I Need Some Help Deciding on a Cover!

My cover artist came up with three versions of the cover for Queer Eye for the Super Guy. So I need a little help in picking one.

The first one, aka COVER A, is based on my original request. I told her I wanted two men and  rainbows because Jeremy, Leo, and the LGBT+ cast of the 888-555-HERO takes center stage in this story.

The second one, aka COVER B, has the title toned down a little bit, but still has lots of color.

The third cover, aka COVER C, takes the title down to an almost metallic silver color.

Tell me what you think in the comments below, or you can send me a private message through the CONTACT ME! tab above.

Thanks for your help!

More on Covers

It took a couple of tries, but I finally got Ingramspark to accept the paperback cover for Revenge Served Hot. While my formatter did the majority of the work, I needed to add the company logo and the bar code to the cover. And therein lies the problem. I spent a couple of hours figuring things out with JPGs and PDFs I could have spent writing.

It's a catch-22. Do you spend the time learning new things? Or would you be better off writing?

That's a question every indie writer needs to figure out for themselves. Most of the time, the money I spend on covers and my cover artists' time is worth the time I save in not creating the covers from scratch.

But on the other hand, I want to develop that skill set so I know what to ask for from my cover artists. So cover time is actually time I'd spend watching TV.

For example, I sprint in the evenings with a friend until 11 pm. Then I watch Colbert or Family Feud until bedtime because these days, I need the laughs. So I can listen to monologues or trivia questions while fooling around with PAINT.

The other problem is I usually don't understand stuff unless I am doing it myself. That hint of tactile learning in me is one reason I was able to homeschool Genius Kid who is 100% a tactile learner. So spending the couple of hours learning how to do paperback covers has been super beneficial for reasons that have nothing to do with time constraints.

Next week, I'll do an entire paperback cover from scratch. I'll let you know how long that takes and show you the results.

The Latest New Thing

Original Cover

I've done my own ebook covers before. I'll be the first to admit I suck at design. But I keep trying because I don't want to be stranded should something happen to one of the ladies I employ.

So I still try every once in a while. Like for a couple of my short story collections.

On Revenge Served Hot, my formatter begged me to please send her the original JPG file because, well, look at what she did to make the cover POP!

Published Cover

Looks a lot different and better, doesn't it? She also did the paperback cover for me.

In the meantime, I'm practicing with turning the cover for Practical Witches into a paperback cover. We'll see how that one turns out. I'm still struggling with converting PDF files to JPGs and back again, because the printers need PDF files.

I'm reminded daily of how much I don't know.

Reality Check on Covers

I'm seeing this among newbies. Again. The subject seems to come up every two years.

If you use a PUBLIC STOCK PHOTO SITE to purchase  files for your cover, you have no right to stop other cover artists or authors from using a particular photo.

Exclusive rights to a photo are expensive. If you want an exclusive photo to use for you cover, you're going to pay out the nose.

Unless you're the photographer. Even then, you'll need permission if the subject of the photo is a person.

So, that means if you purchased the standard license, a non-exclusive licensing right from most of these stock sites, like ShutterStock, DepositPhoto, Adobe Stock, etc., you cannot stop someone else from using that photo if they buy the same standard license.

That also means you cannot harass other cover designers and authors. You're not going to succeed in shutting down everyone. And frankly, it makes you look like an uneducated idiot.

If you don't understand the different licensing rights, you probably shouldn't be submitting to publishers or publishing yourselves. You really need to learn the various licensing rights, or you may find yourself in a lot of legal trouble.

And no writer has time for that shit.

Wild, Wicked & Wicky Rewind from 2013

This was about the time things really started getting crazy in the publishing industry. It took a little some time to decide, but this post from July 24, 2013, about covers and reviews shows the weirdness the best.

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Even though e-books now consist of 20-30% of the market, depending on the source of the statistic, even though indie writers are regularly hitting the top ten of the New York Times bestseller list, even though you can have a hard time telling the difference between trad-pubbed and indie-pubbed books unless you check who the publisher is, there are reviewers who have made it their life mission to mark as many indie book as they can with one-star reviews.

