Why Book Covers Are Important

- Guest Post by Maggie Harryman

I think the self-publishing phenomenon has forever rendered the old adage, “you can’t judge a book by its cover” as complete and utter blather. In fact, now that I think about it, at least as it pertains to actual books, it always has been a bit silly. After all, we don’t expect to see a memoir by General Petraeus with a cover designed to showcase a heaving-bosomed damsel in distress (although in light of current events, maybe…) or for that matter, a romance novel with a cover that looks more like a textbook.

Once Here Among Us was in the copyediting phase, I thought a lot about its cover (not quite as much as what was between the covers, but certainly more than how to market the book once it was finished).  I’d never designed a cover before but still, having lived with the book and the characters for over four years, I knew my perfect cover had to somehow capture the very essence of the book for curious potential readers. I also knew finding that image or illustration to do that heavy lifting wouldn’t be easy. After all, the book’s cover is the reader’s first impression.  Remember what your mother always told you?  There are no second first impressions.

It’s easy to say now that I knew what I wanted, but it’s probably more accurate to say I knew what I didn’t want. I didn’t want a cover that was confusing—one that gave the reader an expectation that disappointed.  More than once I’ve been halfway through a book, put it down and then, noticing the cover, wondered how in the world someone put the story I was reading together with the image chosen.

For Here Among Us, I got lucky. I got exactly the cover I wanted.

I bought a painting for the cover off one of the big online art websites.  An added bonus, the painter, Carol Chretien, donated the proceeds from each original painting to her local Dalmatian rescue center. I’d already enlisted a gifted graphic designer who was working hard on my website and she did an excellent job of choosing colors that would compliment the painting of a local pub (much of the book is set in an Irish bar/restaurant).  Most importantly she created a cover that was still eye-catching when shrunk down to the Amazon thumb-nail size.  In fact, I had no idea just how successful the cover was until the first time I had a KDP Select giveaway.

I’d read that a successful giveaway was between 1,000 and 4,000 e-books downloaded.  On my first KDP Select giveaway, scheduled for Black Friday, I assumed I’d be lucky to get somewhere in the middle of that range.  Not only had I neglected to advertise ahead of time (not laziness—pure ignorance!) but the giveaway was scheduled for the busiest shopping day of the year.

As the giveaway wore on, I was shocked when I passed the one thousand mark, and flabbergasted when my numbers passed four thousand downloaded.  I kept going back, hitting the refresh button, and it seemed like every time another hundred had flown off the virtual shelf.  Half way through the second day, I passed the 10,000 mark and then the 18,000 mark by the end of the 48 hour period!  At one point and for about three hours, my book was #1 in Contemporary Fiction and simultaneously #1 in Family/Relationship (I have the screensaver shot to prove it).

I’d love to say that I had such a successful giveaway because of my extraordinary ability to weave a compelling tale with unforgettable characters and a riveting plot.  I’d love to, but I’d be lying.  Really…I think it was the cover.  It engaged, enticed, and piqued curiosity. The colors—red and green—popped just before the Christmas holidays (not at all intentional) and the large white letters in the title stood in stark relief against those colors. The layout, the various typefaces and a well-placed quote from a reader on the cover, all lent weight and the sense that this was a professional effort—and by extension, that the story inside would be just as good.  Sales after that first giveaway did not disappoint.

Why are book covers so important?

Because book covers sell books.  And unless you’re writing in some strange literary vacuum (which sounds pretty awful), reaching an audience is important.

Because you really can judge a book by its cover.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Literary Fiction

Rating – R (Strong language, adult themes)

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Pet Peeves of the Publishing Industry?

- Guest Post by Daniel Black

Oh you have no idea, lol, where to begin.

Let’s see, well right off the bat what comes to mind is one of the basic submission guidelines you will find with almost any publishing house or agent. They have discovered through hours of research at least, that books that have an action sequence within the first twenty five pages sell better than books without an action sequence within the first twenty five pages. So they will not even consider submissions, unless they have an action sequence within the first twenty five pages. This results in such wonderful plot twists as say… a fight breaking out in a lunch line… or the scene I remember so well because of how little sense it made to the story, the gas line.

So next time you read a book, and think, “well that fight was random,” now you know, it was just there because an idiot in New York thought it should be.

