Cover Design for T.R. Verten – A Co-operative Working Model #bookcovers

T.R. Verten is a novelist with whom I had the pleasure of sharing a publisher – Republica Press.  As publishers change, covers must be changed as well, because the cover is IP that has usually been paid for and is owned by the publisher, not by the author. I asked T.R. to allow me to […]

Chip Kidd on Book Covers

Best quote: “don’t treat people like they’re idiots” Chip Kidd at Offset 2009 on designing book covers   And my tribute to a James Ellroy:  

The Challenge – Redefine the Regency Romance Cover #bookcovers

A couple of historical romance authors challenged me to offer an alternative to the ubiquitous ‘girl with a flounce’ covers on most historical romances. Doing this right would involve paying my father’s old friends in the antique business a visit – I could only work with what I could find lying around on the web. […]

My Disaster Cover #bookcovers

After writing the last post, Sandrine Lopez, (@sanpezzers) tweeted and asked if I’d ever had an experience of having to live with a bad cover and  would I do a post on it. I have to confess, this cover is so bad, it has tainted how I feel about the story as a whole. The […]

Cover-rage: Why Writers Need to Care about Covers #bookcovers

I had a horrible nightmare last week. I dreamed that my novel was released with a cover featuring a blonde bimbo with fake tits sandwiched between two rambo clones. I could see it so clearly, in all its revoltingly literal, misleading, exploitative glory. The scrolled, wedding-invite font was the last straw. I broke through into […]