Many indie writers get absolutely livid over this. I totally understand their feelings. It isn't fair. Especially when they've shelled out the money for a top-notch editor and cover artist. In fact, those writers have done everything a publishing house has done, in some cases even better, but still they get shit on for daring to break the chains the big publishing houses tried to bind them with, therefore they must be punished.

And honestly, some of the reasons of these reviewers are kind of silly. An Oxford comma enthusiast counts down an indie author for failing to use it. Others become enraged if an author uses the British spelling for words.

But those are mild compared to a friend or family member jealous of what they perceive of the indie writer's undeserved success. It doesn't matter if the writer is like me--making just enough to pay the law school loan and buy two pizzas IF Papa John's is running a special.

So what's an indie author to do?

First of all, if there's a definite pattern of harassment from the same person, there may be a law against it where you live. Many states and countries are cracking down on cyber-bullying. Check with your local law enforcement or an attorney about the steps you need to take to document the culprit's actions and protect yourself if necessary.

Otherwise, you may need to ignore it. I understand; I'm not one to back away from a fight either.

Unfortunately, there are some so-called reviewers who are nothing more than drama queens. They stir the pot just to see what kind of trouble they can cause. They thrive on the attention, and frankly, I pity their real-life family and friends.

Others are trolls. They hope to poke at you enough to prompt an emotional outburst, so they can sit back and laugh at you.

The third type just really didn't like your book. Guess what? You can't make everyone like you or like your book.

The last type think they are really doing you a favor. It's no more or no less than what can happen in a critique group. Try to pull the constructive criticisms out (if you can) and let the rest go.

If you're getting a tremendous amount of one-star or two-star reviews, take a step back and try to analyze the comments dispassionately. (It's hard, I know. Those stories are your babies!)

If you've truly become the target of a vendetta, your best bet may be to unpublish the book, and re-publish it as a new book to purge the harassing reviews.

If you're getting a lot of the fourth type of review, seriously look at your work. Could the cover or blurb be better? Have you put your book under the wrong category? DO you have too many typos? These are all things that can be fixed! That's one of the joys of indie publishing!

When it comes down to a few people hating the story but lots of four- and five-star reviews, ignore the naysayers. You're on the right track!

[Note: Can you tell which of the books above was produced by a traditional publisher?]

Why Traditional Publishing Is Having Problems Defending Itself

Considering what we call "traditional publishing" has been around for roughly seventy-five years, you would think they would know what they bring to the business table. If folks in the publishing houses do know, they are having a very difficult time articulating those points.

The first major problem is how publishers and editors regard writers. They say they treasure writers, but in reality, they view us as needy, whiny pains-in-the-ass. Even Kris Rusch mentioned writers who go into hysterics over changing a comma, and she's an author so she's very much PRO writer.

Another example is a discussion over at The Passive Voice when a Kensington author anonymously mentioned that her editor didn't edit her books. Rather than checking out the writer's story, publisher Steven Zacharius castigated Anonymice on the public blog, which kind of proved why this writer didn't go to him in the first place.

This brings me directly to one of the major services publishers claim they provide--editing.

Barry Harbaugh, an editor at HarperCollins, was trying to refute an essay by Andrew Martin in The New Yorker that talked about MFA vs. NYC. He really stepped into steaming pile when he insisted that editors do edit, but added that he only edited about fifty to one hundred pages a week. Of course, it's all Amazon's fault that editors get a bad rap.

I'll give Barry credit that he does do some editing, but the amount?

Excuse me? The night before I saw Barry's piece, I had edited a fifteen-page short story that I'm about to submit and twenty pages of novel prior to posting the sample online. All of this was done the forty minutes while I ordered and ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant because I needed to get out of the house and away from Alter Ego's current wip.

Many more trad authors are coming out of the woodwork and talking about no editing, or even worse, abusive editors. In the same link to Kris Rusch's blog above, she talks about an editor who was downright psychotic and gives good advice for dealing with difficult people in the industry.

So what about cover art?

This is the notorious cover for Barry Eisler's book, Fault Line, issued by the French trad publisher. All cultural differences aside, does this look like an international, jet-setting thriller?

