Book Cover Illustrations

So you’ve written your great American novel. And despite its merits, you can’t get it edged past the glut of manuscripts now flooding every major publishing house. You’re convinced your book has merit. You decide to publish. Now what? First you need to understand that you face an uphill battle when it comes to marketing […]

Choosing the right typeface (aka “font”) for a book cover or other publication is not as easy as it may seem. Part of the problem is the huge wealth of choices most of us have today. Back just a few decades ago, a designer might have access to a dozen typefaces on a good day. […]

During my career I’ve worked with and for all sorts of publishers, from the giants like HarperCollins to mid-sized operations like Paladin Press to small presses and self publishers. I even have my own “press” that puts out a title now and then. I’ve enjoyed all the work and worked with a lot of enjoyable […]

Mother Jones magazine recently published “The Death of Fiction“ which suggests that while magazines that publish fiction are being flooded with submissions these days, the publications have fewer and fewer subscribers and readers. From this the author concludes that fiction, especially short stories, is dying. Well, maybe. But one is reminded of the old Mark […]

Over the last few years, too many corporations and publishers have deligated more and more decision-making to committees. I suppose this allows the proverbial buck to be passed endlessly when poor decisions are made, and perhaps this cover-your-posterior is a necessity during these rocky financial times. However it’s arguable whether anything great has ever been […]

One of Richard Thieme’s science fiction short stories “Northward into the Night” from Mind Games (published April 2010 under the Duncan Long Publications imprint) is now available for a “free read” at nycBigCityLit.com. The illustration (above) was been used in its black-and-white version to illustrate the story in the book. A color version graces the […]

A B&W variation of the illustration from two posts ago — and the last of this group for those who are getting bored. Often adapting color illustrations to B&W makes it possible to illustrate the inner pages of a novel or other book without the added expense involved in producing colored pictures. I find that […]

There’s often confusion as to what is being purchased when a publisher or author buys the rights to an illustration. Part of that confusion comes from the fact that rights to a picture can be divided up almost endlessly: Magazine, book, movie, poster, mouse pads, T-Shirts, mugs… The list can go on and on. And […]

You’ve got a great book idea. You’ve got your manuscript finished and polished (and if it isn’t near perfect, stop reading now and come back when your manuscript is as close to flawless as is humanly possible for you to make it). Now what? How do you get that manuscript into print? Right at the […]

It isn’t rare to read a book and discover that the cover illustration didn’t have much to do with the story. One reason for this is that with many publishers cutting back with their budgets, cover artwork often suffers either in how well it is done (you do get what you pay for) or in […]