I had some short stories, poems and photographs to share ... and so here I am

A Photo of the Vision of the Cover of the Book

 

What a cool job that would be! Designing book covers! What fun! As you can see, I've been playing around with that photo I published in a previous post, trying to get an idea of whether it might work as a cover. What do you think? It's good to have a vision in case I go down the self-publishing road, which can't be ruled out of course. I didn't hear back from that publishing house in Australia this week. Ho hum.

I know it's futile to make a cover for a book that doesn't yet exist. But isn't there something to be said for visualising what we want? Well, every little thing helps I suppose. I was prompted to do this after seeing the wonderful covers that Pundy and LM Noonan came up with for their novels. Check out their sites.

I'm off to Dublin today for a five-day visit. I'm taking the laptop with me - even though it's a pain to drag around - so I can get a bit of writing done while I'm there. I've decided to crack on with a new project after putting another one aside. Sometimes when the writing gets hard and the plot doesn't seem to be coming together, I find it's better to just put it down and focus on something else. That something else seems strong and possible and I'm eager to get the words down. That's a good sign. But don't worry, I haven't jumped ahead and thought about a cover for this new story. Give me at least the weekend to think about it! Hey, easy tiger!

16 comments:

Pallav said...

Nice and simple cover, but one look at it and i see too much noise in terms of colour. So many green leaves kind of make it look all crunched up.

Hope you are clicking pics in Dublin and may be try more variations in the picture!

Have a nice trip!

N

S. Kearney said...

Hi Nothingman,
Yes, a real cover would probably be a bit more abstract ... the photo becoming a soft background. Not sure how the leaves can be less noisy though ... there are so many of them! Straight photos are always hard to put on covers I think ... French books tend to have them in a box, centred, with the text in the white parts at top and bottom over cover. What fun though to play with this. Bring on the real graphic designers I say.

Unknown said...

I see what NM is saying, but it is a gorgeous pictire. A striking image would be something perhaps representative of the title?

Hope you enjoy your spell in Dublin - had I known, we could have had an Irish blogmoot - all two of us :) Dublin is only an hour away on the train!

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

I love the cover. It makes me want to go there. The colors that you added give it life and warmth... depth. Like a firelight in the window of a house that was dark; I think it looks great just like that. Makes me curious about what's going on inside. Makes me want to step up silently under that tree and look in the window.

The bush, tree and fence all lend a shroud of mystery to the house and the secrets that it has held for unmeasured time. My vote is to keep it. There is shadow and light, mystery and warmth, and there are hidden secrets. It beckons. Very good.

And... it is not futile to make the cover before the book is done. It is planning. It is visualizing. It is shaping and structuring. I think it's proactive; believing outside the box, knowing what will be. It gives a sense of possibility and realization, and a home for the words that you will build within it.

Scarlett & Viaggiatore

S. Kearney said...

Cailleach,
Yes, the image is the house in my story ... the character's refuge. :|)
And re Dublin and a blogmoot! I didn't even think about that ... but I'm here on Monday and Tuesday ... name a time and a place! I'm on if you have the time. :|)

Wanderlust,
Thank you so much for this feedback ... and I'm glad you like it. Yes, there is something warm in the colour ... there's a scene in the book where he comes across the house, his refuge, and he sees it almost like a painting ... hence that look. :|)

Unknown said...

Nice cover. But I think it's too direct. Yeah, something abstract would be good. And I don't quite agree with the fonts. Maybe something more creative. And it also depends on the mood of your story. And yeah, it's kinda bright. Subtle colours would be good. Don't know whether yours is a happy or gloomy story. So, can't quite say. :)

L.M.Noonan said...

What about desaturating the green of the rsemary? bush in the foreground so that it does'nt steal from the olive tree?
As for the font...it might need the tiniest darker edge, so that the white holds its own agint the picture.
Overall, i really like the design, it just needs some tweaking..
Enjoy yourself in Dublin, give Barbara a hug from me. And I really hope this book cover visualisation thingy works.
Which ozzie publisher did you approach?

S. Kearney said...

Puresunshine,
Welcome and hope you can call by again. Thanks for your comment on the cover ... it was really only a stab at it ... not being a graphic designer and all. I imagine if a pro got the photo they would know how to do something snazzy. Good to have some kind of vision though.

LMN,
I think I will leave all that up to the professionals when the million dollar book contract is signed. They will do a super job with the pic ... or maybe give it a horrible cheap cartoon look! Eeeks. :-) Oh and the Ozzie publisher was Allen and Unwin. You can check out their Friday pitch at their website. It's a great idea. And she (the publisher) did get back to me with a personal rejection via email ... she just said she hadn't picked up on any of the first chapters sent to her that week. Onwards and upwards.

Liz Dwyer said...

I think it's a wonderful idea to think of the cover for your book. Envisioning such things can keep you going, keep you motivated. It's making all your hard work and dreams become real.

S. Kearney said...

Hi Liz,
Yes, the power of visualisation. If you can't see it, you won't get it! Good to have you call by. :-)

Michelle | Bleeding Espresso said...

I think it's a great idea to visualize the cover. Something to keep in your mind as you type, type, type...a goal to work toward even.

I love the colors and the photo, maybe a bit softer around everything except the olive tree, which stays in focus? Nah. I like it just the way it is as it's *your* view that matters.

Happy writing!

S. Kearney said...

Nice words, Sognatrice ... thanks. Yeah, I suppose not bad for a first try at a book cover, eh? :-) Would be totally different when a publishing house got their hands on it though!

Art Durkee said...

Speaking as someone who occasionally does book design and illustration for a living, not too bad, not too bad at all. The image is actually fairly good, painterly in a way that evokes the lushness of some of Matisse and Cezanne and Renoir. The color isn't too much, for me.

The real problem here is the typeface. It's too big, too tall, too thin, and too bland. It also needs to be better placed. This is actually why the artwork seems to be a problem, even when it's not. It's the type.

A shorter, denser, bold or semibold in all caps or small caps would move the title up all the way into the tree, so it didn't overlap the roofline of the house, half-hidden behind hte tree. A more modern-looking yet still classic typeface might better suit the style and tone of the book, if I am guessing correctly. Weiss Semibold would work, but so would Stone Informal Semibold. Also, make "the" much smaller than the other words in the title.

Similarly, put your name on two lines so that it lies entirely over the grass on the lower left; if the name bleeds over onto the fence, it becomes less visible.

It's also that the type is white-on-color. Pick a color out of the artwork, such as that jacaranda blue or that darker lavendar, and use the theory of contrasting colors. That windowframe red would be great for the title type against the green of the tree, for example. For your name, darker green on that light green would look good.

Well, I didn't intend to critique your cover design, but oops! Anyway, overall I think it's great. I certainly am in the camp that thinks pre-design can be very helpful.

Best wishes—

S. Kearney said...

Hi Art, thanks for your wonderful feedback here! You've made some great points and now I want YOU to design the cover if it's ever published! :-) I am definitely not a graphic designer, but it was fun to just have a little play with this. Thanks for taking the time to give such wonderful feedback.

Art Durkee said...

My pleasure, And about the book design, I'd be more than happy to. Just let me know, when it's time.

I think you actually did a great job on your cover concept, overall, and I DO agree that it's important to get the author's input on these things. It's the same thing with designing art for CDs, which I also do: you gotta talk to the band, and you gotta listen to the music; otherwise, it can be totally out of left field.

S. Kearney said...

Thanks again, Art. I will keep you in mind if this thing ever comes to fruition! :-)