And if the writer gets a bad cover, can they do anything about it? Generally, no. The publisher complains about the cost (if the writer is lucky), or simply ignores you.

Not too many writers can turn a bad cover into a plus, but Christina Dodd did. Go ahead. Count how many hands the lady on the cover has. Dodd used the screw-up as a marketing gimmick. But a bad trad cover can't always be changed into gold so easily.

One of fabulous pluses as an indie is the ability to change your cover on a moment's notice. Like when several retailers decide out of the blue that your erotica covers are too risque. *wink*

Another factor is that the writer is blamed for the editing and the cover art, not the publisher, because it's the writer's name on the book.

The publisher doesn't care. There's a million writers banging on their doors, so they'll chuck the one that complains and grab another serf writer at the gates.

So what about promotion, publicity, and marketing by the publishing company? These should be the publishers' biggest strengths, right?

Fuhgeddaboudit! Seriously. Nearly every mid-list writer I personally know who signed a contract within the last ten years spent their entire trad pub advance on getting word out about their books. And with advances getting smaller and smaller and costs rising, that means more money out of a writer's pocket.

Even worse, trad publishers seem to have no marketing savvy in today's world (though they will command the writer to participate in every social media known to humankind).One of the selling points they brought to the table when they tried to woo H.M. Ward was their 2K e-mail list. Ms. Ward has a much bigger e-mail list already. MUCH bigger.

And heaven forbid if you ask the trade publisher to put specific marketing efforts in the contract!

These are the three big things that trad publishers could bring to the table for writers, but they refuse to do so. Here's the thing--it really wouldn't cost them a lot to do even one of these three. Do it cheap. Do it right.

Because indie writers are doing it every freakin' day!

More Thoughts on Covers

Yesterday, Tess St. John and Savannah Rose had some interesting thought on covers in the comments. Like half-naked guys, yea or nay?

So I'm going to ask the rest of my audience the same thing I asked them:

1) Do different styles of cover in a series drive you crazy as a reader?

2) How do you feel when a book you previously bought is issued with a new title and/or cover?

This very discussion has been an ongoing topic between me, DH, my marketing guru and my cover artist. Particularly over the cover of Seasons of Magick: Summer (aka Die for Me).

Seasons of Magick: Spring is my best-selling title, though Zombie Love is catching up for other marketing reasons. When I released Summer on October 11, 2011, the sales were so-so. After much deliberation, we experimented with a new cover and a new title, which was released November 11, 2011. Sales started sliding south. Over the last three weeks, Die for Me was my only fiction title NOT SELLING AT ALL.

I took a hard, hard look. There was nothing to connect Spring with Die for Me. From the way readers are gobbling up the Bloodlines series, I know they love related books. So I decided to go back to the original title and cover. A few sales was better than no sales, right? The reversion to the old title and cover was implemented Sunday while I watched the Texans-Ravens game (gotta love multi-tasking).

I decided to leave the Seasons of Magick series alone. Write Autumn and Winter, and stick with the original cover concepts. I love the grimoire/tarot look. But I do understand that this is a business, and I have to take readers reactions into consideration. In the end though, I wonder how much a cover really means?

Thoughts? Opinions?

[Edit to add: Apparently this subject hasn't just been on my mind. Joel Friedlander has a pretty good write-up over at The Book Designer on the dangers of symbolism when you're the author.]

Discussion on Covers, Continued...

Last week, I wrote a post about Revising a Cover. Romantic Suspense author, Tess St. John and I got into a discussion through the comments--until the Blogger comments barfed on me. We continued the talk by e-mail, and she gave me permission to repost some of her thoughts.

Tess: You can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself!

Suzan: It's not necessarily a question of pleasing people. There's someone of mutual acquaintance who HATES the cover of Zombie Love, but it's my most effective one. On the other hand, I don't want to confuse the readers about which books are part of the same series.

Tess: Well, I never thought I would put pictures on my books, because honestly I don't like pictures of people on books (I want the image I imagine), but I did my research and found that most readers do like pictures of people on the covers...not that it's necessarily helped my readership, but I have gotten compliments.

