08-07-2008, 11:35 AM | #1 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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eBook cover images
Since I wrote a QuickLook* plug-in for Mobipocket books, I've become pickier about covers for my eBooks. I've made quite a few covers for various books, in 600x800, <60KiB Jpeg format suitable for use with Mobipocket for CyBook, etc, and probably OK for other formats.
Would there be general interest in a forum for people to upload covers for their favourite eBooks? I'll admit that the covers I've created are also a bit dull (see attached sample for Ernest Bramah's "Kai Lung's Golden Hours"), if better than nothing, so perhaps this would encourage the more artistically talented among us to try their hand. Paul *QuickLook is a technology in Mac OS X 10.5 that enables file previews to be generated for arbitrary formats by the use of a plug-in API. Combined with Mac OS X's CoverFlow views, it makes browsing my eBooks a much more pleasant experience. |
08-07-2008, 02:48 PM | #2 |
Grand Sorcerer
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I think that is a great idea. Adding covers to eBooks is a good thing.
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08-08-2008, 04:05 AM | #3 |
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I've not forgotten the ones you very kindly sent me, Paul. Life is just a bit hectic at the moment; I will use them, I promise you .
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08-08-2008, 05:03 AM | #4 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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I'm not hassling! :-)
But I did think that there might be people out there interested in producing covers. Also, although eBooks are mostly about the text, I think discussions about covers - styles, preferences, creation methods might be fruitful. And it might be a good way for people to encourage conversion of a book they want - "Here's a good cover for xxx - can anyone do the conversion?" Paul |
08-09-2008, 10:33 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
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08-10-2008, 12:01 AM | #6 |
Wizard
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I like the idea ... and I'd be glad to help make covers on request.
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09-17-2008, 04:02 PM | #7 |
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This is one thing that has frustrated me for a while. I would gladly contribute some artwork.
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09-17-2008, 06:02 PM | #8 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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I'm glad you like the idea. Please do add a comment to the new thread of this topic at
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29239 and perhaps we'll get enough interest to justify a forum for cover uploads. Paul |
12-27-2008, 12:11 PM | #9 |
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I thought that we could also use abstract or semi-abstract images as cover pictures (and then adding the title and author). So I fiddled a bit with POV-Ray and created this random Julia fractal. Similar images with different shapes and textures can be easily created, I can do more if anyone is interested.
Last edited by Jellby; 12-28-2008 at 04:19 AM. |
12-28-2008, 12:48 PM | #10 |
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I would be delighted if I had somebody more creative than myself who would make covers for me. Generally, I do not like mine too much as I am a bit clumsy with visual art.
BUT: I do assemble like at least three books a day on bad days and I like to stray around in my subjects. So someone who'd cooperate with me would have to be rather flexible and available and a fast worker (and all that for nought) or I'd have to change my working style completely. Cooperation with ravenne for the "Karl Mays" is a dream come through, though, cause the woman's that good. Anyway. I at least make a cover with every book I assemble. |
12-28-2008, 12:49 PM | #11 | |
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01-25-2009, 11:25 AM | #12 |
When's Doughnut Day?
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For each ebook I've been posting, I have been adding a simple illustration as a cover image - usually either of the author or one of the illustrations from the book. I never edit these to add, for example, the title and author of the book to the cover image. On my Sony Reader, I select the book I want to read from a list of authors or titles. There is a no display of book covers, as far as I know, from which to select a book. If there was, I can see that having just an illustration (with no title or author on it) as a book cover would be awkward unless you happened to recognize which book it was from. And if that's the case, I should start adding titles and authors to the covers of books I post. Could someone please comment?
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01-25-2009, 11:50 AM | #13 |
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On the CyBook it's vitally important to have a recognisable cover - ie at least the book title and preferably the author's name too. That's because the primary means of navigating the CyBook's library is by cover image.
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01-25-2009, 01:28 PM | #14 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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Mobipocket Desktop reader displays the cover images. And books stored on my Mac display the cover images (which look goof in coverflow). I'd definitely recommend adding title and author to cover images -and in large, easily readable type.
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01-26-2009, 09:19 AM | #15 |
When's Doughnut Day?
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Thanks for the info. Ouch. Another thing to fix.
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