Book Trailers (tm) & Author Web Sites discussion

Everyone knows the old saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover."

Is it true? Does a good cover sell a book, or a bad cover prevent book sales?

What makes a good cover?

What are some of your favorite book covers?

How much input did you have in your book's cover art and design?

Dee Marie

I chose the artist's work that I liked and gave the cover designer an idea of what the book was about. Then she went to work.

The designer and I have such similar tastes that it was easy to love the covers she's made for me. If I found something "off" I'd just tell her and she'd happily change it.

It was a very painless process the last two times.

Now with A Midnight Infatuation, I had a different designer. It was a horrid experience. She was argumentative, tried to put things in the cover that I didn't want there, and even gave me the wrong size for the book (making it look pixelated, to me). I've never been happy with that cover, so I never used her again.

AND I just released A Midnight Infatuation with a brand new cover from the same artist and designer as the last two. It really makes for such a nice looking "set" for these three books.

[image error]

If you ever get a bad designer, just walk away. You'll never be happy with a cover that you had to fight over. I'm unhappy that I allowed it to go the way it did. But, I've remedied the situation now... well, as soon as the new cover trickles down through the book selling systems and replaces the old one.

Hey Christie,

A book cover, like a trailer and web site are vital to the book's success...outstanding advise to other authors.

Thanks for your input, and I love the new cover. As you stated, it ties in with the other two books perfectly.

Dee Marie

[As a side note, Christie's response concerning her cover was originally posted to the "book preview video" topic. Which prompted me to create a new "Book Cover" section. Thank you so much Christie for taking time out of your writing schedule to repost your answer here:]

Yes, I agree that a good cover is vital. The cover is what draws us in; it makes us pick up that book and read the back of it. If the cover is terrible, then most of us tend to just pass it right by.

Not only that, but it's something pretty that we can happily display all over the 'net! LOL! I have mini-posters of my covers framed and hanging in my house. People love them when they come over. ;-)

Christie

With my book being about an artist, he did all the hard work by producing the print in the 18th century. It's been a great image for using in marketing the book... the posters for the upcoming book signing are so attractive. Actually, we've had no trouble getting people to display them because they like the image so much. I hadn't thought about it until now, but if your book has a really bad cover, I wonder if stores/museums/libraries etc., are less willing to put up your posters and notices.

Hi Gina and Christie [originally I typed Sheryl, bad fingers:]

You both brought up a great opportunity for promotion: creating posters from your book covers.

Staples, (the big chain office supply store] is now offering a variety of poster sizes for relatively reasonable rates.

As you are both from different sides of the pond [Gina lives in the southwest coast of England and Sheryl on the southeast coast of "The States":], what company did you order your posters from?

Dee Marie

I used Vista Print. They always have a lot of special offers and I got a lot of posters and postcards for next to nothing. I also bought magnets and folders from the same company. The colours of the images produced by Vista Print are exactly the same as those on the book cover, so there's consistency. I don't think you can go very far in the town where I live without coming face to face with my book cover. :-)

Thanks for the name of your marketing printing company Gina.

It appears that Vista Print has a global online market.

http://www.vistaprint.com

They currently are running a huge sale (at least on the US site).

Yippie, I knew I started this thread for a reason :]

Dee Marie

LOL Dee, have you been reading too much? I see no Sheryl in here. *giggle*

I order my posters from http://us.posterxxl.com

They are super fast and the posters are always perfect.

Interesting thought on the ugly covers not being displayed, Gina. I never would have thought of that. It's quite possible.

I've actually had orders for autographed posters (a club in Texas wanted to display them), and my contests that offer posters as the prize are always the one with the most entries. Seems to be pretty popular.

Christie

Ahhh, geez, sorry about that Christie, thanks for your eagle eyes! As I was typing, the dogs were poking at me to take them for a walk, and I had been telling them, "in a minute," for over an hour. My big black Labrador was looking like "a minute" might be waaaay too long, it is a horrible sight to watch a grown dog cross his legs.

Christie, I never thought of offering posters as contest prizes. What a grand idea. How is the color processing with poster XXL? I will have to order posters from Staples, Vista Print, and Poster XXL and do some comparison shopping...just cause I love to shop %:-]

Thanks for the link, and sorry about the name mix-up. Geez Louise.

Dee Marie

Doing up posters of your book cover is a great idea. My publisher sent me 2 choices for my new novel coming out in the spring--Let The Shadows Fall Behind You. It was a tough call, but the feather in the shadows I went with has really grown on me. Great topic!
Best
Kathy-Diane Leveille
http://kathy-dianeleveille.com

Oh, I like the cover. It leads the reader into the story, even before the cover is opened.

Welcome to the group Kathy-Diane.

Dee Marie

Here is the Cover to Altar and Throne.

Carl Hileman did it.

Hey Ed,

As I have mentioned in previous threads, I love your cover. There is something very romantic about it. Not romantic in a lovey-dovey way, but romantic as in a trip back to a romantic era, when everything was slower-paced.

