Tag: cover designing

Creative Cover Art: loving the linocut look

~ Judith ~ Leave a comment

I know we’ve got Indesign and Photoshop so book covers these days can look really glam and polished and shiny and flash. But you know I just can’t tear myself away from those cover designs reminiscent of linocuts and print-making generally. I love the thoughtfully contrasting colours and the way the pictures seem to be built up in layers, the skilful use of simple lines and contours. You know there’s a true artist at work.

This is a style that’s been around since well, forever – probably Albrecht Durer, or even earlier. Happily, I’ve seen quite a few covers like this lately, and I’m no artist so I can’t tell you exactly how they were created, or even if there was a slab of lino in sight. Maybe they were done on a computer, after all. But don’t they look interesting?

 

Indie Author Tips 2: More About Covers

~ Judith ~ Leave a comment

Yes, I know I said you could design your own ebook cover, and you’ve given it your best shot, you really have. But somehow, despite your best efforts, you’re not happy. The good news is, there are plenty of graphic designers and cover design websites that will solve your problem, some at surprisingly little cost.

One solution is to buy a pre-made book cover. Here’s a few online sites that supply single-use book covers, with both ebook and ebook-plus-print-copy cost options. All you need to do is select a cover you like and supply your title/by-line/tagline and they do the rest. There’s usually an option or two for a bit of tweaking, re fonts and colours as well. Here are just a few of the online design companies that caught my eye – there are bound to be more, but these particularly impressed. Continue reading “Indie Author Tips 2: More About Covers” →

Indie Author Tips 1: Covers

~ Judith ~ Leave a comment

Perhaps, like me, you’ve decide to publish your own book, tracking down beta readers for that early manuscript, rewriting and polishing, until finally you’re ready to hit the ‘publish’ button on your enterprise. Only then there’s the cover. You don’t do art, but the cover’s the thing that will attract readers to your book, so it needs to be special.

It can be difficult to hand the project over to a professional designer, when you’ve put so much of yourself into your book so far. And expensive. Possibly you know what you want already – have done the research, checked out the covers of similar books that look good in the genre that fits your book. (Like the traditionally published books above, there’s a huge range cover styles, dependent on things like genre and reader expectation.) Continue reading “Indie Author Tips 1: Covers” →