Book Cover Illustrations

I was a bit perplexed yesterday when I stumbled upon a new “answer” site called ChaCha that attempts to answer questions put to it (I’d been searching for info about a client and was searching with my name as part of the search parameters, and ended at this page). Here’s the question posed to the […]

What typeface is best for laying out the text in a book? Like spices, the ideal typeface for text adds a little flavor but not so much as to overwhelm. Some of the best picks are older types that have stood the test of time: Baskerville, some flavor of Garamond, or a modern version of […]

Well, every once in a while a serious ego-stroke comes down the pike. And this cover article of the March Pen & Profit$ magazine has to be one of those. Just the “Master of Illustration” part of the title does the trick without reading another word, right? On the flip side, it is a tad […]

We recently completed the cover for Kenneth Fore’s action adventure novel The Wolf Tattoo. The Synopsis: A man’s impromptu journey into the Alaskan wilderness is life changing when he tangles with a grizzly and an Eskimo woman who thwarts his attempts to escape. She takes him on an unforgettable journey where they must fight wilderness […]

I recently had the pleasure of creating the book cover illustration and layout for Anthony Pacheco’s novel Wælcyrie Murders, the second book in the Lexus Toulouse science fiction mystery series. Here’s the blurb that sets up the story: “Out of the Gifford-Pinchot Forest stumbles a wælcyrie, shot with irradiated bullets, and radiation poisoned unto death. […]

Creating the cover for Kerry D. King’s novel HIM was one of those journeys that seemed to take those involved into several different worlds, each prettier than the last. Based on actual events that happened in 1974, the book has a magical view of the world and, as such, needed a somewhat mystical or even […]

Here are a few articles that may be of help to those wanting to self-publish their books: Do you want to self-publish or go with a vanity press — and what are the differences? Self-Publishing & Vanity Publishing: Confuse Them and Pay the Price Type Size and Leading, White Space and Page Color Book Design […]

Everyone understands that a quality book cover is the new gatekeeper that helps would-be buyers decide whether or not a book is worth spending money on. Put a poor cover illustration on your book and sales will be poor. But what happens if you’re on a very limited budget and can’t afford to hire an […]

I recently completed the cover and inner illustrations for my novel Lesser Gods (which is a free download from Jan. 23-26, 2013 along with software/apps to read it on about any computer, tablet, or smartphone made — as well as a Kindle at Amazon.com). I’ve been writing, revising, and reworking this science fiction novel on […]

I’ve always liked having “extras” in the way of ornamentation, icons, and illustrations in books, so when I did the Kindle layout for my new science fiction novel Lesser Gods, I created a set of icons that would appear at the top of each chapter. (Figuring out how to get Kindle to center and size […]