agline reviews and teasers are used frequently on many of the bestsellers, but seem strangely absent in indie book covers. This is partly down to the often cited advice that everything on your cover should be legible at thumbnail size. This is simply untrue.
Read more1986-2016 How have book covers changed?
Ah, 1986. What a year. Bobby Ewing came out of the shower, Top Cruise felt the need for speed as Top Gun and Aerosmith teamed formed an unlikey partnership with Run DMC to teach us how to walk this way.
But what did we have on our bookshelves?
Read moreBarnes and Noble to exit the UK Digital Market (night-night, Nook)
In a recent post we talked about the future of ebooks. I compared the market with a Gartner model called the Hype Cycle and noted that the ebook market has reached a point where we should expect to see experiments and implementations fail to deliver...
At the moment Barnes and Noble seem to be the ones with a business model that is failing.
Read moreWhat Should You Write About on a Blog?
Having just looked at how to market your blog, what should you actually write about in this blog? There's only so much you can blog about your book when it's not imminently due out or just released. So what do you write about?
Read moreMarketing Your Blog
More and more these days, everyone is expected to have their own presence on the internet – social media, websites, blogs. Authors are no exception – people want to connect with their favourite writers and now they expect a website to go along with it. This can be a great marketing tool for you: you can write articles about your work or things that matter to you, post all of your books so they are easily found by fans, and advertise your publicity campaigns.
Read moreBook Cover Reviews: My Father, the Pornographer: A Memoir
Two days ago we rummaged through Shackleton's bookshelves to explore the books people take on expeditions to Antarctica. Today's book cover review focuses on a very different pile of books.
Read moreBook Cover Reviews: Unforgettable
Unforgettable is a debut novel by Charlie Maclean. The cover has been designed by Sinem Erkas. The cover was created, not through clever manipulation in Photoshop, but by typsetting the book and then cutting / tearing into it. The end result is eye-catching and gorgeous!
Read moreThe Books on Shackleton’s shelf: Which books would you take on an Antarctic Voyage?
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton’s expeditions to Antarctica are the stuff of legend, but which books did he take with him for the journey?
Read moreWhat Should You Pay For as a Self-Publisher?
As a self-publisher, you can spend anywhere from nothing to thousands of dollars producing your books. It depends on your skillset and how much of the work you want to do yourself. But if you're going to spend money, where should you spend it?
Read moreWriting and Publishing for Teens
People of all ages want to write stories. Heads bubble over with words that need to get out and be shared. As a teenager, these can provide a great way of letting off creative energy, but how do you go about actually writing and, hopefully, publishing these words into a book?
Read moreDesigning Books of the Future: Visual Editions
In yesterday’s blog post, I talked about the future of ebooks and noted that “sound business propositions will continue to grow, and well written, well edited and presented ebooks will continue to sell well”... In this post I wanted to highlight a London, UK-based book publisher who are looking to the future, producing premium physical books, but also creating innovating in the ebook space.
Read moreThe Future of ebooks?
For while now, ebooks have been touted as the next big thing. In 2010, Mark Coker of Smashwords fame predicted that by 2020, 95% of reading would be on screens.
But recently we are seeing the industry that has built up around ebooks and indie authors, stumbling and slowing down.
Read moreThe Six Faces of Biography – with Flowchart!
What do you put on the cover of your biography?
An obvious answer of a photograph of your subject. But what if the subject isn’t instantly recognizable? Do you stick with the large photograph and hope that people will pick it up? Or do you opt for a different design?
Read moreBook Cover Reviews: Pax
The cover for Pax, the bestselling new novel by Sara Pennypacker, grabs me every time I see it. Aimed at children aged about 9+, Pax is a "moving story of the extraordinary friendship between a boy and his fox, and their epic journey to be reunited".
Read moreColoring Book Cover Art
A quarter of the Amazon best seller list for 2015 comprised of Adult Coloring Books. Publishers Weekly observed that in 2015, “for the first time, adult coloring books were the most successful players on the trade paperback lists”. This trend is set to continue in 2016 with more coloring books being published by self-publishers and the big publishing houses.
Read moreRecovering the Classics
All too often, classic literature is left with cover artwork that doesn’t reflect anything but “Classic Literature” – a small title on a solid background or pattern, perhaps an old painting. The lucky few recently turned into films may have stills of the main characters. But most covers don’t try to lure in potential buyers. Why bother?
Read moreThe Six Covers of Romances
What better way to spend Valentine’s Day than browsing the covers of romantic novels? There are six basic types of cover that are used on romantic novels, and although designers occasionally break the mould, most stick to tried-and-tested. Readers of romantic novels, it seems, are creatures of habit.
Read moreBook Cover Review: A Song for No Man's Land
I love this cover for the newly-released A Song for No Man's Land.
The first in a series of dark fantasy novellas by Andy Remic is set in the trenches of World War I...
Read moreA monsterous layout and typesetting project – Frankenfont!
When it comes to the layout and typesetting of your book, it is important to get the right font for the style of book, the mood you are trying to create and the medium you are publishing in.
But this isn’t a blog post about choosing the right typeface for your book – it’s to draw your attention to a beautiful project called Frankenfont.
Read moreFeatured Cover: Flowers by Month
The cover design for this gardening book used a simple square grid pattern, with the title banner wrapped around its middle.
Read more