Showing posts with label cover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cover. Show all posts
Oops, I forgot to link to this yesterday, but you can read an interview with me on Karen McCoy's The Writer Librarian blog--just click on the cover image below to follow the link.
Labels:
blog,
cover,
crow's rest,
guest post,
interview,
karen mccoy,
the writer librarian
0
comments
I've got a post over on Operation Awesome today, talking about cover art for books.
And also wanted to direct you to a post on David Gaughran's blog with some new dirt on AuthorHouse, and how they're using the Penguin Random House merger to try to lend some legitimacy to their practices. The most confusing thing about all of it is that AuthorHouse now has so many subsidiaries, it's difficult to keep track of them all. There's also a thread on Absolute Write going back to 2002 with complaints about AuthorHouse's practices.
It's just another reminder to do your due diligence if you're looking for a way to self-publish your book. This is not the way to go! I had someone in my writer's group fall for this and he was out over $2,000 for a book that was riddled with errors (most of them on the "publisher"'s side) that was unsold and unsellable.These are the kinds of practices that give legitimate publishing services a bad name.
And also wanted to direct you to a post on David Gaughran's blog with some new dirt on AuthorHouse, and how they're using the Penguin Random House merger to try to lend some legitimacy to their practices. The most confusing thing about all of it is that AuthorHouse now has so many subsidiaries, it's difficult to keep track of them all. There's also a thread on Absolute Write going back to 2002 with complaints about AuthorHouse's practices.
It's just another reminder to do your due diligence if you're looking for a way to self-publish your book. This is not the way to go! I had someone in my writer's group fall for this and he was out over $2,000 for a book that was riddled with errors (most of them on the "publisher"'s side) that was unsold and unsellable.These are the kinds of practices that give legitimate publishing services a bad name.
Even though I know I won't have much control over a book cover (unless I self-publish) for my work-in-progress, Crow's Rest, I've been having some fun designing how I would like to see my book represented.
I started with what I didn't want (caveat: I've actually seen these done so well, but they're just not right for my book):
*Girl in a fancy dress (although Avery could totally work a fancy dress, it's not what she would choose)
*Closeups of boy and girl faces (I specifically like to leave how a character looks up to the reader)
*Abstract paint splatters (I'm always, "what does that have to do with the story?" with these)
*Kickass girl in an anatomically impossible pose
So, that means I could either use a photo of the real-life castle that inspired the book, like this one (click on it to view it bigger):
I'd put the title scrawled across the ceiling like graffiti. Or, I could create something different altogether, using some artwork that still includes elements of the book without specific faces. So I came up with this:
I'm not entirely happy with the font, and will probably end up designing my own Celtic-inspired font, with dragon/bat wings coming off the C in Crow's Rest. Bonuses: this looks good in grayscale (like on an e-ink screen) and has a visual pun too (can you find it?).
And this is a really old one that I did
What do y'all think? Do you ever play around with artwork as another interpretation of your story?
I started with what I didn't want (caveat: I've actually seen these done so well, but they're just not right for my book):
*Girl in a fancy dress (although Avery could totally work a fancy dress, it's not what she would choose)
*Closeups of boy and girl faces (I specifically like to leave how a character looks up to the reader)
*Abstract paint splatters (I'm always, "what does that have to do with the story?" with these)
*Kickass girl in an anatomically impossible pose
So, that means I could either use a photo of the real-life castle that inspired the book, like this one (click on it to view it bigger):
I'd put the title scrawled across the ceiling like graffiti. Or, I could create something different altogether, using some artwork that still includes elements of the book without specific faces. So I came up with this:
I'm not entirely happy with the font, and will probably end up designing my own Celtic-inspired font, with dragon/bat wings coming off the C in Crow's Rest. Bonuses: this looks good in grayscale (like on an e-ink screen) and has a visual pun too (can you find it?).
And this is a really old one that I did
What do y'all think? Do you ever play around with artwork as another interpretation of your story?
Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.
This week's topic: Share some images that inspire your WIP(s)
Alas, we got a new computer over the weekend and haven't transferred the hard drive with all my pix on it yet, so I didn't have any photos to tie into my novel Spirits from the Vasty Deep. But, I have blogged pretty extensively on the source of my inspiration for the setting of Crow's Rest, my WIP.
Here are a few pix you may not have seen:
This one's from an earlier post where I was messing around with dummy covers for Crow's Rest.
An exterior view of Preston Castle in Ione, formerly the Preston School of Industry
This is an interior shot of the castle's basement, and it showcases the mixture of decay, beautiful textures, and atmosphere that made me so inspired to set part of my novel here. This is one of my favorite photos I've ever taken.
And I think I'll leave you with that pic, but if you want to see more Preston Castle pix you can go to my gallery. Can't wait to see everyone else's photos!
This week's topic: Share some images that inspire your WIP(s)
Alas, we got a new computer over the weekend and haven't transferred the hard drive with all my pix on it yet, so I didn't have any photos to tie into my novel Spirits from the Vasty Deep. But, I have blogged pretty extensively on the source of my inspiration for the setting of Crow's Rest, my WIP.
Here are a few pix you may not have seen:
This one's from an earlier post where I was messing around with dummy covers for Crow's Rest.
An exterior view of Preston Castle in Ione, formerly the Preston School of Industry
This is an interior shot of the castle's basement, and it showcases the mixture of decay, beautiful textures, and atmosphere that made me so inspired to set part of my novel here. This is one of my favorite photos I've ever taken.
And I think I'll leave you with that pic, but if you want to see more Preston Castle pix you can go to my gallery. Can't wait to see everyone else's photos!
I've been busy catching up on some things today, which means I got very little done on Crow's Rest, my WIP. I felt like I needed to devote a little time to it, so I knocked out this cover with one of my photos (with a filter applied in Photoshop) and some fun Gothic text:
An historic cemetery figures big into the plot of Crow's Rest, and it gives me an excuse to prowl around them and take pictures. At this graveyard last weekend, there were lots of crows, but they were messing with me and refused to stay perched on a tombstone whenever I raised my camera. Isn't that just like them?
Of course, writers don't always have control over their covers. But what elements do you consider "essential" to represent your book, if you could have complete control?
An historic cemetery figures big into the plot of Crow's Rest, and it gives me an excuse to prowl around them and take pictures. At this graveyard last weekend, there were lots of crows, but they were messing with me and refused to stay perched on a tombstone whenever I raised my camera. Isn't that just like them?
Of course, writers don't always have control over their covers. But what elements do you consider "essential" to represent your book, if you could have complete control?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
