tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post3343414750666691909..comments2024-03-08T15:14:31.312-05:00Comments on Landless: I did my own cover art. Got a problem with that?Tony Nolandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15090583562737225942noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-67964466197698098922011-10-08T11:03:22.440-04:002011-10-08T11:03:22.440-04:00@Ivy - That's a GREAT idea! When I was at Lake...@Ivy - That's a GREAT idea! When I was at Lakeland, we did logo design competitions, where a business or governmental entity needed a new logo. Tony, I'd bet if you have a community college in your area and you needed a new cover, you could contact the department chair for graphic design/illustration/what have you and get help that way.Janet Lingel Aldrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05633969913976791146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-25135953543230003232011-10-07T18:36:17.931-04:002011-10-07T18:36:17.931-04:00I would agree that in most cases, a professional c...I would agree that in most cases, a professional cover artist will do a better job (for example, Alex Young did the cover for Guns and his cover was WAY better than the covers for my two self pubbed efforts) BUT I've seen some piss poor covers by so-called artists, as well as some amazing jobs done by the writers themselves. As with everything, it comes down to the end product, not who did it. Just because someone is a graphic artist doesn't automatically mean they'll be able to design a cover - after all, their speciality might be billboards, or logos, which come with a whole host of requirements and specialised knowledge that just won't translate to a book cover. After all, you could hire the best artist in the world who could design a beautiful cover that would look great on a paperback...but how crap is it going to look as a tiny grayscale thumbnail? Sorry, I've gone off on a bit of a rant but my point is, yes, it would be wonderful if we could all afford professional covers, but we can't. The only other solution I can think of is to approach your local art college and offer the brief of your cover to the students - they get portfolio work and you get free art. Just a thought...Icy Sedgwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11501193571425442406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-85071611006658605492011-10-07T17:09:45.964-04:002011-10-07T17:09:45.964-04:00Laura: I think Amanda Hocking did her own covers.Laura: I think Amanda Hocking did her own covers.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07163820697011328633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-75195440442716851482011-10-07T10:52:53.149-04:002011-10-07T10:52:53.149-04:004ndyman: I'm reminded of an old saying - "...4ndyman: I'm reminded of an old saying - "You might be a lot smarter than me, but that doesn't mean I'm an idiot." I was going for a threshold of <b>good enough</b>, and I think this cover met that. My next one will as well, since I'm still not at a point of being able to hire someone. Good enough is good enough.<br /><br />Janet: I considered doing that, actually, just plain text. Or plain text with one eye-catching graphic element. As I looked over the e.books at Smashwords and Amazon, I saw a lot of that. It didn't look cool or edgy or ironic - it looked thin, cheap and tawdry. I wanted to do better, and I hit that mark in the essentials.<br /><br />Laura: This echos what Janet said, and I certainly agree. Lots of pro covers are less than impressive. Clean and professional looking, true, but derivative and uninspired, or unimaginative and forgettable. Mine is nothing for the ages, but it's enough to get me in the Premium Catalog at Smashwords, and thence to the wider distribution channels. So, back to "good enough".Tony Nolandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15090583562737225942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-47852252335901021372011-10-07T10:39:50.302-04:002011-10-07T10:39:50.302-04:00I've seen many "professional" covers...I've seen many "professional" covers that aren't worth squat. Who says a writer doesn't also have the talent to create a book cover?<br />I don't know who created Amanda Hocking's Trylle trilogy covers, but they are very non-descript. It was her stories that sold the million copies.Laura Enohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09982794146667832204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-51838986255397080512011-10-07T09:54:52.899-04:002011-10-07T09:54:52.899-04:00Typical elitism from graphic designers (saying tha...Typical elitism from graphic designers (saying that as a degree holder in graphic design).<br /><br />I agree with 4ndyman that no author is really going to put out something truly wretched just to put out a book.<br /><br />At the same time, I will mention something I learned from Stephen Clarke's "Talk to the Snail": "French literary books have the most boring covers since Moses carved the commandments onto bare stone. Even then Moses probably chose a nice shade of grey rock for his tablets. To be taken seriously, a <i>littéraire</i> novel must have a plain white cover with no decoration except for othe title and the author's name in tiny lettering..."<br /><br />Granted, you're not a <i>littéraire</i>, but maybe you could go for that approach next time and sneer at the philistines who don't understand that "anything more flamboyant would devalue the words inside..." ;)<br /><br />In the meantime, feel free to tell these snobs they're full of it. The M&B romance I was reading the other day had a red-haired heroine (like flame according to the books) and a black-haired hero. The cover illustration was of a blonde with a guy whose hair was medium brown at best. Even professionals don't get it right.Janet Lingel Aldrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05633969913976791146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-54644197691960519312011-10-07T08:56:40.106-04:002011-10-07T08:56:40.106-04:00The idea that a writer doing his own cover art cou...The idea that a writer doing his own cover art could end up with a cover that looks like crap rests on the idea that the writer has no artistic taste whatsoever or that the writer doesn't give a damn about the cover and just wants to throw something together.<br /><br />Regardless of who creates the cover art, the author has to like it. The author has to look at it, think it looks good (or good enough), and approve it. Graphic artists don't have a monopoly on what looks good, and no decent author is going to publish a book with a cover he thinks looks bad, even if he made it himself.Andy Hollandbeckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11005908016945472261noreply@blogger.com