Search for a Book Cover Designer - Part I

I recently finished the first draft of my book, Stop Bringing Them to Church. I was elated over the fact that I actually finished it. Grant it, we still have a long way to go but a milestone has been reached with its completion.

Now that I'm in the editing phase, I'm in the market for a book cover designer. One of the things that I tend to see more of in the self-publishing arena is a plethora of bad book covers which is a no, no. Anyone that reads books knows that the cover can make or break a book. Granted, a good cover won't make bad writing good, but it will draw people in to take a closer look at your book. A bad cover will guarantee you won't get the time of day from a prospective reader.

Since my offering is non-fiction, it may have saved me a bit of money to do it myself. But because of its importance, I'd rather pay to have it done because the learning curve for me would just take away too much time from my writing and other endeavors.

Some of the bids and samples I've gotten so far have been...uh...blah. This is from people that do it exclusively. I don't care about years of experience. I care about what the final product is going to look like. If the final product looks like "Ugh!" then it means nothing if you've been doing it for 20 years. You're a 20 year designer that puts out "Ugh!"

All is not lost. I do have at least one promising candidate who actually did a mock up from the details I provided in the listing (it's the graphic up top). This isn't the final one but he's definitely in the ball park. But the bidding is still going on.

As I get these in, I'll be posting them asking for my potential readers' input. We'll start with the one in this post. What do you think? Be happy to get your input.

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Posted in: book covers,self-publishing

The Importance of Book Covers

I want to start this post off with a small reality check: I'm pretty much a nobody.

When I say that, it's in reference to my being an author. Yes, I've been published in national magazines, newspapers, trade journals, and the like. But I don't have any books published and this first offering, Stop Bringing Them to Church is probably going to ruffle some feathers for the people that read it. In the very least it's going to challenge them to take a closer look at the Bible and what it actually says. However, that is currently en route to publication.

I had to think about the reason why I was writing this blog and what I wanted to accomplish with it. I like helping people (the reason why I'm writing my book) but like I said, I'm a nobody so why would people listen to me in the area of book publishing? Well, they really don't have to. However, I've decided that's not going to deter me from trying to help others as I research and educate myself in this Wild West of publishing.I view it as a journey of what I'm learning in the process of writing a book from start to finish, giving real time experiences during the process. Of course, I'll be plowing my wares here for those who are interested in what I'm writing. As a matter of fact, I'll talk a little about the aforementioned book in an upcoming post.

Much of what you'll find here is self-explanatory and should be common sense (the operative word being "should"). I'll be referencing many good blogs and sites that provide sage information and tips from seasoned vets and as well as others in the industry.

That being said, today I want to turn our attention to the importance of book covers, especially in self-publishing.

How important is the book cover for the book you want to write? Very important. Extremely important. In short, it can potentially make or break the success of a book.

In the world of book publishing, the cover is what will draw people to a book. It's a representation of how seriously an author takes their work at a glance. It's the author showing up for an interview to the reader. Did they come dressed professionally and appropriately for the job or did they slap on a pair of oily jeans and a T-shirt? The book cover conveys this and it happens quickly. Though it's not hard and fast data, I tend to agree that reader's spend an average of about 5 to 8 seconds looking at the front cover of a book...if it's good. That's seconds folks. If it's a bad cover, try 1 to 3 seconds and they don't even consider buying. Ouch.

Patrick Janson Smith, literary agent and a former publishing director at Transworld, was quoted saying:

I can't think of a jacket that has transformed the fortunes of a book, but I have seen books absolutely die on the back of a jacket.

This seems to mirror the results of a Random House Zogby International poll completed in 2008. One promising stat is that 77% are buying their books online and 43% of those people buy it there most often. This is really good news for the self-publisher because it allows them to compete head to head with other authors they would never have gotten a chance to in a retail chain who only has limited shelf space.

But the kicker was that over 52% surveyed admitted that they are influenced in their buying by the cover art.

Bam.

Now, what supersedes this is the subject matter they are looking for. No one is going to buy a book simply on cover art. However, it will influence their buying decision once they find the particular subject matter they are looking for.

