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Writing

How to Make a Book Cover: Ideas, Examples, and Problem Points

December 12, 2022

art, book, fiction, literature, marketing, writing

There are many things troubling indie authors looking to self-publish, and one of them is undeniably how to make a book cover. More importantly, how to make a book cover that is both marketable and true to the art.

As you might have noticed from past posts, I have a pretty strong opinion regarding the balance between being a writer and being an artist. In a nutshell, I consider the two mutually exclusive, though in this imperfect world most of us try to find a balance between the two.

And making a book cover that supports your novel is definitely a matter of balance.

Should you go for aesthetic meaning or mere eye-catchiness? Should you prefer familiar, known solutions or something more unique, drawing attention? Perhaps the simpler the better?

We’ll take a look at these and much more in this post. I’ll share with you all I’ve learned about making a book cover that both serves its marketing purpose and respects your art. From book cover examples (drawing on my own painful experience) and ideas on how to proceed, to more general – dare I say, philosophical – problem points having to do with book covers, there’s certainly something interesting for you.

As a bonus, I’ll also share with you my most favorite book cover of all time!

This is the same cover image you can see on my post self-assessing my work. The evolution of my book cover designs is also interesting to follow, from the oldest (top left) to the newest (bottom right)

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A False Start Versus a Failed Project

November 14, 2022

Writing

book, creativity, fiction, literature, society, writing

One of the cornerstones of becoming better is completing things. There are sadly many people who begin something full of enthusiasm, yet sooner or later abandon it because it has become too difficult. Then they start something new, only to soon quit as well. The vicious cycle then continues, and they never (or rarely) complete anything. But there are crucial differences between a false start and a failed project, and learning to recognize them is pivotal for learning how to complete things.

Indeed, as societies we don’t talk enough about quitting. We don’t talk about learning how to abandon something when you have to. We seem to live in a world teaching people how not to quit. Instead, we should learn how to do it – properly.

And so, in this post, I’ll draw on my own experiences with false starts and failed projects, to show you how we can separate them.

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Living with Typos and Errors in Writing

October 17, 2022

Writing

art, book, creativity, fiction, writing

As it’s often said, if you want to discover a typo in your text, simply publish it; it will make itself visible immediately. The truth is, typos and other errors in writing are inevitable. They are a necessary evil. Should we fix them? Yes. Should we worry? No.

I see this with many processes. In photography, you get people agonizing over the sharpness of their lenses – going as far as wasting their time photographing diagrams. The miracle that is language – a living organism – has produced a fantastic word for such people: measurebator.

Also in music, there are people who worry over the most minute details – their strings, their pickups, and whether the fretboard is of this or that wood.

Do these matter?

Allow me to reply with my standard example: Slash sounds better with a Gibson Les Paul and a proper amp than with a Hello Kitty guitar and a toy amp. But not having a Gibson Les Paul is not the reason why I don’t sound like Slash.

Again: Yes, we should fix typos when we see them. But there are far more important things to worry about.

typos and errors in writing — This is one of my best photos. It’s technically flawed (for reasons beyond the scope of the post), but it serves its **artistic** purpose. Similarly with texts, typos, and other errors in writing are of course annoying, but not a deal breaker

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