What next… hmnnn…

Oh yes, the current method of finding a publisher or agent. You send off piles of submission letters, one at a time, to hundreds of different agents, waiting as much as three months between submissions. You thought the slow production of books was due to writers being lazy? Not even close. As an aside, you can send multiple submission letters off at the same time by simply mentioning the magic phrase, “multiple submissions,” that makes your manuscript disappear into a trash can upon opening.

What else…

The contracts! Writers read, we read a lot; in fact most of us got our start in writing by being compulsive readers. But these contracts! My goodness, you need a lawyer just to decipher the terms, and an author usually has a very good vocabulary, after all, words are our lifeblood.

So my response?

I am an independent eBook author, and I will remain so until an agent or publisher comes to me. This makes it so if I decide it is appropriate for my character to swear, he or she can swear without a publisher breathing down my neck about keeping it “PC.” If there is a spot in my book where I think it would make sense for a sex scene, it can be there; I have complete artistic freedom, and am thus able to write for my readers, what I hope to be a better book.

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(soon available as an audio book)

Genre – Dark Fantasy

Rating – R

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10 Things You Didn’t Know About Richard Flores IV

Let me take a moment to share some things you might not know about me.  These are a few things I have never shared, or rarely go in depth about.  But maybe a little self discovery will be good for me, and you can learn a little something about me.

1 – I have no middle name.

People have argued with me on this one, as if I didn’t know my own name.    People tell me constantly, “It’s okay.  You can tell us your middle name.”  I don’t have a middle name.  I’m not trying to hide it.  Do I wish I had one?  I don’t see much of a point to middle names, unless you hate your first name.  Then I suppose it serves as a good back up.

2 – My name really is Richard Flores IV

IV means the fourth in roman numerals.  I didn’t add that to look cool on the cover of books (as I am constantly asked).  I really am the fourth.  My dad is the third and my oldest son is the fifth.  The funny thing about telemarketers, they are constantly calling asking for Mister Iv.

3 – I don’t think very highly of myself.

I have a very poor self image.  I consider myself an unattractive, awkward, and unsuccessful.  This triple whammy of self doubt has surely started with my awkwardness with women.  I did finally break my shy spell in my junior year when I had my first girlfriend and one of only two true loves I’ve ever had.  I guess being recognized by the opposite sex boosted me a bit.  But as I have gained weight with age, my poor body image has returned with vengeance.   It has also made me a very jealous person because I feel that everyone else could come along and take my wife and/or friends from me.

Some things have gotten better for me in the last few years. I’m starting to focus more on my successes and turning my failures into successes.  I wish I could just get motivated to lose weight.

4 – I didn’t always want to be a writer.

In fact, writer is the third in my choices of dream jobs.  I enjoyed writing, but I never saw it as a career possibility (I still can’t make a career of it, yet).

My first choice, as a High School student, was Architect.  But after the hour or two of class, I realized I got bored.  I wouldn’t be able to do it for eight hours or more a day.

My second choice was a police officer.  My dad was one, but I never really wanted to “get shot at for a living.” But this girl who I was attracted to told me about a youth cadet program with the local police.  She said I didn’t have to want to be a cop to join, and she was cute so I joined.  I really loved it.  But I did some dumb things with my financials and my credit scores kept me out.  As I got that cleaned up, my physical fitness kept me out.  But all my formal education and training is in Law Enforcement.

I really was lost until about 2010, very late in the year.  That was when I made the choice to really try being a writer as anything more than a hobby.  I’ll be happy if I can quit my job some day and work on my writing and my magazine full time.

5 – I’m addicted to bad foods.

This is the one thing I try so hard to change, and never can for long.  There was a point where I gave up fast food for over a year.  But, I went right back to it.  I really enjoy Coca-Cola, but I’ve managed not to drink a Coke in almost four years now.  My wife still drinks it and I am always so tempted to drink one.  I love pizza, McNuggets, and French fries.  If I was still active like I was in High School and my early 20s, it wouldn’t be so bad.  But my day job, my business, and my writing are all very sedentary activities.  My hobbies of video games and watching hockey don’t help either.

6 – I really love Lara Croft.

I mean, I don’t want to marry her or anything.  But I just absolutely love her character, her story, and her games.  I am addicted to Tomb Raider. This is something that started with the newer games.  I’ve read all the comic books.  I own the movies.  And I would really really really really (one more) really love to write an official Tomb Raider novel.  I know about the models, the voice actors, and anyone else who has officially portrayed Lara.  I just love her.   So now that I sound creepy, let’s move on.

7 – I identify with females more than males.

