Go ahead and judge. Mario here:

We writers have a lot to do besides slogging through the word count. Editing. Rewriting. Queries. Rejections. More rewriting. Blogging. Facebook. Twitter. Conventions. Maybe teach some classes. Rewriting. And with the advent of self-publishing our ebooks, there's the huge task of book covers. Though we can contract an artist to create the actual cover, it is we writers who must wear yet another hat as artistic director.

Remember that adage? Don't judge a book by its cover.

What a crock.

A good cover can juice sales. A bad cover can sink a book, no matter how well written. A poorly conceived cover can project to the reader that the book was sloppily penned and edited.

Here are the top reasons people buy books, specifically novels:

1) Recommended by a friend.
2) You're already a fan of the author.
3) The cover.
4) The back cover copy.
5) Media coverage.
6) Reviews.

I can't verify who put this list together or how they did it, but as I've seen the list referred to many times as gospel, then it must be true.

When I was first published, I didn't think much about covers, other than did it look good and capture the essence of the book. Since then, I've learned that much about the story is conveyed in the style and artwork, and that each genre has its artistic "rules."

For example, in the cover of Jeanne's next book, we have a hot babe toting an Ak47. This of course means the protagonist is a fierce sexy woman and the gun implies that there will be much violence. The smoky background projects the noir ambience of the narrative. Nothing overtly says supernatural or vampire except for the full moon, a common artistic theme in all the Anna Strong books. The strong primary colors of each book help define shelf presence.





Dakota Cassidy also writes supernatural novels. But with the example of this cover, we can obviously tell it's not a hard-boiled story because rather than a photo-realistic image, the artwork is cartoony. Meaning the story is light and humorous. (Duh!) The character is definitely a saucy demon, and one up to no-good naughty fun.






Terry Odell did a marvelous job stepping us through the cover design of her latest novel, Saving Scott. Her perceptive work paid off because the book is selling well on the Nook. It's not yet available through Amazon.



In a TED talk, book designer Chip Kidd describes his methods and experience designing covers for mega sellers such as Jurassic Park.


Personally, I can't remember if I've ever bought a book because of its cover. Maybe I'm the exception to the rule. I have bought books because of reviews, most notably Charlaine Harris' Dead Until Dark, which made me realize I could put my own snarky spin on writing the supernatural. And I also liked the original quirky cover.

Labels: Anna Strong, covers, Dakota Cassidy, sexy babes

  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 10:01 AM  9 comments

  It's All About ME.... Well, not really. But the first part for sure so you can skip on down if you'd like. I won't mind...much.




Okay, first-- Book Chick City is doing a series called "Where Stories Are Made" and I'm the featured author this week! Hop on over for a peek at my inner sanctum. It was a fun piece to work on. In fact, you might want to bookmark this site because it's always full of fun things.



Second, July is Sci Fi/ Fantasy month over at Tor. One of my stories, The Ghost of Leadville, can be read for free here . Thanks to editor Heather Osborn for inviting me. Heather and I had some fun at RomCon this past weekend. I believe Mario will post pics on Monday.



Third, I heard from my editor that Chosen will have the largest initial print run of all my books so far...that's good news and bad news...Now the nail biting starts. I have to SELL all those books!!! Thanks to everyone who has preordered. That has a lot to do with how many books they decide to print and I appreciate your support.



And last but not least, next week is ComicCon in San Diego. I haven't had a chance to look over the entire program, but this panel jumped right out at me:

Thursday 3:30-4:30 Entertainment Weekly: The Visionaries— A discussion with geek gods J. J. Abrams (Star Trek) and Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) on the future of pop culture. EW presents an in-depth conversation with these two creative geniuses about how technology, gaming, and global culture are reshaping how we tell and consume stories on television, film and the web. Plus: Is the superhero movie waning, or is it on the cusp of reinvention? And what do they think the pop culture universe will look like a decade from now? Moderated by Jeff "Doc" Jensen. Hall H

Can you say WOW!!

And speaking of wow, here's my panel:

Saturday 12:00-1:00* Fang Girls and Fang Boys: The Popularity of Vampire Lit *
Authors of vampire fiction for young adults and adults discuss the appeal of their worlds and characters. Authors include: GOC *Charlaine Harris* (The Sookie Stackhouse Series), *Heather Brewer* (The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod), *Rachel Caine* (The Morganville Vampires series), *Christopher Farnsworth* (*Blood Oath: The President’s Vampire*), *Chris Marie Green* (The Vampire Babylon series), *Richelle Mead* (The Vampire Academy series), and *Jeanne C. Stein*(The Anna Strong series). Moderator: *Brian Truitt*, Associate Editor | *USA** Weekend Magazine/USA Today* Room 7AB

What a line-up. I can hardly wait. If you'd like to peruse the entire schedule, go here .

I am going to miss my pal Kris Bochum this year, though. She and I had fun star gazing.

Okay--enough about me. How about some screen news?

These tidbits are from Shelf Awareness and Variety:

Television: All Signs of Death

Alan Ball (Six Feet Under, True Blood) will direct the pilot episode of All Signs of Death, which has been greenlighted by HBO. The project is based on Charlie Huston's novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death. Variety reported that Ball will also serve as executive producer and Huston is writing the screenplay for the pilot, with production set to begin during August in Los Angeles. No cast has been named thus far.

Movies: Vampire Academy

Don Murphy (Transformers) will team with Michael Preger (Village of the Damned) to produce a film version of Richelle Mead's six-part Vampire Academy series for young adult readers, Variety reported.

"The joy of these books is that in the wake of Twilight they offer a chance to create a movie franchise that guys will want to see as well as girls," Murphy said. "Michael and I plan on positioning the films as something both sexes will enjoy together, expanding the genre of sexy young vampires to a whole new audience. We are beginning discussions with studios immediately."

This is great news for pal Richelle Mead because the series was optioned once before by Fox TV and went nowhere. This time it sounds like it's a go. You can catch up with all of Richelle's news here .

And just for fun, a "Which one is right for you?" galley highlighting popular vampires. Guess who my choice is?



I know, I know, he's getting married. But I guess I'll forgive him that one little transgression...

Labels: Anna Strong, Book Chick City, ComicCon, Richelle Mead, Tor

  ¶ posted by Jeanne Stein @ 6:12 AM  6 comments