Remember all the whining I did in January about book covers? If not, go here, here, and here to refresh your memory. The gist of it is I'm not great at designing book covers. So when I got a publishing contract I thought I could rest easy because hey, someone else is going to be responsible for it, right?
If you don't remember, here was my best attempt at a cover:
So a few weeks ago I got the cover my publisher wanted to use. Which looked like this:
But I'm obviously not the expert on this stuff so I asked Rusty Webb, who's done some cover designs for Andrew Leon and others. He confirmed my thoughts that it was pretty blah. And then in a few minutes, look how he spiced it up!
And then he volunteered to do a better version if the publisher would let him. So I asked the publisher and they said fine. Rusty and I discussed it a little and I sent him a crude sketch, which was about as useful as in "The Simpsons" episode where Principal Skinner gives a mural artist a design on a napkin. Just like in that episode, though Rusty turned my crude sketch into something awesome.
There was a little tinkering and also a debilitating pinky injury, but finally I got the final draft from Rusty and I think it looks pretty sweet, myself.
I really love how the author name is embedded in the picture. I think Rusty is not as keen on the "A-Team" font for the title, but it's a lot better than that boring one the publisher wanted to use. And doesn't Emma look damned sexy? Yeah, baby.
So anyway, I can't thank Rusty enough for generously donating his time and talent to salvage my cover. Now we just have to get to work on covers for the next seven books in the series...just kidding, Rusty.
I like it. But when's the book out?
ReplyDeleteGood question. I have no idea. I hope they actually tell me before they release it. That would be nice. (Yeah they're kind of dumb-asses.)
DeleteNothing guarantees a good working relationship between you and your publisher like calling them "dumb-asses" on the Internet. I commend you on cultivating important relationships like that.
ReplyDeleteThen again, they probably knew what they were getting into.
Rusty's cover is excellent. I doubt I'd have looked twice at any of the other three -- no offense -- because yours doesn't convey "superhero" enough, and the publisher (and Rusty's workup of the publisher's) look too much like a romance novel. The final one actually says "Superhero," and has that quasi-futuristic look I like.
And, yeah, sexy lady on the cover. That never hurts.
Gee whiz. I don't handle compliments well - probably because I always have the sinking suspicion that I'm being mocked secretly. The only way to really break through is to just pour those compliments out so frequently and fervently that I can't possibly deny them.
ReplyDeleteSo please, keep them coming.
I did always have an idea for a cover for the Scarlet Knight that I never shared with you - so I'm pretty sure I've got at least one more in me.
And I use a copy of elements my brother in law gave me a couple of years ago. I used to use photoshop but got tired of upgrading all the time. I had been using elements 2.0 until I got whatever version I use now. It does well enough I suppose.
I'm usually suspicious of comments too. Just my grumpy nature I suppose. I do have a vague idea for the second book's cover but if eventually all eight get published then it starts to get dicey.
DeleteSo basically, your publisher sucks at making a cover and without your input and taking a hold of the entire process to make it better, you would have been stuck with a shitty product.
ReplyDeleteMan...that sucks. Are they going to actually do anything? I guess I shouldn't be asking these questions. Thus far, my publisher's contributions to my publishing endeavor have yet to materialize. Supposedly they are working on a cover, but I've no idea. Maybe it will be done the night before the book is to be published.
I'm starting to think a lot of these small publishers aren't much better than on the old blog when I proposed, you, me, Pagel, and Ethan Cooper start our own publishing company. I'm kind of leery to see what happens with the "editing." If yours were gas station food editors, mine are probably vending machine food editors.
DeleteMy editor tbh sucked pretty bad. She didn't catch basic stuff that I was able to catch after letting my manuscript sit for six months in a drawer. The "distance" I got made me able to spot things more easily, and I was like "Was this even edited?" But I remember that basically there were very few corrections. I think that editing is just one of those things where you need college education. My publisher hires ppl that barely have a high school diploma or G.E.D. I did meet one of the editors in person. A high school educated Iranian woman living in the basement of a friend's house, no money, pregnant so she couldn't do anything, did some editing for DDP on the side and complained at how bad author writing was, and sold weed as a side business. That was the day the "wool" was removed from in front of my eyes. I was like..."peh...anyone can do this. A grade schooler with auto-correct can work for these small pubs."
DeleteThat is the greatest and most disturbing thing I've ever read about publishing. Wow.
DeleteI hope you get to use Rusty's final version. Love the bigger font. There's something about it that says "Hey! This is important!"
ReplyDeleteWho is this mystery publisher? I've been curious.