Book Cover Illustrations

I’ve been working in the publishing business for several decades. While I’m now making my living mostly as a book illustrator, I’ve had the good fortune to see over 100 of my own books go to print, including 12 novels with HarperCollins and another with Avon, and a slew of technical books and how-to manuals with Paladin Press, Delta Press, Lyons Press/Globe Pequot, and others.

I’ve had the pleasure of ghostwriting over a dozen titles for TV, radio, and stage celebrities. Some of my technical manuals even wandered into the private libraries of the CIA, US Marines, FEMA, the FBI’s FTU (Firearms Training Unit), and other government agencies. Excerpts from a couple of my books have appeared in US Congressional hearings (this last possibly being in the “mixed blessings” column).

Part of my success has been due to powers beyond my control; I was at the right place at the right time and the Lord took pity on my feeble efforts. Some of the gigs were due to the need for illustrations with text — I could supply both and thus landed some jobs by default. Being ready to tackle a job at a moment’s notice when it’s offered has been key sometimes.

But my biggest secret for success, and one any budding writer or even a pro can always put to good use, is persistence. I’ve seen talented writers fall to the wayside because they lacked the ability to keep on keeping on; I’ve seen less talented authors get into print because they pushed ever forward no matter what the difficulties.

Persistence is the key to getting into print.

One secret built on this, which I recommend for any writer to follow, is to set a daily “quota” of pages to write, and then stick to it. Write that many pages of rough draft each day. Inspired or not, sick or well, your quota of pages must be produced.

The number of pages in your quota is up to you — make it something you have time to do. It might be one page. It might be ten. But whatever the number, try to write that many pages each day.

And within a year (or perhaps much sooner), you’ll have a book manuscript.

One other trick I’ve employed to get started writing at the start of the day is to review the last ten pages I’ve written the day before, making changes and corrections as I go through the material. By the time I reach the end of my proofing, I’m almost always ready to commence writing new material.

If you want to become a published author, you must have something to publish. Folks who are going to write a book when they have the time almost never do. The people writing their book will eventually have something to show for their efforts.

Make the time to write, and then make yourself write during that time. You can’t wait for the Muse to arrive. Instead you grab her by the hair and drag her to the party. Persistence is the key to producing your manuscript.

Ditto for submitting that manuscript to publishers — or self publishing it. Neither can happen if you don’t take steps to make it happen. The world won’t beat a path to your door to ask if you have a manuscript buried in a desk drawer. You must send your collection of pages on their appointed rounds.

And if you’re persistent, each rejection takes you one step closer to success.

If you want to be a successful author, learn to keep on keeping on.

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Duncan Long has worked for several decades as a writer/illustrator with 12 novels published by HarperCollins and over 1,000 book and magazine illustrations published (HarperCollins, Asimov Science Fiction Magazine, Pocket Books, ILEX, Moonstone Books, etc., etc.) See Long’s book illustrations at: Duncan’s Book Illustration Portfolio
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Good book layout is partly an art but mostly a craft. This is especially true of the inner pages where things have been done pretty much the same way since Gutenberg cranked out his first books. If a designer knows and applies the rules, the reward is book text that “looks right.” If the rules are ignored, the result is an amateurish layout that can be painful to see, and which reflects poorly on the author and his book.

Fortunately, the rules aren’t too hard to learn.

I recently discovered a site that has the rules spelled out for the reader in a very enjoyable and admirable manner (reflecting in large part not only the knowledge of the writer, but also his ability to properly sling text onto the page).

Author/designer Dave Bricker has written six excellent articles in regard to the basics (and beyond) involved in laying out the text in a book. Those engaged in such work would do well to study these articles and apply the rules to their own work. Rather than parrot and rework the material in these articles, I decided it best to simply direct readers to the original articles:

Book Design Basics Part 1: Margins and Leading
Book Design Basics Part 2: Optical Margins, Indents and Periods
Book Design Basics Part 3: Running The Numbers
Book Design Basics Part 4: Dashes, Hyphens and Dots
Book Design Basics Part 5: Small Capitals – Avoiding Capital Offenses
Book Design Basics Part 6: Drop Caps and Initial Impressions

Finally, I should note that while one often hears the old say that rules are made to be broken. In this case, a designer ignore the rules only if he hopes his work appears to have been laid out by a yokel.

A graphic designer Ignore the rules of good book design at his own risk.

