Ebook Covers and Book Art

Hiya All,

I thought I would start a thread for this topic (hope I have not missed an existing one).

I am in the stage where I am considering the cover as well as some of the advertising avenues that I want to explore for my book.

Any thoughts that you pros want to share would be greatly appreciated.

Huggles,

Katja

I heard a discussion on NPR that covers are critical and that's why famous authors have entire art departments put their covers together.

I've repeated often that the only advertising avenue that matters is a celebrity spokesperson that loves your book.

Hi DK,

I am currently interviewing a couple of artists. I have a pretty solid idea of what I want my cover to look like. Some of the art work that I have seen since I have started the interviewing process is blowing my mind.

As far as a celebrity spokes person goes.... I have none of those up my sleeve, yet.... lol... I am crazy enough to try though..lol.

What I would be interested in... the cover that you have for Ghost Orchid, how did you come up with that? Did you hire an artist for that, or did you create that yourself?

Do you have other books out there, and how do you think that one book's success may be different from another one's because of the cover?

Huggles,
Katja

The Publisher, L & L Dreamspell has an artist, Linda Houle, who has created some really magnificent covers. You might want to take at look at www.lldreamspell.com . Fortunately, as a small press, I had no expense associated with my book's publication. I loved the cover because it reflected the fact that she actually read the book to figure out a cover.

It has been a much better cover than any of the other books in which I have short stories; however, Shelagh Watkins, Betty Faisig, Ann Joiner and Al Stevens on this forum have created some of their own covers that are quite eye catching.

You can see the other book covers at www.dkchristi.com or at Amazon.com . I'd be careful with an artist - book covers are a special advertising technique, wherein art is only part of the concept.

The publishers provided all my covers except I paid to have "Amour's" cover created. I did the cover for the short, "The Valentine" but it's no great wow.

I loved the cover for Arirang: The Bamboo Connection because the whole cover was the Greek Parthenon, important to the story and in a deep red that was eye catching. However, a thumbnail is just a blob of red....

Of all my covers, the one that created the most buzz was Ghost Orchid. Yet, I entered it in lots of cover contests and never received even a mention...

There used to be a cover contest at one of the web sites which shows what people vote for - although lots of the votes are from friends, etc. so I'm not certain they are a true measure.

Take a walk through Barnes and Nobles and see what covers jump out at you and say, "buy me."

That's all I can think of at the moment. Good luck. I think there is a cover thread somewhere, but not sure how to find it....

Covers are important to grab attention. If you are designing an e-book cover, then it's best to design the cover on your computer. Printed book covers don't always look good on a computer screen. It's a bit like the royal family; they have to wear strong colours so that they stand out in the crowd. On television, even when surrounded by onlookers, the Queen always stands out. She's tiny in stature, but she's always easy to spot.

Dear Katja

I believe that covers are very critical for ebooks. For me, I do not have the funds to hire pros and so I am stuck with my own imagination and the internet. Publilc domain images worked for me for some of my books. I ended up with flowers on some covers. I love flowers, but they do not say much about what is inside the covers of my little books. You can see my covers here http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Betty+Fasig&x=13&y=25



and I am not trying to sell you my books, but showing you what I accomplished with public domain picture.

Originally, I drew pencil drawings for each story but when I converted to ebook I could not accomplish the insertion of those drawings without help. I gave it up and used the public domain pictures as covers and omitted the drawing that went with each story altogether.

Shelagh is an excellent source of advice for constructing covers with computer programs. I have Adobe photoshop but there are better ones that are free, I understand.

Good luck with the covers. You have found a good source of information in this messageboard.

Love,

Betty

Shelagh, what a great example!

9/7/2012

I would like to know what programs are out their

that are free so you can create book covers ?

Cheers..Joe..

Hiya All,

when I first was considering my cover... I was dabbeling around, and since I cannot even draw a stickman with straight lines, that idea was scrapped REALLY quick.

So, I looked around what it is that I actually like. The stuff that most speaks to me is the computer drawn, 3D stuff.

I looked at some of the artists who have websites and almost fainted. $200+ for what I was looking for. Way out of my budget.

I found this site http://www.myecovermaker.com/ecover-design and played around with it. Actually managed to get a quiet good looking cover that would work if nothing else presented itself, but it was not the top notch that I was looking for. I am still considering the site, because the ebook form on that site is kind of cool. The book will be part of a series and they offer a design that would communicate that.

I remembered when I was doing freelance translator jobs and thought that if "my kind" freelances.... "their kind (artists)" probably does the same.