Perhaps I am a woman at heart, I don’t know.  But I’ve always found myself getting along with females more so than males.  I have more female friends than males.  I enjoy talking, and not many men do.  I find women have more meaningful conversations.  This is also why I probably write a lot of female characters.   I’m very thankful I found a wife who is not the jealous type.

8 – I have a terrible time with names and titles.

Naming my kids, with the exception of my oldest, was a battle with my wife.  I have a hard time with names.  In most of my novels I spend hours on hours picking names for my characters.  I struggle most with male names (and I have three sons).  Titles, the naming of my books, are very hard.  Dissolution of Peace came in the last minute when I had to either pick one or delay the release.  Names feel permanent to me, and in most cases they are.  So I just have trouble with it.

9 – I’m a pessimist.

My wife is screaming in victory to hear me say this.  I often tell her I am just a realist.  But the truth is I see everyone and everything is a pessimistic light.  Some might say this is the cause of some of my bad luck, others might say my bad luck is what caused this.  I think I’ve been that way most of my life.  I don’t see it as a bad thing.  I do see the good, but my mind always points out what will go bad first.  I firmly believe is expecting the worst and hoping for the best.  I’d rather be pleasantly surprised then bitterly disappointed.

10 – I crave acceptance.

I want nothing more than to be accepted for what I do.  I need the support of my family, my friends, and my fans.  I don’t always get the support from my friends and family, I even think a few of them think what I do (writing) is “cute”.  But it isn’t just in writing.  I want to be accepted as a community member, a good father, and a good friend.  This comes from the self doubt I talked about above.  I often think my friends don’t appreciate me, because it isn’t something we say.  Acceptance is part of the human condition.  We all want a place to fit in.  I just want to be appreciated and accepted by those around me.

So there you have it, 10 things about me that you may not have known.  I may even have surprised a few of you.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Science Fiction

Rating – PG13 to R (Language)

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Author Interview – Jeffrey Gunhus

Tell us a bit about your family. I am the father of five, four boys and one girl. My oldest son, Jack, inspired me to write this book. He was a reluctant reader and I wrote Jack Templar Monster Hunter in an effort to get him excited about reading. It worked!

What is your favorite quality about yourself? I’m pretty good about putting my head down and getting the work done, regardless of what it is. This has proved useful in both building a national company and putting in the hours needed to write novels.

What is your least favorite quality about yourself? High expectations. I find it hard to believe I can’t accomplish something if someone else has already done it. Harry Potter? I can do that. See, it’s nuts!

What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life? Certainly, my family is the most important thing to me. Professionally, I’m a co-owner of a company I grew from a small business based in California to a national, $50 million enterprise. That was pretty fun.

What is your favorite color?  Blue.

What is your favorite food? Pizza. Pepperoni and pineapple.

What’s your favorite place in the entire world? Home.

How has your upbringing influenced your writing? I grew up overseas without a TV so books were my refuge. Tolkien blew my mind when I was 10 years old and I’ve been living with one foot in Middle Earth every since.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? I wanted my favorite books to continue so I wrote the next chapter after they ended. I discovered it was even more fun than reading because the images were even stronger and the characters still surprised you by what they did.

When and why did you begin writing? I won a state award in Colordo when I was 12. With that kind of feedback, I was hooked.

How long have you been writing? Since I was a kid. It’s cheap therapy.

When did you first know you could be a writer? When I discovered I liked doing it so much that I didn’t care if I wrote only for myself. It’s just great living in a different world for an hour or two each day. It’s great fun.

What inspires you to write and why? I love the power of story throughout history and honor that tradition. But it’s really just a selfish impulse to have fun with the story and play god with the characters.

What genre are you most comfortable writing? I enjoy several genres which keeps the writing fun. My recent work on MG/YA fantasy has been a lot of fun.

What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? Patience. There are always scenes or set pieces I know will anchor the piece, but that it only works if you build characters people care about. That takes care and time and it’s not easy to do.

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? I wrote this for my reluctant reader son so I knew I needed to make it as fast-paced as possible. The reviews has been great but one throughline in them has been a desire of readers to know the characters bettter, leading me to believe that I may have moved too fast. Book 2 dives more deeply into the characters.

Do you intend to make writing a career? That makes it sound like work! I love being an entrepreneur too much to give up my “day job” but I will continue to carve out time to write until I can’t type or hold a pen any longer.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Middle Grade / YA Fantasy

Rating – PG

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Website http://www.jacktemplar.com/