genre, is a noisy market. Especially for you self-pubbers!!

Publishers and authors are getting really creative with the ways they define books in readers minds. Characters are getting Twitter feeds and Facebook pages. Books have trailers like movies.

The Internet means marketing is as flexible as its ever been. You can bring characters to life to talk directly to your audience. If your tone is sassy-with-a-touch-of-ninja-dash-of-literary, you can do that. We're not restricted by a medium anymore, as they were in MadMen (on Netflix, btw!!).

It's sort of cool.

Why Isn't This Book Selling?

Folio had a great article about a month ago about "turkeys." That is, magazines that underperform. The article discusses how covers do or do not communicate the content and by so doing compel a reader to pick up the magazine.

The same applies to books. Really, to any product. Packaging is hugely important. If you've made a great product but can't get it off the shelves into consumers' hands, what's the point?

My tastes skew literary. I like quirk, which tends not to get too much screen time in commercial fiction, where formulas are more adhered to. I like commercial fiction, too, and am in fact of some unpopular opinions about how literary and commercial should meld. But that's another post. Covers like this appeal to me:

But, you say, that's...weird. It doesn't tell me anything about what the book's about. True. But, first of all, this is a story collection, so it's not "about" anything. Second, this is effing quirk, people. This is going for it. The cover promises me quirk, which I like to read. As a lover of quirk, you couldn't beat me off this book with a stick.

(Note: the three following books are Janet's)

Gary Corby's THE PERICLES COMMISSION

Not only does this cover have great colors and composition, it immediately tells you the two most important things about the book: it's a mystery (note the shifty eyes) and it's set in ancient Athens. No, put that stick away. It's not going to work.

Sean Ferrell's NUMB:

Who doesn't love a white cover? This book is about a man with amnesia and how he rediscovers himself. And look. This guy on the cover has no head. Coincidence? I think not. This cover promises the unexpected. The book 100% delivers.

Evan Mandery's FIRST CONTACT

This is quite possibly the funniest book ever written. The cover tells you this, and also hints at the circular and slightly chaotic story inside. This is a book for lovers of Vonnegut, and I think the cover screams "DID YOU LOVE HARRISON BERGERON?!"

Unlike products like clothing, where the sum total of the piece can be readily displayed (Those shorts are just shorts. There's no deeper message.), books require an investment. You have to take the time to read some of the book to appreciate what's written. The only way to get someone to make that investment is to convince them that the content will interest them. The only way to do that is with a kickass cover.