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Although best know for his book illustration work, Duncan Long also lays outs book cover text and occasionally whole books including the text. View samples of his book layouts — as well as his illustrations — at Duncan Long’s Book Cover Portfolio
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Some time back book author and screen writer John Chadwell sent me a photo (above) that I thought I’d share. As you can see, he’s standing in front of the book and graphic novel covers I created for his action-adventure novel and graphic novel.

And, yes, that’s his Facebook page showing there on the monitor at the lower right.

John has a lot to smile about with both the scripts for these stories making the rounds in Hollywood.

I’ve joined him in crossing fingers with the hope that Hunt of the Seawolves and The Werewolves of New Idria will soon be coming to a theater near you.

(You may also wish to see some of the artwork that went into the graphic novel version of The Werewolves of New Idria.)

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Duncan Long is a novel cover artist and graphic novel illustrator with book cover artwork appearing with PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Moonstone Books, HarperCollins, and many self-published authors. See more of Duncan’s book cover artwork and graphic novel illustrations at: Duncan’s Book Cover Illustrations and Graphic Novel Artwork
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Ebooks did well in 2011, and I suspect with all the ebook readers that were handed out by Santa Claus this Christmas, they’ll be in very solid footing in 2012. Many in the publishing industry are expecting that in the not too distant future, ebooks will be outselling print in most markets with the exception of the “coffee table” books with lots of pictures, over-sized layouts, or such where print will likely remain king for some time to come.

2011 also saw several unknown authors break out and sell over a million ebooks with their new titles and self-marketing sans agent and big publishing house. So it appears there really is a major upside potential for self-publishing authors in 2012. It will be interesting to see how many more break this million-sales barrier. .

I think there are several key elements that can help improve the selling potential of any title whether self published or printed by a large established press. The first is the self-promotion of the book – and to some extent the author – to potential buyers.

The second is to be sure the book is well written and carefully edited before going to print. Of course big presses pretty much handle this angle (though they expect manuscripts to be pretty error free when submitted — which was not the case 50 years ago when a lot of the polishing and proofing was done by the publisher). Consequently, authors wanting their book to do well in today’s marketplace often find themselves hiring someone to proof and perhaps even editor their manuscript.

The third essential is that the book should have a professional, attractive layout, especially with the cover. While most large presses do well with this, I can tell horror stories — and it seems a sizable chunk of my business in 2011 came from authors looking for a cover illustration that was better than that offered by the press handling their title.

And there’s little wonder that savvy author’s are concerned about the cover for their book. An attractive cover can be key to a book’s success these days. Competition is intense with more and more authors self publishing. Because of this, the quality of the cover has become the new “gatekeeper” by which potential buyers/readers of a book judge its quality. This is especially true for fiction.

If an author wants to meet with success, then no little effort needs to be placed toward achieving each of these key components. That’s the only way for an author to get ahead of the pack and have a chance of making serious money, especially in the case of a self-published book.

The old idea that an author can simply write a good story and then meet with great success is long past (if it ever was true). Today an author must carefully polish his manuscript, promote the tome, and be sure it has a professional layout and cover if it is to have any chance for becoming a runaway hit.

Here’s wishing my readers and clients a very prosperous 2012 — with lots of new ebooks and print books that soar as high and free as their authors want them to.

====================
Duncan Long creates book cover illustrations and often lays out entire covers for presses and self-publishing authors. His work appears on books from HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Moonstone Books, and Enslow Publishers. See more of his illustrations and book cover design at Duncan Long’s Book Cover Portfolio
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Working with an illustrator or artist to create a quality book cover is a big deal, especially for indie and self-publishing authors. The quality of the cover is the new “gatekeeper” that helps readers decide whether a book is going to be worth buying.

A good book cover illustration and layout will attract buyers; a bad cover guarantees poor sales.

Here’s an article that gives the scoop on how to work with an artist to create a kick-butt book cover illustration.

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Duncan Long is a book cover illustrator for many self-publishing authors and indie publishers as well as larger presses including HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, and Enslow Publishers. You can see his illustrations online at Duncan Long’s Book Illustration Portfolio

Portal #2-C

I normally create realistic illustrations for my clients to employ as book cover artwork, CD covers, and so forth. But recently a writer contacted me and asked if I had any abstract pictures that might serve as cover artwork for his book.

My answer, “Yes, if I can locate them on my hard drive.”

I eventually did find them, and I thought I’d share them here since they’re rare birds among the work I’ve done. The original picture was titled “Portal Into Consciousness” (or simply “Portal”) but soon became a group of pictures as I work and reworked various ideas built about the original concept.

The basic seed for all this was built from a 3D disk I created using zBrush. This object was then rendered with a glass surface with lights shining on it. The resulting JPG that was then further modified in my “paint program” of choice PhotoPaint. I eventually had a number of variations built around this basic idea.

