Book Covers and things

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by meeera

As a reader/bookbuyer: 100% agree. Design is a skilled profession that should be treated with respect. Lots of people think they can do it just because they've slapped up a Powerpoint or two. They can't. It shows. And it raises the question "did they bother hiring an editor for the inside of the book, or was that aspect of book production treated with the same level of care as the cover?"

I just end up never buying any books with obvious DIY covers, unless they've been very very strongly recommended by readers I trust. I don't think I'm alone.

YES and there it is. You simply start to avoid those "DIY covers." Because of that same thought process ("well, if s/he couldn't afford $25, even, for a cover designer, why should I think that s/he paid for a proofreader or editor?").

I even know better--I mean, I've seen s**t covers on really good books--and yet, I still tend to steer clear of them as if it's a red flare. {shrug}. I have one right now. An actually GOOD little cop-procedural-mystery, but the cover is meh. And she used one of our designers, too, but she had a design in mind, a VERY specific design--right out of the '70's--and couldn't let go. (sigh).

It's simply a fact--the entire package has to present commercially and professionally, unless (like Andy Weir) you happen to have developed a fanbase already on your blog, and when I say fanbase, I mean in the thousands, not the hundreds. If you do that, you can be a bit sloppy around your first cover, but even then...why give birth to your child and then cut off one of its legs, while wishing it to be successful? Nuts.

There are days...

Hitch

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by meeera

As a reader/bookbuyer: 100% agree. Design is a skilled profession that should be treated with respect. Lots of people think they can do it just because they've slapped up a Powerpoint or two. They can't. It shows. And it raises the question "did they bother hiring an editor for the inside of the book, or was that aspect of book production treated with the same level of care as the cover?"

I just end up never buying any books with obvious DIY covers, unless they've been very very strongly recommended by readers I trust. I don't think I'm alone.

You are not alone. I feel the same way.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

YES and there it is. You simply start to avoid those "DIY covers." Because of that same thought process ("well, if s/he couldn't afford $25, even, for a cover designer, why should I think that s/he paid for a proofreader or editor?").

I even know better--I mean, I've seen s**t covers on really good books--and yet, I still tend to steer clear of them as if it's a red flare. {shrug}. I have one right now. An actually GOOD little cop-procedural-mystery, but the cover is meh. And she used one of our designers, too, but she had a design in mind, a VERY specific design--right out of the '70's--and couldn't let go. (sigh).

It's simply a fact--the entire package has to present commercially and professionally, unless (like Andy Weir) you happen to have developed a fanbase already on your blog, and when I say fanbase, I mean in the thousands, not the hundreds. If you do that, you can be a bit sloppy around your first cover, but even then...why give birth to your child and then cut off one of its legs, while wishing it to be successful? Nuts.

There are days...

Hitch

But like Andy Weir, don't embed fonts that make the eBook difficult to read. For whatever reason, Open Sans, Open Serif, and Open Mono were used in the eBook. They are horrible fonts on eInk. Just about unreadable.

Best not to embed any fonts.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But like Andy Weir, don't embed fonts that make the eBook difficult to read. For whatever reason, Open Sans, Open Serif, and Open Mono were used in the eBook. They are horrible fonts on eInk. Just about unreadable.

Best not to embed any fonts.

Yes, dear, but that was Weir's publisher, not Weir.

Hitch

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Yes, dear, but that was Weir's publisher, not Weir.

Hitch

Well then, the advice is don't let the publisher F-up the eBook by installing God awful rubbish fonts.

But could Weir not have told the publisher that those fonts are not to be used because they are almost unreadable?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Well then, the advice is don't let the publisher F-up the eBook by installing God awful rubbish fonts.

But could Weir not have told the publisher that those fonts are not to be used because they are almost unreadable?

Jon, dear....trust me, that ain't how it works.

Hitch