The opening quote in the title has many parents, over centuries, but the concept remains universally true.
Especially in the world where we are addicted to doomscrolling, where the average time a viewer will give a visual is 12 seconds.
I have to assume that this particular psychological parameter crosses over to potential readers searching for their next book.
The Psychology of Book Cover Design for Self-Publishers
The Power of a Book Cover: Why It’s More Than Just a Pretty Picture
As I am now in the process of approving the cover art for Free R.A.D.I.C.A.L., I’m finding it much harder to choose among the various proposed covers sent by my longtime cover guy, Richard Lamb. All of his work is brilliant, and I believe he really has done a wonderful job on The Claire Saga. He was the one who suggested that Claire remain the iconic centerpiece to each of the covers. That really is Claire in front of her barn on the cover of TWA.
But this book is different. A one-off. Darker. Grittier. More of a film noire feel to it. NYC. It doesn’t have a magical mule to coalesce around over a series of books.
I’m only going to get one shot at getting this right.
Now the beauty of working with Richard over the course of creating past book covers is that we have developed a short-hand way of collaborating. I tell him about the book, and he sends me a group of various visuals and fonts with generic figures representing groups of characters and I go back with my ideas, suggested imagery, and he does his best to incorporate them. No lengthy discussions, no debates, just ideas, images and revisions.
Richard’s enormous talent is only outshone by his endless patience.
This time I am also running the covers by the inner circle and opening the floor up for discussion of the plus and minuses of the proposed covers I receive from Richard. These folks know the book. They know its characters, storylines and the feel of the narrative. They know me and my idiosyncrasies. So, their visceral responses are important to me.
It’s the gut response that makes you pick up a book. It’s not an intellectual exercise.
Now ultimately it will be my call, but I’ll listen to everyone’s input. Especially since colors escape me.
But I think in images, and I know what I see in my head.
My wife, Lisa, always offers her two cents, which converts to a million bucks at the most recent interplanetary exchange rate.
And I enjoy interacting with the inner circle. They’ve repeatedly proven that they have the best interest of the project at heart. They make me feel safe, because writing is scary as shit.
They’ve made writing a lot less lonely a process.
And when it’s all said and done, I’ll run it by Claire because she has never steered me wrong.
But since I have turned the creation of this particular work into a bit of a reality show, I wanted you, my fine, five readers, to also be involved as witnesses to the development of the backstory of Free R.A.D.I.C.A.L., right up to the final packaging.
So, there you have it. When the time comes, I’ll probably do my cover reveal here in my blog first, so you will all get a peek before the rest of the world. That is my way of thanking you for tuning in each day – all five of you (Claire’s Theorem).
Well, it’s hump day and I have things to do before I go grab coffee in the Town of Berthoud with Cam Torrens.
And no matter what else we get up to, let us make today a great one.
