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Cathi Stevenson wrote a new blog post: Image Desperation: The Kiss of Death for Independent Publishers 12 months ago
The book cover is the first thing people see when they are browsing in bricks and mortar bookstores or online. It’s often the first impression people have of the book. While those books released by large publishing houses might have been pre-sold via reviews or the fact they have a celebrity author, few independently published books [...] -
Cathi Stevenson commented on the blog post Book Cover Design An Important Marketing Tool 1 year ago
Hmmm, what I wouldn’t give for an edit button right now: “an” not “a”….”its” not “it’s”…I’ll let you do the rest yourselves.
I have a guy here fixing my roof and my dogs want to eat him, so I’m a bit distracted running back and forth.
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Cathi Stevenson commented on the blog post Book Cover Design An Important Marketing Tool 1 year ago
But this is the difference between a “artist’s vision” (writer, designer, illustrator)and a project manager. Money is tight, not everyone has the money to experiment, so from a business point of view it pays to play it safe. I can think of no book that blew it’s competition out of the water based only on [...]
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Cathi Stevenson commented on the blog post Book Cover Design An Important Marketing Tool 1 year ago
The cover sells the book to bookstore owners who do buy based only on cover in the instance Jerry has described, but quite often author name, will also. They will order the next Stephen King without looking at the cover, or liking it. Also, those advance covers often change (many times) before the publishing date. [...]
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Cathi Stevenson commented on the blog post Book Cover Design An Important Marketing Tool 1 year ago
The self-publisher is also the project manager. It’s a difficult, complex and often thankless job that many authors don’t even know exists.
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Cathi Stevenson commented on the blog post Book Cover Design An Important Marketing Tool 1 year ago
Thank you for your well-written response, Arthur. It’s nice to know someone read my article. I believe my profile here does disclose that I am a cover designer, and there is no intent to disguise that fact, but having said that, I am not here seeking work, so I won’t promote my own covers or [...]
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Cathi Stevenson wrote a new blog post: Book Cover Design An Important Marketing Tool 1 year ago
Book covers are important marketing tools for publishers. It’s difficult to gauge actual sales made on cover design alone, but there have been numerous anecdotal stories from major publishers that clearly demonstrate the impact a strong cover design can have. Penguin discovered the power of the cover in the late ’90s when the company hired [...] -
Cathi Stevenson commented on the blog post Amazon Has Some REAL Good News and They Have Some Great News for e-Textbook and eBook Users 1 year, 2 months ago
That should read “…REALLY good news…,” not “…”REAL” good news…”. Pet peeve.
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Cathi Stevenson commented on the blog post Publish With Lightning Source 1 year, 9 months ago
Aaron, trapping is discussed briefly on page 23 of LSI’s PDF File Creation Guide.
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Cathi Stevenson commented on the blog post Ten More Things Book Designers Probably Won’t Tell You 1 year, 11 months ago
This is on the blurb.com site:
* Combine the speed and ease of a digital workflow with offset look and feel and true photo quality
* Maintain CMYK color space from design to print, avoiding conversion to sRGB
* Enjoy superb photo quality with excellent tone transition, deep color saturation, and crisp and clear typography -
Cathi Stevenson commented on the blog post Ten More Things Book Designers Probably Won’t Tell You 1 year, 11 months ago
Yeah, Joel, there are a few companies that were doing that a while ago, but they’ve since stopped because it was causing problems. I’m not familiar with the company you’ve mentioned, not sure what they’re printing with, but most printers won’t accept RGB files. Some colors transfer fine, though. It’s purples, pinks, greens and oranges [...]
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Cathi Stevenson commented on the blog post Ten Secrets of Professional Book Cover Designers 1 year, 11 months ago
Hi Christina, thanks for your comment. They do look a little tight on second glance. I had a well-respected designer friend recently criticize me for leaving a bit too much space, LOL so maybe I’m overcompensating (my fault to doing things in a hurry). But, on book covers it’s quite often necessary to make things [...]
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Cathi Stevenson wrote a new blog post: Ten More Things Book Designers Probably Won’t Tell You 1 year, 11 months ago
by Cathi Stevenson My first article, Ten Secrets of Professional Book Cover Designers, discussed some of the nuances that give a book that polished look, so often missing from independent publishing projects. These “tricks of the trade” are not limited to the front cover of a book though, and there are many ways to enhance the look and [...]
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Cathi Stevenson wrote a new blog post: Got it Covered? Avoid Common Mistakes in Designing Your Book’s Cover 2 years, 1 month ago
by CATHI STEVENSON Studying good book covers is not difficult. What’s difficult – at least for many novice publishers and project managers, is to discern what constitutes a bad cover and to avoid those things. Most poor cover designs can be explained by a simple lack of knowledge. One of the most common errors is using [...] -
Cathi Stevenson wrote a new blog post: Ten Secrets of Professional Book Cover Designers 2 years, 1 month ago
by CATHI STEVENSON BOOK REVIEWERS notice it. Bookstore owners notice it. Distributors pick right up on it. Online bookstores avoid it. Customers shun it and don’t even know why. What is it? Bad book cover design. Nothing says “amateur” faster and more effectively than a poorly designed book cover. Even well-chosen fonts and high quality images…[Read more] -
Cathi Stevenson commented on the blog post Self-Published Design Review:Jillian’s Gold by Levi Montgomery
Okay, with a look at future books, here’s what I’d avoid: placing an abstract image that’s eating the cover. The image doesn’t tell me anything about the book, which is fine except for the fact the title isn’t either. The image is the only…
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Cathi Stevenson posted on the forum topic Self-Publishers: Submit Your Book for a Design Review in the group Book Design for Self-Publishers:
Can someone tell me how to find a particular cover and exactly where to post comments on it? I mean, I see the links, but where is the discussion?
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Cathi Stevenson joined the group New Media Publishing 2 years, 4 months ago
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Cathi Stevenson posted on the forum topic DIY or Hire it out? in the group Book Design for Self-Publishers:
Reading the endless threads on Lulu and CreateSpace concerning the mishaps that occur when people try to understand the technical formatting of a book (never mind the design) I have to say that sometimes it's cheaper to pay with money.
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