They always say that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but frankly, it’s what readers do, and the judgment is made in a split-second. Likely, their first encounter with your book will be to see its cover shrunk to a thumbnail size, on a page with dozens of others. Your cover has to catch the reader’s eye as they scroll by, making them curious enough to click on the link.

I’m fortunate enough to be with a publisher who values their authors’ input on cover design, so I’ve been involved in the process every step of the way, from picking the concept to approving font choices. It’s always an interesting challenge because there are so many aspects to consider.

Introduce Me to Your Book

Your cover should tell a reader something about your story. Genres tend to have certain styles of covers that tell the reader at a glance what type of story to expect. Look at covers in your genre, and then play around with the ideas a bit.

Simplicity is Best

Your reader is likely going to see your cover on their screen as an inch-tall rectangle. You want your central image to be clear, even when the image is tiny. One of the reasons why the covers for Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey have become iconic was their stark, uncluttered simplicity. They are instantly recognizable, even at a distance or as a tiny icon. Focus on one central theme or concept that speaks about your story.

My first cover was for a novel about a woman who moves to a haunted house on an isolated island. The beach plays a central role in the story. As soon as I saw the image of the girl standing at the edge of the waves, I knew it was perfect. It’s a bright, clear image that retains those attributes even when shrunk to a thumbnail size. As person scrolling by can make it out easily, but it’s only on closer examination that the ghostly reflection beside her is apparent. I’ve seen it in action when I was at the Texas Book Festival. People who saw the photo glanced at it and then gave it a second, closer look.

Original Image Taken By Amanda Spitz

For my second novel, I chose a very stark, simple image. Since “post-apocalyptic romance” isn’t exactly a genre, I was sort of on my own with this one. I found the image when I was looking through a friend’s vacation photos, and it grabbed me instantly. “The light at the end of the tunnel” encapsulates the message of my book beautifully.

We created a mockup version so we could show the graphic artist what I had in mind. Adding in the figures holding hands introduces the romantic element. The graphic artist took it a step further, making the image gritty and Impressionistic because it’s not the typical romance novel.

The resultant cover, I think, distills the story down to one visual statement that is simple and uncluttered.

Invest in Putting Your Best Foot Forward

You will lose more money having a cheesy or poorly-executed cover than you will “save” by not investing in a good graphic artist. Like editing, this is not an area to try to cut corners. This is your first introduction to readers and you want to make sure it’s a good one.

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Lissa Bryan is an astronaut, renowned Kabuki actress, Olympic pole vault gold medalist, Iron Chef champion, and scientist who recently discovered the cure for athlete’s foot … though only in her head. Real life isn’t so interesting, which is why she spends most of her time writing.

Her first novel, Ghostwriter, is available through The Writer’s Coffee Shop (which is the least expensive option), Amazon, iTunes, and Kobo. Her second novel, The End of All Things, is available through TWCS, Amazon, and iTunes. She also has a short story in the Romantic Interludes anthology, available from TWCS, Amazon and iTunes. Her third novel, Under These Restless Skies, is scheduled for release in spring of 2014.

This blog post is Copyright Lissa Bryan 2013. All rights are reserved Internationally. You may not reproduce it in any form, in part of whole, without the author’s prior written permission. That includes usage in forms such as print, audio and digital imaging including pdf, jpg, png etc. A fee may be requested for re-use if it is for a commercial venture.

If you are in the United States, donate to the Red Cross at http://redcross.org or text REDCROSS to 90999 or outside the States, please go to https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10001 Also, donate via the Salvation Army. They are reliable and always on the scene.

To help the Oklahoma Food Bank: you can text FOOD to 32333. More info at http://bit.ly/11T0OLv and Twitter @rfbo

Please reblog.

Images are from news media sources.

From the American Red Cross: “The American Red Cross is helping people in the Midwest with shelter, food, relief supplies and emotional comfort after tornadoes over the weekend destroyed homes and left thousands without power.

As many as 26 tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois and Iowa, according to the National Weather Service. Hardest hit is Oklahoma, where severe tornadoes ripped through several counties, destroying or damaging hundreds of homes and leaving as many as 35,000 in the dark. The Governor declared a state of emergency in 16 counties. The Red Cross is supporting first responders and is providing shelter, food, distributing relief items and clean-up supplies and working with local and state officials to ensure people get the help they need.

The Red Cross is also helping in Kansas, Iowa and Missouri, where storms left more than 71,000 people without power. Meanwhile, the response continues following last week’s tornadoes in Texas, where the Red Cross is still operating shelters and providing food, relief items as well as health and mental health services.

MORE STORMS POSSIBLE Meanwhile, the National Weather Service warns that the threat of severe weather continues today for millions of people in communities from Texas to the Great Lakes, moving eastward as far as the Gulf Coast and Northeast on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“These are dangerous storms and we urge people to monitor the situation closely and be alert for severe weather warnings in their community,” said Trevor Riggen, vice president of Disaster Operations and Logistics for the Red Cross. ”Tornado warnings indicate imminent danger to life and property and people should be prepared to go immediately underground to a basement, storm cellar or an interior room (closet, hallway or bathroom).” “

Reblogged from Kristen Lamb's Blog:

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Creating a core story problem is essential for any kind of fiction. Dimensional characters should have an inner want, a desire. The story problem is what shoves them out of that comfort zone and dares the character to try and maybe even fail.