I am not sure why, but your cover art evokes a sense of peace, perhaps it is the sepia toned image or the burgundy band. All I know...if I saw your book cover in a bookstore, I would be immediately drawn to it.

Dee Marie

I worked a very long time on this cover. It went through at least 5 different incarnations with several different centerpieces until I finally settled on this. I think it works well. Let me know what you think.

I have a better source for posters - www.shortrunposters.com - You can get an 18 x 24 for $2.00 as opposed to $13.99. I ordered 20 of them and have 2 of them rotating through 5 stores. Check them out. They are the best deal I found on the Internet for posters.


--
Michael J. Sullivan
The Crown Conspiracy (Oct 2008)
Avempartha (April 2009)

Here is a copy of my cover for The Crown Conspiracy I don't know how to make the image show up though ;-(

http://www.michaelsullivan-author.com...

Our fearless Dee Marie wrote a nice article about the creation of this cover at this website:

http://www.renderosity.com/news.php?v...

--
Michael J. Sullivan
The Crown Conspiracy (Oct 2008)
Avempartha (April 2009)

Lisa I like the monotone colors for your cover

Michael
Thanks for posting the link to the posters. I just created a T-shirt and mug on CafePress.com. They should arrive sometime this week, I will let you know how they turn out.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy writing and promoting schedule to sit down for an interview. Love your book!


Dee Marie

Hey Michael, here's your cover :]

[image error]

Hi Dee,
Cathie Pelletier, who writes under the name K.C. McKinnon, (Dancing at the Harvest Moon, Candles on Bay Street- Hallmark movies) helped us with this cover to Altar and Throne. We met Cathie in Jackson WY about six years ago and she invited us to a writers retreat at her home in Tennessee. After that she's mentioned my wife and I in our writing.
When I sent a copy of our manuscript to her, along with a cover I'd worked up, she told me it wasn't very professional and she would get me some help. That help was Carl Hileman, who also did a couple of Cathie's covers.
I can't seem to find Carl's web address, but I know he will do covers. I particularly think this is important for POD and self published authors.

Hey Ed,

Is that the same Carl Heleman who wrote and photographed Cows: A Rumination?

I agree with you about having great cover art for your book's cover is a must. I have seldom read a great book that sported a horrid cover (although I have purchased some horrid books, that I purchased only because I loved the book's brilliant cover art).

Bottom line, if you want to sell books, pay special attention to the cover. People may not judge a book by its cover, but they sure do buy books by their covers :]

Dee Marie

It may sound rather shallow, but I have been known to buy books purely based on the cover design, regardless of the subject, and on a few occasions without even checking what was between the covers. I can't help it... if a book is beautiful to look at I am enticed.

Also, I place the attractive books on the most prominent bookcase shelves and store the ugly ones where nobody can see them.

Oh my, I'm a cover snob *blush*

Me Too, Gina... Blushing along with you, and adding a sheepish grin.

Hmm... I'm not sure how to get the image of my cover to show up here. Guess I'll try this PhotoBucket link and see what happens. LOL

[IMG:]http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk...

I created the cover using Photoshop. The idea was to give the potential reader some idea of what they could expect to encounter in the story. The cover images, therefore, are a thematic representation of the elements contained in the story line.

Okay, I'm gonna hit the "post" button now. Let's see if an image of the cover actually shows up. :-)

Okay, I give up. No image. But you can click the link and see it. :-)

Here ya go Gary :]

Hi Everyone,
I think a good cover has a lot to do with the selling of a book if you are a new author.
Here is mine.

You can click on the cover to enlarge.




I think they really did a great job with it.

Patricia J Smith

http://freewebs.com/blessedbeps

This is my cover.

My cover was done by graphic design artist Adam Mock. My publisher is Medallion Press, and they actually give their authors input into the cover by having us fill out a cover spec sheet that tells the artist about the characters and the plot. There is no guarantee that the artist will do what the author suggests, but I was lucky because a climactic scene in my story takes place in a lighthouse during a famous storm, and Adam agreed that it would make a good cover:

Ah! Magic! LOL! Thanks Dee! :-)

Hi Patricia, Margay, and Lisa Marie

Thank you all so much for sharing your beautiful cover designs.

Dee Marie

Hey Gary,

You are very welcome...we all need a little magic in our lives ;]

Dee Marie

The cover for my novel, Sons of Avalon: Merlin's Prophecy went through several drafts. The first cover was created by a fantastic CG artist, but my editors thought it was too "lighthearted" to convey the storyline's intense plot.

The second version was intense, but far too intense.

The Hawk plays a huge role in the book, and Merlin is often referred to as being hawk-like, So, the everyone was pleased with the final version of Merlin's reflection within his hawk's eye.



The second book in the Sons of Avalon series will feature a black horse's eye with a reflection of Arthur.

