tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353027890354684445.post291543810097910815..comments2023-10-22T06:37:18.437-04:00Comments on Mystery Maven Canada: TUESDAY BRINGS TROUBLELinda Wikenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12664283043077562640noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353027890354684445.post-20882545116848515802011-12-13T19:51:04.899-05:002011-12-13T19:51:04.899-05:00Sorry, Kate, I got out of order here.
The difficu...Sorry, Kate, I got out of order here.<br /><br />The difficulty of self-publishing (assuming I understand your meaning of "indie") for authors is that most are forced to reinvent the wheel. There are excellent books for those who wish to go the self-publishing route (I did it for my first two novels) and they must be read by anyone contemplating this move or you risk throwing your money away. Anyone who publishes, <i>must</i> understand the business. (And the more you understand, the more easily you can find ways to break the mold succesfully!)<br /><br />One of the mistakes I often see is that the cover of a book is obviously very secondary to the process. Even though established publishers can be shockingly cavaliere about cover concept and execution, they do understand the core values, "the rules", as it were. Most covers for self-published books are not done by qualified people. Unless the person (usually the author) designing the cover really understands the basics or is a nascent genius, the cover design will probably not be what it could be. One can't design a cover, hand it out to friends and expect to get really honest comments back. It's hard to tell someone you know that their book cover sucks – if they designed it themselves. And quite often a subtle thing like moving the characters slightly can make all the difference in the world. Only very experienced typographers can see these things. The general public will just see "type that looks happier", as my mentor, the brilliant Kal Honey, used to say.<br /><br />As for sell copy, most people in publishing who write the stuff would tell you that they have great experience. That experience might be due simply to the fact that they've written the copy for dozens, maybe hundreds, of covers, <i>not</i> that they've written <i>effective</i> copy for those covers. There's experience and there's experience, after all. My answer to someone who's written flabby, uncompelling copy and who also tells me about their experience is to say, "Have you ever been hired by any other company for your skill as a copy writer? Please show me your portfolio for the jobs for which you've been commissioned, not the ones your boss told you to do. Let's see some of the awards for your copy. Show me the sales results for your projects."<br /><br />I hope you have written terrific copy on your own. Best of luck on those sales! Thanks for commenting, too.Rick Blechtahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11800052815589987998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353027890354684445.post-43515641933287469222011-12-13T19:26:50.899-05:002011-12-13T19:26:50.899-05:00Vicki, I’ve worked on projects with good, bad and ...Vicki, I’ve worked on projects with good, bad and indifferent sell copy. Great copy that can even get a jaded graphic designer excited is worth it's weight in gold. <br /><br />Putting a few paragraphs from a book on its cover might work if it was so compelling that it absolutely <i>forced</i> the reader to want to know more. That's a tall order, but probably possible with some books and authors. <br /><br />What you're talking about is probably due to laziness on the part of the people at a particular publisher who are responsible for cover copy. More important and useful to my mind is a paragraph or two about the book that accomplishes the same thing.<br /><br />Writing effective ad copy requires a very specific skill set. Not many people can do it and those who are particularly good at it can command very serious money for their abilities. Corporations and advertising agencies understand that. Book publishers, on the whole, don't.<br /><br />A successful book cover (all the way around and inside if it has flaps) needs to communicate a number of compelling reasons to buy the book. The front cover gets people to pick up the book (or read about it further if you're online), the back cover and flaps should tell you (again, compellingly) about the book and the author's bona fides and why people <i>have</i> to read it. Blurbs from other <i>recognizable</i> authors or experts, review quotes, all have their place. Even a book's spine can go some way (and perhaps this is the hardest part of the design job) to selling a book.<br /><br />A truly effective cover has to try to do all these things and can't be just sloughed off as "a necessary evil" by publishers. My feeling is it's the single most effective avenue to successfully "advertise" a book. We've all seen covers in bookstores and online that just scream "pick me up!" That's only the first part of the equation. Once the books is in the customer's hand, the sell copy has to seal the deal. Lots of books do not accomplish this transfer.<br /><br />In a nutshell, what you're talking about, Vicki, is just sloppy and lazy salesmanship.Rick Blechtahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11800052815589987998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353027890354684445.post-79156269741038560612011-12-13T18:36:29.424-05:002011-12-13T18:36:29.424-05:00What do you think of having a couple of paragraphs...What do you think of having a couple of paragraphs of the book as part of the cover? I've noticed one publisher in particular is devoting the whole inside flap of their hardcovers to that. The back cover is reviews and/or short blurb. A section of the book doesn't attract me in any way - just a lump of text out of context. Vicki Delany (who can't leave comments under her own name)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353027890354684445.post-25020685039477517682011-12-13T16:40:51.283-05:002011-12-13T16:40:51.283-05:00Great information, Rick. I think indie authors are...Great information, Rick. I think indie authors are finally beginning to understand the singular power of a great cover, and that nine seconds of a potential reader's attention online. I did NOT know that back cover sell copy is written by those without ad copy training. Being an indie author myself, I, of course, wrote my own... but it took three months and a large critique circle.Kate Burnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08024513390707053789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353027890354684445.post-18951097256107279782011-12-13T11:45:21.711-05:002011-12-13T11:45:21.711-05:00By the way, if anyone has any questions, just spea...By the way, if anyone has any questions, just speak up! I’ll do my best to answer them for you – or find someone who has the answer.Rick Blechtahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11800052815589987998noreply@blogger.com