My favorites from the Portal series are shown above and below.

I have discovered there’s a fine, and somewhat odd, line between abstract and realistic. For example, I used one of these Portal pictures as a background with a figure standing in front of it for an illustration in my book Witches and Fish. Thus, the abstract painting became part of a realistic illustration, and actually fit in quite well.

Arguably, in an age when science fiction and fantasy stories teach us to expect unusual sights and accept them as “real,” the line between abstract and realistic becomes quite flexible.

Portal #3

Portal #3-B

Portal #3-C "Gold"

Portal #6-B

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Normally Duncan Long creates realistic illustrations for cover and inner artwork for magazines and books. His artwork has appeared in publications from HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, ILEX, Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Sun tabloid, and many other presses and self-publishing authors. See more of Duncan’s illustrations at: Duncan’s Book Illustration Portfolio
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"Lost, Under the Sea" - a book illustration from Witches and Fish by Duncan Long

Jenna Elizabeth Johnson regularly interviews book illustrators (and authors) at her blog. Here’s her interview of me.

Thanks, Jenna!

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Duncan Long creates book covers artwork and cover illustrations for self-publishing authors and indie publishers as well as larger established presses like HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Moonstone Books, Pocket Books, and Enslow Publishers. You can see his artwork online at Duncan Long’s Illustration Portfolio

Life would be much easier if a guy had that proverbial crystal ball that enabled glimpses of the future. However, we have the next best thing these days: Experts and surveys that can often point the way we’re going, as well as tell us what it is we’re going toward. Here are several excellent articles that give readers a heads up for the coming year.

Authormedia.com took a survey of book publishing experts to create its Publishing Predictions for 2012.

Aptara’s 3rd Annual Survey of Ebook Publishers gives a good look at the likely direction ebooks will be taking in the next year.

And download and take a look at Ruediger Wischenbart’s The Global eBook Market, a free PDF report produced by O’Reilly Media.

Here’s an insight into how many authors are making fantastic money through Kindle sales of their books: The New Midlist: Self-published E-book Authors Who Earn a Living

And finally, a look at how books can be marketed in the Internet age: The Tim Ferriss Effect.

It’s my hope that the various ebook formats will get winnowed into just two or three in the coming year — though more likely it will take several years before the dust clears with one or two clear winners emerging. That said, many publishers and self-publishing authors are discovering that Kindle and one or two other formats generate the lion’s share of sales — with the others being more work to format books into than they’re worth. If this trend continues, it’s likely that eventually just a few formats will be left standing.

Right now the best bets are Kindle (which is a modified Mobi format and as such rather long in the tooth and more than a bit limited) and the newer but nearly as awkward EPUB.

Sadly all the ebook formats in use right now are crude when compared to print layouts. But there’s a ray of hope for those wanting to see ebooks with quality layout, different typefaces (rather than one or two dictated by the reading device), and illustrations: Larger tablet computers are arriving on the scene, and these are capable of reading PDF files (without processing them into a different format), and have screens large enough to allow reading books in their original PDF/print formats (with the option to zoom in on graphics for added detail).

Of course larger tablets won’t appeal to those reading novels or books with few illustrations. Sure a tablet can handle the task, but being larger and heavier than regular ebook devices, tablets aren’t as portable. But for those wishing to read books having pictures and artful layout — as well as graphic novels and comics — the larger tablets may pave the way for quality layout in ebooks that rivals that of print. (And as someone who’s interested in seeing quality illustrations in many of the books I read, I’ll cross my fingers and hope this type of larger tablet reader coupled with the PDF format will eventually become a serious contender in the ebook market.)

In the meantime, 2012 is likely to be a Kindle/Nook/iPad world for those wanting to read ebooks consisting mostly of text.

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Duncan Long loves creating book covers and layouts for print and ebooks. His illustrations appear on book covers from HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Moonstone Books, Pocket Books, and Enslow Publishers as well as on the covers of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine and The Sun tabloid. Check out his artwork at Duncan Long’s Portfolio
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Ebooks did well in 2011, and I suspect with all the ebook readers that were handed out by Santa Claus this Christmas, they’ll be in very solid footing in 2012. Many in the publishing industry are expecting that in the not too distant future, ebooks will be outselling print in most markets with the exception of the “coffee table” books with lots of pictures, over-sized layouts, or such where print will likely remain king for some time to come.

