So. I know this author in the real (he did a review for my audiobooks a while back), and let him know he’d been featured on LBC. He posted a youtube response. Click HERE to watch it.
(Please don’t comment to me directly. I have no desire to be part of the actual discussion. I just like looking at not-so-great book covers after work every day and happened to notice one I recognized. UNLESS you want to tell me that MY covers are lousy, in which case I absolutely want your feedback. Thanks!)
I watched about the first three minutes (before he moves on to the spine and back cover, and his other covers), and he entirely misses the point.
The title is hard to read. “Well, it had to be right there.”
So, you intentionally want it to be hard to read (with the combination of the overfiltered text and laying it across the chain).
The necklace is stretched for no good reason. “The necklace is very important — I actually own this necklace, and it’s important to the story.”
Absolutely irrelevant. It’s still stretched for no good reason, and not very compelling. People don’t read the book so that the cover will make sense to them.
The byline is tiny, in the corner, and made hard to read by the dropshadow. “I wanted the name there because it’s a callback to the earlier cover of this book.”
So… your audience for the new cover is people who already know the book by its old cover?
I mean, you can justify bad decisions all day long, but if the totality of your cover doesn’t accomplish Job Numero Uno — attracting the target audience and making them want to know more — it’s a failure. And no twenty-six-minute video can unfail it.
I haven’t had a chance to listen to the video yet–I have a morning meeting that unfortunately precludes that (dangit), altho nobody can see/hear me typing (ha!), but the bottom line is, I don’t care what the video says. Ain’t nobody gonna click on that damn cover.
It’s that simple. All the rest is just blather. As Nathan says, he can rationalize all he wants (“The title had to be right there.”–why????), but if the end result is, nobody buys the book because the cover is godawful, what difference do the reasons actually make?
Other than, “armed men broke into my home and held a gun to my head, forcing me to publish this cover, as-is, threatening not only my life but that of my SO and children,” the reasons, reasoning, justifications, rationalizations, etc.–they’re actually irrelevant. (The Mantra of LBC and Cover Critics.com!)
Oh, mother of God, now I’ve listened to (much of) the video.
The whole “this is where titles go” (not really); “this is a necklace I actually own and therefore is important to the story” is a prime candidate in the THINGS NOT TO DO group.
What’s the one thing that we see, over and over, on self–published book covers? Random elements that mean absolutely nothing, that bring nothing to the cover, that the AUTHOR thinks are important, because somewhere, later in the book, it’s relevant. You don’t put an element on the cover that the prospective buyer can’t understand until they read the book. That’s not the cover’s JOB. The cover’s job is to get somebody to click, to go look at your book on the sales page. That’s it.
And who cares where the byline was placed on the FIRST book cover? Who’s going to know or care? Do you really think that prospective buyers are going to look at an older cover, to see if the byline is placed consistently with the now-discarded cover? Trust me, they’re not. They’re barely going to look at THIS cover. Why?
Shaun, dude–your cover is clickbait. That’s all it is. It’s nothing else.
All your explanations are meaningless because 99% of your customers are going to only ever see your cover, digitally, on Amazon, etc. And where you place the numbers on the spine–what the hell does that have to do with anything?
Tahani, the kindest thing you could do for your friend is to send him to a cover designer. I know you said, no comments TO you, but that’s what I’m going to say. Be his friend.
I literally had to stop watching the video. He makes the same mistake that every new-to-it, self-publishing, creates-his-own covers author makes. The same things that every self-publishing “guru” or expert tells would-be cover designers not to make.
I’m not trying to make fun of him when I say this–that video should be required watching, in the “what not to do/what mistakes not to make” vein. He can’t detach himself from it. (For example, talking about how much learning he had to do, to create “fire” effects on the word “Fire” in his Book 2. The reader doesn’t CARE how much time it took him, or what he had to learn. They only care if the effect works.)
I’m sorry. I wish I had something more positive to say. I admire his persistence and his perseverance, and I admire anyone who can write a book, much less several of them, but on the covers front, he’s his own worst enemy.
I’m sure that he’s following the thread and will see your comments. Personally, I have trouble sending other people to cover designers because I don’t know any. I make my own, too. (I know that’s a huge NO in the industry, so I might submit my own here to see what advice I can get. I’m always willing to learn). Everyone takes advice differently. The most we can do is offer it with best intentions.
Tahani: it’s not that it’s a huge NO. It’s not….you know how designers constantly run around and make fun of “regular” people that want to use Comic Sans, or Papyrus, on their marketing materials? It’s not like that, some unwarranted sneering condescension, just because “designers gonna hate.” (And because they like to try to bring their customers down, in their own minds, so that they can feel superior to the people paying them…)
It’s that things like this happen. Of course, he means well. Of course, he wants people to see his books. But inexperience in book marketing and design, on the one hand, coupled with (and here’s the biggie) being too close to the subject, on the other, almost invariably creates a Titanic experience–and not in that good way. In that post-iceberg way.
YOU can make your own covers. You can. Not only that, hell, you can make them using Word. (If you’d like to investigate, Derek Murphy also has a site, DIYBookCovers.com where you can download free, terrific from-Word templates for both print and eBook covers. They work fine–I’ve used them myself, to test before I recommended them to MY clients.) Sure, a publisher like you can make their own covers. But you need to embrace 3 things, first: 1) good book cover design principles; 2) understanding what drives a customer to look at your book–NOT what drives you when you think about it, because your prospective customer doesn’t live in your head, and 3) learning to get out of your own head about your book, which yes, is a restatement of part of 2) above.
Good luck, kiddo. I hope it works out for you, I really do.
So. I know this author in the real (he did a review for my audiobooks a while back), and let him know he’d been featured on LBC. He posted a youtube response. Click HERE to watch it.