Not sure about the third book, we were thinking of a raven's eye with Mordred's reflection...which would combine both the bird theme from the first book, and the horse's color from the second book. But, for now, I am just working overtime to get the second book to the publisher.

Dee Marie

Here are the covers for T. Jackson King {but you can call him Tom}



Retread Shop and Ancestor's World: A Novel of Starbridge

I can understand why your publishers went with the second cover...but I agree with you...the cover with the beautiful girl, says it all with one photograph!

"Kill the Messenger: Gemini" by Johanna Nimley


In Kill the Messenger: Gemini, Gemini is a Heavenly Being and her role on Earth is as a link between Ra and the primitive humans of Earth. She is the messenger and a reminder of the eventual return of Ra. Ra is a being that humans once called the Sun God. The Heavenly Beings have one mission left and that is to save a remnant of humanity. Gemini and Lucifer are the offspring of Ra; however, she is half Nubian and he is half Arian. They have two different destinies in store for the humans of Earth. Gemini wants to save humanity while Lucifer only wants to enslave them to build machines, weapons, and space ships to take him and his kind to other worlds where they can create other slave worlds like Earth. Lucifer is an immortal trapped on Earth changing bodies and lives throughout time.

Kill the Messenger: Gemini takes the reader from the building of the Sphinx to modern times. Gemini knows that it matters what humans believe in the end. Ra went back in time to tilt the Earth in the position it is in today so it would be habitable for the humans he would put there, but the Earth’s axis cannot be controlled forever. While Ra is away fighting off the plague of the Arians in outer space, Gemini is sending out a message to humans who are willing to take ‘the mark’ to be saved from the coming cataclysm and the end of humanity. Humans must make a choice based whether or not they believe the mark is the one written about in the Bible. The Heavenly Beings tried and failed to prevent the total annihilation of humans and the Earth. They are not coming to stop the destruction; they are coming to save a few. The Mayans left behind a message with a clue to the end time. That is the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012.

Hi Johanna,

Your cover says it all in just a glance :]

Hi Dee-

Didn't quite know where to post this, so I dropped it in here. Marian, my wife who is my resident editor, turned me lose on this book signing. Usually she has a craft table and I get a little space on the end.
This is how I do it when I have more room.
[IMG:]http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u3...

I like your setup Ed. Where did you get your poster made?

Staples. Bonnie the gal in our local store let me know there was a special on and if I bought the stand, I got the poster free. Actually, the poster is twice as high as in the picture. It's and exact copy of the book marker I give out at signings.
http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u3...

Wow, I was not aware that Staples had posters in "that" size. Thanks for the information!

Book Cover Nightmare.
I had a successful cover for my first book, "These Granite Islands", but my second cover, for the hardcover version of "The Ice Chorus" was a disaster - I fought my publisher, Little, Brown & Co., and even threatened to pull the book, but they insisted, even when sales reps agreed the cover was a liability. My new publisher, Alma Books of London, actually let me have a say, even accepted a photo I'd submitted to adorn the paperback version coming out this spring. So, these are two extreme examples - One thing I've noticed on this thread is that many of the covers I've seen look like they were designed from a template, or, in a few cases, by the author. A professional book designer is worth the expense!

Sarah-
I took a look at the cover in question. Thumbs down on it. Glad you were able to get it changed. The paperback cover caught me eye quickly.

One author at the Jackson Hole Writers Conference, I can't remember who just now, told a similar horror story and was only able to get it changed when she and her agent contacted the woman who buys for one of the big book chains and she said she wouldn't stock it.

As for the template thing, I agree. This is far too common among self published authors. Engaging a graphics designer is not cheap, but like Carl Hileman, who did my cover, said, "I have bought books I shouldn't have on the basis of the cover alone."

That being said, my wife got into a dispute with a NY agent at one of the conferences in Jackson. Only after I stepped in and said that, "like the 80's, when in the States you could put a submarine on the cover and the book would sell, in Canada, the bush plane legends do the same," did things calm down.

Lot of good memories from there.

Hey Sarah,

Here are the two covers that you described

....
Little Brown.........Alma Books

My designer needed a blood splat. I bought a toy monkey - very cute - soaked its head in red roof paint, held it by the tail, and whacked it down on a large sheet of paper as if I was trying to smash its skull. I did this four times until the designer was happy.



I'll be putting this original "artwork" up on the Pop-splat website soon.
http://www.pop-splat.co.za

The book cover for my latest book is here:

http://www.ginacolliasuzuki.com/benja...

I like Mr Skellybones. The first cover design, which I can't find a copy of right now, was of a woman dancing around a grave, but it was very pinky and I really didn't like it. I like how clean the new cover is.

Ian...Oh my, that was an interesting back story to a book cover :)

love the cover art that you decided on Gina!

Hi Dee

Let's hope readers find the story in the book as interesting as the story behind the cover. They can always go and browse the first chapter and read excerpts at my website http://www.pop-splat.co.za


Pop-splat