2011 also saw several unknown authors break out and sell over a million ebooks with their new titles and self-marketing sans agent and big publishing house. So it appears there really is a major upside potential for self-publishing authors in 2012. It will be interesting to see how many more break this million sales barrier..

I think there are several key elements that can help improve the selling potential of any title whether self published or printed by a large established press. The first is the self-promotion of the book – and to some extent the author – to potential buyers.

The second is to be sure the book is well written and carefully edited before going to print. Of course big presses pretty much handle this angle (though they expect manuscripts to be error free when submitted — which was not the case 50 years ago when a lot of the polishing and proofing was done by the publisher). Consequently, authors wanting their book to do well in today’s marketplace often find themselves hiring someone to proof and perhaps even edit their manuscript.

The third essential is that the book should have a professional, attractive layout, especially with the cover. Most large presses handle this for their authors. However this is another task the self-publishing author must handle — and it seems a sizable chunk of my business in 2011 came from authors looking for a cover illustration (and a few from authors looking for a cover superior to that offered by the press handling their title).

It’s little wonder that savvy authors are concerned about the quality of the cover for their book. An attractive cover can be key to a book’s success these days. Competition is intense with more and more authors self publishing. Because of this, the quality of the cover has become the new “gatekeeper” by which potential buyers/readers of a book judge its quality. This is especially true for fiction.

If an author wants to meet with success, then no little effort needs to be placed toward achieving each of these key components. That’s the only way for an author to get ahead of the pack and have a chance of making serious money, especially in the case of a self-published book.

The old idea that an author can simply write a good story and then meet with great success is long past (if it ever was true). Today an author must carefully polish his manuscript, promote the tome, and be sure it has a professional layout and cover if it is to have any chance for becoming a runaway hit.

Here’s wishing my readers and clients a very prosperous 2012 — with lots of new ebooks and print books that soar as high and free as their authors want them to.

====================
Duncan Long creates book cover illustrations and often lays out entire covers for presses and self-publishing authors. His work appears on books from HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Moonstone Books, and Enslow Publishers. See more of his illustrations and book cover design at Duncan Long’s Book Cover Portfolio
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I received word this week that a typeface I’d designed (“Back In the USSR”) is being employed on the film poster (and possibly with the credits) for In the Land of Blood and Honey.

The movie marks the screen writing/directing debut of Angelina Jolie and has already won The Producers Guild of America’s 2012 Stanley Kramer Award and recently received a Golden Globe nomination. Set in the 1990s during the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, In the Land of Blood and Honey. is likely to be an eye-opener to many film goers. It’s a privilege to have played even a very tiny part in the marketing of the movie.

It was a bit of a surprise to learn my typeface was on the movie poster. I’d forgotten about giving permission to use the typeface to The Ant Farm (a Los Angeles design group). The designers were pretty tight-lipped about what project the typeface would be used with and I had assumed it was some small indie movie. So I’d pretty much forgotten all about it until I got a phone call Wednesday saying that the “check was in the mail” for the use of the font.

Then the bombshell: By the way, the typeface is on the movie poster for the new Angelina Jolie movie.

What?

I’ll admit it: My first thought was that someone was playing a joke on me. However after locating the movie poster online and seeing my typeface, the reality began to sink it.

Even more surprising was discovering my typeface (in red in the photo below) behind these two little-known actors. Again there was a certain feeling that perhaps this was some sort of hoax with my typeface added after the fact to the publicity shot.

Publicity poster for In the Land of Blood and Honey showing Back In the USSR typeface (in red).

My “Back In the USSR” typeface continues to be available (free for personal use — commercial users must ask permission from me and pay a fee for the use of the font) at dafont.com.

I created the typeface a few years ago for Issue 4 of my Critica Grafica magazine. To ease my graphic design needs, I added a number of “extras” to the letter set including the faces of Lenin and Stalin, a hammer/sickle, stars, and an AK-47 as well as alternate letters — all with an eye toward making the typeface have the stiff, communist feel of the various sans serif types appearing on propaganda posters that were so prevalent during the Cold War..

After getting the magazine rounded up, I decided to share the typeface. In doing so, I never expected anything like the popularity the font would enjoy; according to dafont.com’s count, the typeface had been downloaded 78,935 times to date from dafont — with many additional downloads from other sites,

And to my great surprise, one of those downloading the typeface would eventually use the font for a movie poster — Angelina Jolie’s In the Land of Blood and Honey.

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When not designing typefaces and fonts for movie poster designers and magazine editors, Duncan Long creates concept artwork for movies as well as book cover illustrations. See his movie concept artwork and illustrations at: Duncan Long’s Portfolio
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