Suzan: But you write romantic suspense and historical romance. I think your target audience, which is largely women, expect people on the cover to feel a connection. On the other hand, I write urban fantasy. If I put anything remotely similar to the proverbial "clinch" on the cover, I'll chase away the male portion of my audience. The only reason I brought up the need for consistency was because I had confused a reader with the disimilarity between the covers of Blood Magick and Zombie Love.

Tess: I know what you mean...trying to have a similar look with the books for the same series is a good idea essential. But I LOVE the cover for ZOMBIE LOVE. I didn't get it until I read the book (it's supposed to be her nanites, right?)

Suzan: LOL Yeah, that was the intent. It surprises me how many people don't recognize the bio-hazard symbol. I mean, it's in your doctor's office for cryin' out loud! But mainly I used it because so many zombie stories start with a virus out of control, like World War Z or Zombieland. Even the game Halo uses it, even though their zombies are caused by an alien lifeform. If someone gets the contrast between a neon green bio-hazard sign and a hot pink Cupid, then they'll probably get my writing.  (I think.)

Tess: For what it's worth, the people who say your writing sucks big hairy balls have no idea what they're talking about!

Suzan: LOL Most of those folks aren't my target audience anyway. What can I say? I provoke very strong reactions in people.

Tess: Your writing is funny and fresh (the ideas and concepts). The strong reactions means you have a strong voice (at least that's what I'm told because I have many with the same reactions). I'll take a strong definable voice any day! And it's the readers who like your stuff that you're trying to keep! Can't dwell on the others!

Suzan: Damn, girl. Now you're making me blush, but thanks for the compliments.

Revising a Cover

After much deliberation, I sent the cover for Blood Magick to my cover guru to re-do the title and other text to match the rest of the Bloodlines series. I'd already made the decision, and Sierra had already returned revised cover, but a Facebook question from a reader confirmed what I already suspected.

There needs to be a consistency in look when it comes to a series. I've found that I can switch between first person and third person narratives without much flak (but then, people either love my writing or think it sucks big, ugly, hairy balls).

I'm also in the process of changing the subtitles and text on the product descriptions. Even though every retail site where I've uploaded my books asks if this particular book is part of a series, which series, and the number order it comes in, none of that information shows up on the sale page. NONE.

Um, so what's the point of asking me, the writer, if you're not going to tell the customer?

Gets a little frustrating sometimes, but I'm slowly figuring things out.

So what does this mean for the Seasons of Magick series? It depends on how sales go the rest of January. So far, sales since November 11 (the date the new cover and title went up) haven't justified the change. In fact, sales have tanked dramatically compared to the sales for the Bloodlines series and Seasons of Magick: Spring. Despite the "boring" covers, the Spring and Summer were clearly linked. Also, Spring is still my best-selling fiction title, though the Bloodlines series has been gaining over the last of December/first week of January.

E-books are such a new frontier than experimentation is needed. And frankly, what works for me may not work for you, and vice versa.

In the meantime, all I can do is study the data and continue writing.

Marketing Experiment

In all the holiday/life brouhaha lately, I totally forgot that I didn't talk about the new cover and title for what was Seasons of Magick: Summer until Friday's blog. I went to link to a post I thought I wrote. Except I never had written it.

Oops!

Not only that, but I accidentally left the old cover up on the 'My Books' slot on the right. LOL Sometimes, I swear, I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached.

So anyway, as I said on Friday's post, my marketing person thought my cover and title were too plain. She also thought the title wasn't indicative of the storyline: a summer affair between two long-time friends interrupted by her zombie ex.

On the other hand, Seasons of Magick: Spring is my best-selling title even with its equally plain green cover and equally misleading title. My second best selling title is Creating a Business Plan for the Indie Writer also has a relatively plain cover, though the title does tell the reader exactly what they are getting.

So seriously, I don't get it when it comes to attracting readers. I follow the folks who've tried various things. I've watched what works and what doesn't. I'm confused about why some books with not very professional covers attract lots of readers, but others with equally good writing and marvelous covers do not.

Maybe it's taste. Maybe I'm just that visually clueless. Maybe readers approach enticing cover art the same way U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart approached porn--they know it when they see it.

Ain't That Purty!

