Authors Electric

 How do you choose which book to read? Are you persuaded by a fabulous five-star review?  Or does it take the personal recommendation of a friend to convince you? Perhaps you choose a book because you have read something by the author before. Personally, I know anything by Kate Atkinson or Louise Penny are worth picking up, and Elly Griffiths’ series of Ruth Galloway stories are always a winner. some of my favourite authors But when you are confronted in a bookshop, library, or charity shop with a plethora of books by unknown authors how do you choose? Do you judge a book by its cover? What a book looks like is very important. Is the cover design eye-catching? Ultimately your first impression may lead you to pick it up, turn it over and read the blurb on the back. Then you may discard it or turn to the inside pages. Presentation, the overall look and feel of a book, can be almost as important as the words themselves. They need to complement each other. If choosing a ...

  Empty window reflects the age of change.. People fleeing Twitter in response to Elon Musk’s purchase, and in the same week, though not for the same apparent reason, a number of fellow writers warning their readers that they are quitting blogging.    Change. Not for the same reasons, though possibly change in one area of social media may influence some to think of changes they might make in another where they advertise their books? Mostly, it seems, either in order to develop some other aspect their writing, or because they feel their blog is making less impact on sales.   Meeting each other and joining this conversation in the group’s News Feed, these writers were agreed that ‘it’s time to move on’ from blogging, because, as everyone knows, nobody bothers to read blogs any more.   Whether that is true of ‘everyone’, I’m not totally convinced: but of course a blog post takes time to write, and if the readership is unknown, or if followers are few in number, t...

Some time last week I made an alarming discovery at my day job. Back in the mists of time, I vaguely remember taking part in a re-branding workshop. This was a morning of activities which ranged from the pointless to the excruciatingly boring, aimed at crowd-sourcing an updated brand for the organisation. I don't recall any definite conclusions emerging from this particular workshop, but there was some cutting out and sticking involved, which most colleagues seemed to enjoy. It made a change from sitting at a computer, I suppose. I remember as well being very impressed by the venue, which was one of these hot-desking places where people who don't have their own office can come in and use a desk space. Personally I hate hot-desking at work, because I never have all the software I need on a different machine, or the stock of paper-clips, treasury tags and emergency snacks in the top drawer of a different desk. But as a writer I am quite happy with the idea and have hot-desked ...

While perusing the hallowed website of Amazon for an Edith Wharton book; ”The Age of Innocence”, I’m struck by how many different versions of the novel have been published. Some are revised additions, some have footnotes, but most all present different covers. I find it interesting that traditional publishers frequently change the covers on publications. This fact is not lost on me  – or you, I’m sure. We’re taught to ‘not judge a book by its cover’, but clearly when it comes to book marketing that is exactly what we do. Myself included. None know that fact better than the indie author, struggling to get noticed in a sea of novels. So, taking a note from traditional publishers, I gave serious consideration to the idea of new cover art to accompany a re-launch for the AMERICAN GILT novel trilogy.  That is not to say I don’t like the original covers – I do. Very much. My graphic designer went for a timeless, classy look, and I think we succeeded in achieving that goal. ...

Thank you, Lev Butts. You have been an inspiration.      My Authors Electric colleagues are always being inspirational and Lev was the latest one at it. Before Christmas 2017, Lev did a blog on ideas for presents to give the writers in your life.      One of Lev's gift ideas was a book on cover design: Cover Design Secrets Bestselling Authors Use to Sell More Books , by Derek Murphy. (Oooh, those sneaky best-selling authors with their secrets. Murphy is no slouch on 'exactly what it says on the tin' titles either.)      Lev's blog seems to have been quite a success, since just earlier this month, another AE, Reb MacRath was having a bit of a rave about another of his recommends, Arc customisable notebooks .      But since I've been spared the notebook obsession that seems to strike so many writers, it was the cover design secrets that grabbed me. It had been nagging in the back of my mind for quite some w...

It's the most wonderful time of the year when, baby, it's cold outside, and Jack Frost is nipping at your nose. Yep, it's Christmas, Yuletide, Winter Solstice. And what better way to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace, champion of the poor and oppressed, than engaging in a heartwarming celebration of gross materialism? With that in mind, I am here to give you a couple of last minute gift ideas for that writer in your life. 1.  Book Cover Design Secrets You Can Use to Sell More Books by Derek Murphy  Writers love books, or at least they should, otherwise, they are in the wrong business. Here's a book about book design for independent writers. There are a plethora of books out there about writing, but not as many about designing covers, which is a shame, because despite adages about judging books and covers, a well designed cover can be the major selling point for an author, especially for readers unfamiliar with the author's work. I bou...

‘Buy me!’ yelled the cover. ‘This book is for you.’ One of my all-time favourite covers  - and books  What is it about a book cover that makes you want to read the book? Like much of advertising – for, of course, that’s at least partly what cover design is about – the process is shrouded in mystery to many of us mere authors. You can often see which bits of you a particular cover is getting to – part of it is genre and sub-genre information but I think there’s more to it than that. Those new(ish) style moleskin-like covers have the feel of ‘quality product’ about them, perhaps with the attendant ‘you’re worth it’ and ‘you deserve it’ connotations which, even though we can see what’s happening, are hard to resist. Some book covers have tactile appeal – ‘Stroke me!’ – and of course, once you’ve checked to see if anyone’s looking and then run your finger across the front cover and received the thrill, it’s difficult not to take a respectful peep inside or at lea...