(Please don’t comment to me directly. I have no desire to be part of the actual discussion. I just like looking at not-so-great book covers after work every day and happened to notice one I recognized. UNLESS you want to tell me that MY covers are lousy, in which case I absolutely want your feedback. Thanks!)
I watched about the first three minutes (before he moves on to the spine and back cover, and his other covers), and he entirely misses the point.
The title is hard to read.
“Well, it had to be right there.”
So, you intentionally want it to be hard to read (with the combination of the overfiltered text and laying it across the chain).
The necklace is stretched for no good reason.
“The necklace is very important — I actually own this necklace, and it’s important to the story.”
Absolutely irrelevant. It’s still stretched for no good reason, and not very compelling. People don’t read the book so that the cover will make sense to them.
The byline is tiny, in the corner, and made hard to read by the dropshadow.
“I wanted the name there because it’s a callback to the earlier cover of this book.”
So… your audience for the new cover is people who already know the book by its old cover?
I mean, you can justify bad decisions all day long, but if the totality of your cover doesn’t accomplish Job Numero Uno — attracting the target audience and making them want to know more — it’s a failure. And no twenty-six-minute video can unfail it.
I haven’t had a chance to listen to the video yet–I have a morning meeting that unfortunately precludes that (dangit), altho nobody can see/hear me typing (ha!), but the bottom line is, I don’t care what the video says. Ain’t nobody gonna click on that damn cover.
It’s that simple. All the rest is just blather. As Nathan says, he can rationalize all he wants (“The title had to be right there.”–why????), but if the end result is, nobody buys the book because the cover is godawful, what difference do the reasons actually make?
Other than, “armed men broke into my home and held a gun to my head, forcing me to publish this cover, as-is, threatening not only my life but that of my SO and children,” the reasons, reasoning, justifications, rationalizations, etc.–they’re actually irrelevant. (The Mantra of LBC and Cover Critics.com!)
Oh, mother of God, now I’ve listened to (much of) the video.
The whole “this is where titles go” (not really); “this is a necklace I actually own and therefore is important to the story” is a prime candidate in the THINGS NOT TO DO group.
What’s the one thing that we see, over and over, on self–published book covers? Random elements that mean absolutely nothing, that bring nothing to the cover, that the AUTHOR thinks are important, because somewhere, later in the book, it’s relevant. You don’t put an element on the cover that the prospective buyer can’t understand until they read the book. That’s not the cover’s JOB. The cover’s job is to get somebody to click, to go look at your book on the sales page. That’s it.
And who cares where the byline was placed on the FIRST book cover? Who’s going to know or care? Do you really think that prospective buyers are going to look at an older cover, to see if the byline is placed consistently with the now-discarded cover? Trust me, they’re not. They’re barely going to look at THIS cover. Why?
Shaun, dude–your cover is clickbait. That’s all it is. It’s nothing else.
All your explanations are meaningless because 99% of your customers are going to only ever see your cover, digitally, on Amazon, etc. And where you place the numbers on the spine–what the hell does that have to do with anything?
Tahani, the kindest thing you could do for your friend is to send him to a cover designer. I know you said, no comments TO you, but that’s what I’m going to say. Be his friend.
I literally had to stop watching the video. He makes the same mistake that every new-to-it, self-publishing, creates-his-own covers author makes. The same things that every self-publishing “guru” or expert tells would-be cover designers not to make.
I’m not trying to make fun of him when I say this–that video should be required watching, in the “what not to do/what mistakes not to make” vein. He can’t detach himself from it. (For example, talking about how much learning he had to do, to create “fire” effects on the word “Fire” in his Book 2. The reader doesn’t CARE how much time it took him, or what he had to learn. They only care if the effect works.)
I’m sorry. I wish I had something more positive to say. I admire his persistence and his perseverance, and I admire anyone who can write a book, much less several of them, but on the covers front, he’s his own worst enemy.
I’m sure that he’s following the thread and will see your comments. Personally, I have trouble sending other people to cover designers because I don’t know any. I make my own, too. (I know that’s a huge NO in the industry, so I might submit my own here to see what advice I can get. I’m always willing to learn). Everyone takes advice differently. The most we can do is offer it with best intentions.
Tahani: it’s not that it’s a huge NO. It’s not….you know how designers constantly run around and make fun of “regular” people that want to use Comic Sans, or Papyrus, on their marketing materials? It’s not like that, some unwarranted sneering condescension, just because “designers gonna hate.” (And because they like to try to bring their customers down, in their own minds, so that they can feel superior to the people paying them…)
It’s that things like this happen. Of course, he means well. Of course, he wants people to see his books. But inexperience in book marketing and design, on the one hand, coupled with (and here’s the biggie) being too close to the subject, on the other, almost invariably creates a Titanic experience–and not in that good way. In that post-iceberg way.
Shaun: if you do see this, please go here: https://www.creativindie.com/8-cover-design-secrets-publishers-use-to-manipulate-readers-into-buying-books/ and read that ENTIRE post. Top-to-bottom and then, after you’ve thought about it, read it again. Read it and believe it. He’s right.
YOU can make your own covers. You can. Not only that, hell, you can make them using Word. (If you’d like to investigate, Derek Murphy also has a site, DIYBookCovers.com where you can download free, terrific from-Word templates for both print and eBook covers. They work fine–I’ve used them myself, to test before I recommended them to MY clients.) Sure, a publisher like you can make their own covers. But you need to embrace 3 things, first: 1) good book cover design principles; 2) understanding what drives a customer to look at your book–NOT what drives you when you think about it, because your prospective customer doesn’t live in your head, and 3) learning to get out of your own head about your book, which yes, is a restatement of part of 2) above.
Good luck, kiddo. I hope it works out for you, I really do.