Working with an artist for your book cover – it’s a big deal! From my own experience, a book’s cover is a buy or not-buy scenario. Book covers can attract buyers or give off a duck and run vibe. The book cover is the first thing a reader sees and the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover" is NOT true when you only have seconds to get a readers attention.
The main thing that writers should understand is that the artist’s job is to get someone interested in the book so they pick it up to read the blurb to learn more about the book. The cover has to be simple so it can convey its “read me” message with just a glance. That means maybe a character or two can be there with the proper color, lighting, and font to set the mood for the book.
A book is like a movie; it can have a cast of thousands; it can span centuries. The book cover is like one frame of that movie. It is just a tiny part, a brief flicker. It can’t tell the whole story of the book.
That seems obvious, yet too often writers want all the story elements in the book on the cover, and it quickly becomes all jumbled. And nothing causes readers to pass on a book instead of picking it up more than a confusing cover that can’t be understood with a glance. The cover can hint at what’s in the book; it can’t tell the viewer what the character is going to do for the first 100 pages. I know that sounds simple. But sadly writers often miss this obvious thing (and part of my job is to try to educate them about this — often I don’t do this as well as I should).
When an art director, publisher, or writer approaches the artist about doing a cover, it’s generally best to have a scene in mind. Don’t say, “Well, you’re the artist. Read my book and just do your thing.” Unfortunately artists are on tight deadlines and don’t have time to read an entire book. It’s best to have an idea of what sort of mood you need to establish, what the main “scenery” of the story might be, and what your character looks like. So you might tell your artist, “The main character needs to look like he lives in the European Middle Ages, he should be wearing rusty armor, and his hair is long and stringy. He’s tired and sitting down looking depressed. And maybe there’s a dragon flying off in the distance.” That would give your artist something to go on and from there they'lll ask questions to learn what he needs to know to get started on the first draft you'll be presented with. Also be sure you tell the artist how old the character is, ethnic type, hair color and length, and any other key details. Your artist is not going to be happy if she spent hours on a sketch of a blond Nordic warrior only to discover your hero is from Morocco with short black hair and an eye patch. The sooner your artist can zero in on things, the happier she’ll be and the more quickly you’ll have your cover.
Sometimes writers have a “picture” of who the character is in their mind. If you’ve been writing and picturing a well-know actor as playing the part (in your mind’s eye), tell your artist that it would be nice if the character looked a little like that person. Because more often than not your artist is working with images that are offered on stock sites the character that you envisioned to look like Matt Damon will end up looking like the cute guy that works in the car rental place. Trust your artist to choose a model to fit your story as best as they can get it without having a custom photo shoot done. Remember that when the artist creates their version of the picture, it isn’t going to jive perfectly with how you’ve pictured it in your mind. But unless it really goes against the storyline, try not to dictate unnecessary changes. If you don’t write in the book that the guy’s eyes are blue, don’t be upset if they’re green. Or if he has more or fewer muscles than in your mind. Or his armor is bluish steel instead of silver. Or the distant dragon has horns when you didn’t picture it that way. If it doesn’t make a difference, then go with the flow and everyone will be a lot happier in the end.
In the digital age it’s possible to change all sorts of things: Colors, layout, you name it. But that doesn’t mean changing things will always be for the better. Remember that your artist has given a lot of thought to the layout before you even see the first draft. She’s working to make the picture the best she can and also working to make it show off her best skills and minimize the things she’s not so good at creating.
That means don’t ask for changes unless you’re really sure they might improve things. Sometimes client’s make great suggestions for changes, so if you feel strongly, speak up. But also be prepared to listen to your artist if he says, “I don’t think that would work, because…” You’re paying her big bucks to do the work; you need to do your best to let her do her best. Just as (hopefully) you don’t tell your dentist how best to pull a tooth or fix a cavity, you also need to stand back and let your artist do her thing in the most efficient way she knows how. She’s spent a lot of years honing her skills; let her give you her best.
I suppose the worst problems I’ve had (and also some of the best, so it’s not an “always the case thing”), have been with writers who are also artists. They tend to have a vision of what they want, and often can almost do the work themselves but either don’t quite have the skills or lack the time. But the results can be somewhat like what would happen if I started telling them what to change in their book to make it better — pretty soon toes are being stepped on and it gets a tad tense rather than being the fun it normally is. So if you hire someone to do the work, there’s a point where you need to delegate the work and then let your artist do it with as little intervention as possible. I know that’s easier said than done, and you do need to give some direction and be sure the picture is turning out the way you want. But try not to micromanage. Sometimes near the end of a project there will be choices to make: Is this typeface or that lettering better? Would the picture be better if it was flipped horizontally? Should the character be a little closer or a little more distant?
When you get to this point — there’s really no bad answer. That is, you’ve refined so much along the way that often you reach a point where all the possibilities are going to work. You can’t make a wrong choice. So my advice at this point is just to go with what looks best or let your artist decide. Just don’t get caught in that endless loop of infinite adjustments and changes that do little to improve things but can waste a lot of time all the way around.
I’ve probably made this process of creating a cover sound a lot harder than it is or maybe even terrifying. Fortunately most artist have had lots of experience in these things and will be happy to answer your questions and shepherd you through the process. And once you get started, you’ll find it’s a whole lot of fun seeing your cover come alive, and later a real joy to see the book sitting there on a bookshelf or in a catalog. That’s when it all seems more than worth the little trouble you went through in getting it just the way it needed to be to help sell your book.
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