I put a work proposal out on https://www.odesk.com/w/go_google.php?vt_cmp=buyers&vt_adg=odesk&vt_src=google&vt_med=text&vt_kw=odesk
and ended up with about 12 applicants. There are some really talented folks out there in other artistic categories who are trying to get their work out, too.

The artist that I think I have decided on is in Canada. I am asking him to make sure that he signs his art and I have told him that I will give credit to him for his work.. even though.. the work will become my property...and that we will have to make that clear before any payment is exchanged. I would hate to see my detective and his sidekick in a video game...hmmm... on second though.... that would be some rocking advertisement...lol.

Once everything is perfect I will certainly share the end result here in the forums.

That is the approach that I have taken, and since this is the first time that I am doing this....well... I am not sure if this is going to work.

Oh, I have also decided that my detective should get a FB page. There seems to be a free advertisement space on FB for authors, but I have not totally researched that, yet.

Huggles,

Katja

@Joe

I have found a program in which you can create art... I will have to find the link for it again. The program seemed to work great...but remember... I cannot even draw stickmen.... so it did not do me any good.

The program lets you work in layers which is great and I think that an artist can probably create something nice with it.

What I did not like about the program was that it tried to force you to one of their affiliates browsers, but I managed to delete those three add on things off my computer and the program still works fine.

Also, in the post above there is one link that has the ebook templates. You can upload your own art and then insert the text that you want.

Huggles,
Katja

@DK

Nice website!!!! Sigh... maybe one of these days I get one of those up....

What I have noticed though, I was clicking on the different books that you have listed. The covers of the books look like they are individually lined up, so that once you click on them you can view a bigger picture of the cover, but my computer would not open them.

The message that I received was: To help protect the security of information you enter into this website, the publisher of this content does not allow it to be displayed in a frame.

Huggles,
Katja

Thanks for the info - I'll go click on them! Thanks for the compliment. I started the web site in 2006 and it really needs some updating. I note that many authors now use a blog format instead of a web site.

@Betty

WOW, you have loads of books out there and I like the covers. They all look like they belong.

I am going to start reading some of them.

Huggles,
Katja

@DK

sure thing and you are welcome.

I am not very technically savvy... I get by, but that is about it.

Since the message was something about the frames... I tink that is something that you can turn on and off on your website.... but don't quote me on that...lol.

Let me know if you want me to click on it again.

Huggles,
Katja

Dear Shelagh.

Ah HA!!! That is the reason for those lovely hats and that silver hair.

DK, Thanks for the nice comments about my covers. It is nice to hear when one takes so much time and agony making one and comes up with sunflowers.

I have always admired all your covers. You are right, it does take someone to read the story to do justice to the cover. It would take some doing to improve on the cover for Ghost Orchid.

Today I fertilized all my orchids. I find it amazing that they need so little food. I imagine that orchids in the wild feed off the acid of the bark of trees. My potted ones looked at me for several weeks and made me feel badly becaue the needed something other than water to bloom. I bought the Miracle Grow orchid fert. 1/8th tsp per 1/2 gal of water. Once every few months. Dang! How easy and beautiful the orchids are. I have fourteen. It is all about light. I love how nature is so precise and does not forgive the person who relocates a plant into their house. Well, that is me understanding and commiserating with nature.

Sorry for the sidetrack of the thread.

Love,

Betty

DK, I appreciate the comments re the covers. They have been a joint project - much helpful advice from members here. I would never have been able to come up with them completely on my own.

Ann

I may have missed someone; I listed those I remembered as being relevant and exciting.

9/7/2012

It's peculiar no one has given me an answer on my

question ? Do we overlook people seeking help ????



Cheers..Joe..

?

9/7/2012

DK...

I had asked if anyone knew of free programs to

create book covers ? Thanks..



Cheers..Joe..

@Shelagh
Thank you so much for the reply. I love the analogy with the Queen
I was also snooping around on your website and seeing how busy you are I think it is super that you find the time to host these forums.

Huggles,
Katja

@ Joe

I shared the little bit of knowledge that I have on page 1 of this thread.

Not sure if that was any help.

I have not had time to find that link, yet..... RL got a little crazy around here for a hot moment.

Huggles,
Katja

OMG OMG OMG, I have just contracted with one of the artists.... wish me good luck yall.... I will share the outcome and report my experience along the way.

Huggles,

Katja

Not all the contributors to the latest anthology, Forever Families, were happy with the baby on the cover, which is why I held the poll. This is the final cover:

Thanks Katya, a former much loved member, Dick Stodghill, said that I have more hours in the day than everyone else.

Joe, do a Google search for free programs:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=free+online+photo+editing