Apparently, not even endorsements by Oprah is enough to overcome bad cover art .

Take a look at Robert Gregory Browne's cover on the left (no, I'm not endorsing the book. Just using his book cover as an example). This is a good cover for a thriller writer. The thing about it is that he's set himself up as being recognizable with three covers which are similar creating a brand for his series.

But the front cover is not all you have to be concerned with. The back cover is important as well. Readers spend more time looking at the back cover once the front cover has caught their attention. It can be anywhere from 10 to 15 seconds. However, before they'll do that, they have to be drawn in by the front cover.

This topic is so intriguing to me and so important that I'm going to break it up into separate parts. Today was simply a primer and a wake up call to the importance of book covers to the success of a book. It shouldn't be taken lightly and a good amount of deliberation should go into it because of the impact it can have on the success of a book.

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Posted in: book covers,self-publishing

6 Reasons Why I'm Self-Publishing

Beginning of the End?

If you do a search on the internet today, you will see that self-publishing is all over the place. If you're an author and have an idea for a book, you don't have to scrounge around for an agent or publisher and watch the profits go mostly to them as they give you some paltry advance for all of your hard work. You can take that idea and sell it yourself with some savvy marketing and keep the vast majority of the royalties yourself.

My upcoming book, Stop Bringing Them to Church (I changed the title to give a little mystery to it as far as who "them" was) is Christian non-fiction. It talks about an issue today that really gets overlooked, mostly by the church itself. I'm currently in the middle of writing it and after a few days of trying to catch up with some other work, I'm back in the saddle again and going at a pretty decent clip. I'm not real sure that I'll reach my goal of being finished with the rough draft by the end of January but I should be relatively close.

As I've been writing, I've been bandying about the idea of which route I was going to take in terms of publishing. I'm not a newbie and I know enough about publishing houses and the like that I'm not real keen on going that route. There used to be a time where that was the only way to go. Now...well...we have options.

After praying about it and doing some research, I decided that I was going to self-publish the book. There are a couple reasons for that:

1. I don't have to wait a year or so before my book will be published which is an average wait time for many publishers. You have to jump through a million hoops just to get the book published.

Seth Godin, marketing guru and author of 12 best-selling books including Survival Is Not Enough and Permission Marketing stated on his blog in reference to contributing factors about his decision recent decision to self-publish:

I honestly can't think of a single traditional book publisher who has led the development of a successful marketplace/marketing innovation in the last decade.

Uhh...doesn't sound like the most promising news in the world.

Common With Traditional Publishing

2. I won't have to give away half of my money. A standard publisher/writer agreement is 50/50 but it really is less (considerably in some cases) than that once you start adding in advancement recoupment (if you're blessed enough to have gotten one). That's why most writers don't make money.

3. I can experiment with what works. Publishers are not known to take too many risks so it's a one size fits all plan and see which one will stick. They won't try different price points, different covers, and marketing strategies and with the way the market is today, they really can't afford to.

4. I know my book will get full attention and support. No one is going to try and sell this book as hard as and as fervent as...ohhh...me.

5. More than likely, I'll probably end up making more money. Novelists don't make that much money (makes you want to cry) and non-fiction writers are pretty much in the same boat. That's with a traditional publisher. I'm pretty confident I can do much better than that. The book will not only be available in paperback format but will also be offered on Kindle, Nook, Smashwords among others. These different outlets allows me to reach more of my potential audience wherever they may be as well as keep the majority of money from sales.


6. I have total control over my book. From the cover design to the marketing to the back cover blurb. I'll have the freedom to change things mid-stream if need be. It will be my decision ultimately. A brotha ain't gon lie....I dig that.

I've Been Called Worse

Some people may say I'm crazy. There are naysayers all over the place who are saying that self-publishing is a mine field fraught with perils and it is. Not everyone can self-publish successfully. I'd say most authors are not cut out for it. However, many are or are forced into it and learn how to make it work. Many have the right personality mix to make it work.

Looks like I'm about to find out if I'm one of 'em.

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Posted in: non-fiction,self-publishing