Do readers judge a book by its cover? You betcha! So do you make your own cover or find a minion to do it for you? Stop by Pitch University for our series on creating a business plan.

The Golden Rule for Cover Artists

Currently reading - Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn

If you didn't see it last week, my buddy Joan Reeves wrote an excellent article on how to properly deal with work with your cover artist.  She writes the important points far more eloquently than I.

I've been lucky to have an excellent rapport with my cover artist.  She's strong enough to tell me what's doable and what's not.  Doesn't always mean I listen (like when she said one cherub on the cover of Zombie Love was plenty), but I'm learning.

Lessons Learned Part 7 - Double-check Your Shit

Currently (Re)Reading - Gotcha! by Christie Craig (E-book)

A lot of published folk I know are putting out their backlists.  The problem for a lot of them is that they don't have a digital copy.  So they're having to scan their old typewritten manuscripts or paperback copies, and in a lot of cases, they need new artwork because of licensing issues concerning the original covers.  What I'm about to say applies to both new authors and old:

(1)  There's no such thing as a perfect OCR program (at least not yet).

(a) For those who aren't computer geeks, OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition.  Most OCR scanners 'read' each line of text and tries to translate the shapes it 'sees' into a corresponding alphanumeric character in a word processing program.  If the OCR is missing some 'training', it may translate 'K'ehleyr the Klingon' into 'Cpl. Klinger'.

ALWAYS proof-read your text after a scan!  In fact, have a couple of people put eyeballs to the novel.  Then you won't be mocked on various blogs where the bloggers get a thrill out of trashing anyone self-publishing.

(b) Depending on the OCR program, the file may go through a couple of conversions before it gets to your preferred word processing format.  This means you could have invisible formatting characters totally fucking up your file.  I know this sounds like extra work, but I highly recommend using Smashwords founder Mark Coker's nuclear option to make sure you have a clean file.  Yes, it's a pain in the ass to reset indents and re-italicize words, but it beats smacking your head against the wall trying to fix formatting errors on your e-book.

(2) Don't assume public domain art is actually in the public domain.

Sorry to bust your fuzzy bubbles, but people lie on the internet.  ALWAYS double-check rights to a particular piece of art.  An acquaintance got a cease and desist letter from the owner of a particular painting after she used a JPG from a public domain site.  Even better, pay the couple of dollars to license photos or art from a reputable company.  It'll save your ass.

Anybody else have a double-check suggestion?

Cover Art

Probably the most obvious part of production you'll have to deal with as an independent publisher is the cover art.

As I freely admitted in previous posts, I suck at design.  But it's something I'll have to work at in order to be a successful publisher.  In an impromptu and highly unscientific survery among Kindle users I know, cover art came in second behind price as the reason a reader would try a new book.  Which means even in the gray-toned Kindle world, cover art is important.

As Bob Mayer said in a recent blog post, the cover also has to be "bold and pop of [sic] the page."  The picture has to make sense in a thumbnail.  Therefore the art can't be highly detailed or cluttered, and the contrast needs to be distinctive enough to be easily read on an e-ink screen.  In other words, simplicity is the key.

That being said, if you got the eye and talent for design, not to mention the right software, it's much cheaper to make your own cover for your e-book.  But if you're a no-talent like me, there are some reasonably priced alternatives.  Roughly, the range is $50-$400 depending on the designer's experience and your demands, ur, requests and needs.

If you decide to publish the paper version, it'll be a little more money to have someone else design you cover flat.  Again, if you can do it yourself, more power, and money, to you.

I've found different cover designers have different methods of working.  Some want to read the book and come up with a concept.  Others want a synopsis or character description to work off of.  Still others look at it as collaborative process, and they want the author's input and thoughts.

In my case, I've contacted two different people for cover art.  No, I'm not trying to decide between them.  Each person has a style that best repesents the "feel" for the two series I plan to publish first.  I can't wait to see what these ladies come up with!

And on that note, here's an encore video from last summer:



It's not as easy as it looks.

Designing Covers

Currently reading - Blameless by Gail Carriger

A nifty little video from Orbit shows how the cover was designed for Blameless. A LOT of work goes into creating the public face of your book, something to consider on your publishing path.