There is a great quote in David Corbett's The Art of Character:

One of Constantin Stanislavski's…

Read more… 997 more words

When someone inspires you, or if you see someone who is using their writing gift to help others, please take the time to thank them publicly by giving them this award (and the rules for passing it on.)

This award is open to anyone to use. You don’t have to receive it, in order to be able to give it. Please take the details and images off this page and use it to encourage another writer. The rules for passing it on are very simple:

1. You are welcome to give it out as many times as you like, but it is only to be given to a maximum of one person per blog post. If you wish to give multiple rewards, please space the blog posts by at least a week, so the sincerity is maintained.
2. Introduce the person; say how they encourage, help or inspire you; then link to their work and/or social media profiles. There may be a specific post you wish to link to which helped you. It’s up to you.
3. Please publicise your award post to Twitter or Google Plus using the hashtag #writtenkindness so that others can find and follow the award winners.

Get the Award Badge and Code

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Boxed code from “Grab My Button” Code Generator: http://www.mycoolrealm.com/sandbox/gbgen/

This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.

It may be harder than you think! Try it. In six words, write about where you are now in your life.

Reblogged from Healing by Writing:

This post was first published on September 26, 2012.  Since I am taking a few days away from the office, I thought I'd share this one with you again.  These are all good resources for someone interested in memoir writing.  And when I return this is a post I need to update with some new finds.

 The word "memoir" is everywhere today, and everyone is telling their story -- or at least a central and important part of their life's story.

Read more… 513 more words

“Jodi Picoult, 43,is the bestselling author of seventeen novels: Songs of the Humpback Whale (1992), Harvesting the Heart (1994), Picture Perfect (1995), Mercy (1996), The Pact (1998), Keeping Faith (1999), Plain Truth (2000), Salem Falls (2001), Perfect Match (2002), Second Glance (2003), My Sister’s Keeper (2004), Vanishing Acts (2005), The Tenth Circle (2006) Nineteen Minutes (2007), Change of Heart (2008), Handle With Care (2009) and House Rules (2010).

Picoult studied creative writing with Mary Morris at Princeton, and had two short stories published in Seventeen magazine while still a student. Realism – and a profound desire to be able to pay the rent – led Picoult to a series of different jobs following her graduation: as a technical writer for a Wall Street brokerage firm, as a copywriter at an ad agency, as an editor at a textbook publisher, and as an 8th grade English teacher – before entering Harvard to pursue a master’s in education. She married Tim Van Leer, whom she had known at Princeton, and it was while she was pregnant with her first child that she wrote her first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale…”

“In 2003 she was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for Fiction. She has also been the recipient an Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association, sponsored by the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust and Booklist, one of ten books written for adults that have special appeal for young adults; the Book Browse Diamond Award for novel of the year; a lifetime achievement award for mainstream fiction from the Romance Writers of America; Cosmopolitan magazine’s ‘Fearless Fiction’ Award 2007; Waterstone’s Author of the Year in the UK, a Vermont Green Mountain Book Award, a Virginia Reader’s Choice Award, the Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award, and a Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award. She wrote five issues of the Wonder Woman comic book series for DC Comics. Her books are translated into thirty four languages in thirty five countries. Three – The Pact, Plain Truth, and The Tenth Circle, have been made into television movies. My Sister’s Keeper was a big-screen release from New Line Cinema, with Nick Cassavetes directing and Cameron Diaz starring, which is now available on DVD.

She and Tim and their three children live in Hanover, New Hampshire with three Springer spaniels, two donkeys, two geese, eight ducks, five chickens, and the occasional Holstein.” Source, her web site: http://www.jodipicoult.com.au

Let me give you an example or two. When you post a link on Facebook, whether on your timeline or page, you get an image and the best part of a long sentence.

If you use this space to say, “This is part 28 of my series on books…” your blog post may not come across as appealing to read. The same works for guest posts where you introduce people, rather than letting their message pull in interest. “Joining me today as part of the “Lessons from the Writing Life” Guest Post series is Molly Jones…” I am out of promotional space. No one sees who Molly is, or why they should use their limited time to read the post.

Google Plus works the same way. Unless you write an introductory comment to attract attention, you get a blue hotlink and the first sentence. That’s all.

Please do visit Sonia’s blog, Gutsy Living. It’s awesome. http://soniamarsh.com  That wasn’t enough either was it? Again, so much of our success in gaining promotion comes from great tag lines. “Sonia’s blog features ordinary people who overcome the challenges in their lives. It empowers me when I read it.”

If you are a Triberr user, you have yet another problem. The tag line from your blog can get in the way of Triberr promoting the first line of your post. All the readers will see for any post is “CommuniCATE features resources for writers which are published twice weekly.” That is useless. Because of this, I deleted my tag line. I noticed my share stats had dwindled and this was why. Here is what a well done post on Triberr looks like. (You may prefer no hashtags in the title.)

So think about what you put in that all important space. It will make a significant difference.

This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.

No images on this blog may be copied, captured, or altered for your own purpose without the consent of the originating owner. 

Last week, to put action behind my preaching, I got onto Amazon and bought several tantalising ebooks which are below. Click on the cover to buy the book.

Please, take the time to do the same.

This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.

The site has books, starter kits and other resources available.

Journaling prompts also has a sister site, http://creativewritingprompts.com