Wayne Pappin has written a heartfelt tale about a small Australian town, focusing on two young men and their travails. He wanted an image of the bridge that features at the heart of the story, which we combined with the two swimmers. The title typeface is Northwell and the subtitle Charcuterie Flared.
Rosa in Ldjahkion Book Launch
Janet Doyle’s fascinating book was launched at The Book Wolf, a charming bookshop in Maldon which also hosts discussion groups and music events. Guests enjoyed readings from the book, performed by John Curtis, Mike Smythe, and Janet herself. Musician John Curtis performed two pieces of music written especially to evoke the mystical town of Ldjakhion in which the novel is set. The audience asked many questions of Janet, and were particularly interested in aspects of the background research and the choice of names for the various characters. Signed copies of the book were sold on the night. We will post a sales link to the book shortly.
Bookbub is not for Babies
Many authors have never heard of Bookbub. The service is essentially a regular email offering selected discounted ebooks to a massive subscriber list. Most of the titles promoted therein are from major publishers, but a significant fraction are from independent authors and small publishers. Publishers and authors pay over $600 per title just to be considered for inclusion in their featured deals. They are extremely powerful in the world of ebook sales and massively profitable.
Peter Ralph has done a stellar job analysing the performance of bookbub and advising authors how to get one of the sought after featured deals. Other bloggers have useful posts about setting up effective ads for Bookbub, Others point out that while the sales spike created by bookbub is real and substantial, it can be rather short lived. This author suggests that the real benefit of being featured on bookbub is exposing the rest of your published work to a new audience.
In a world where bookstores, though gamely hanging on, represent a decreasing fraction of overall print sales (not to mention ebooks and audibooks), authors have to come to terms with the necessary techniques for online sales success, and letting the market know they even exist.
Dear Diary — Book Cover
Victoria Argyropoulos composed a book of poetry (Dear Diary) exploring the nuances of a relationship. She wanted a fairly stark cover with a subtle texture. The book was interspersed with her own photographs and many solid panels. She was very pleased with the print job:
“Yesterday I received the proof of my novel and it looks incredible. I was honestly left speechless.”
We highly recommend the print management services of Tenderprint Australia. More news later re. the availability of this interesting volume.
My Designer Profile on Reedsy
Have registered with Reedsy, a service designed to ”connect and collaborate with a worldwide network of authors. “ Reedsy allows designers to apply to become service providers. As all the designers and other service providers have been carefully vetted, the theory is that users will receive professional quality assistance with their book, in contrast to mediocre crowdsourced design interfaces such as Fiver.
News About Regatta — Local History Book
Peter Stokes has researched and written a very entertaining account of early colonial life on and around the Gippsland Lakes. He brings to life many interesting personalities and the yachting regattas held during the 19th century. The regattas were a major focus of social life in the region for many years, reflecting the importance of fishing and shipping before railways and cars came along. We received the following update from Peter recently:
“REGATTA has been quite well received in the small market of East Gippsland. I have sold/distributed quite a number of the 100 I had printed, and have only a few left; although there are quite a few on shelves around the place. Had great feedback regarding how well it looks as a book (thanks) and the stories. I will need to print some more.”
Regatta is available here.
From Revolution to Reflection — Book Cover
In his youth James O’Brien was a republican firebrand, campaigning against the British presence in Northern Ireland and sympathetic with the aims, if not always the methods, of the IRA. Time and experience mellowed his views and he left Ireland for a prosperous life in Australia. We designed the cover for his memoir some years ago, and recently adjusted the layout for an audio book version he created in conjunction with Findaway Voices.
Joe Darling Book Review
A book we designed last year has come to the attention of a popular cricket site. In addition to saying many positive things about the content, the writer also touches upon the design:
“Joe Darling, lived a full life, not just in a cricketing sense, and his story is a fascinating one. Thankfully it is told thoroughly and entertainingly by Whimpress and Ryan. Add to this some great production values and this is a great read. It should be in the book collection of all cricket fans. ”
Double Dutch and other Covers
Three recent draft covers: a hard-driving thriller, a detailed family history and a gritty young adult story. Plenty of contrast and big bold typefaces. Typefaces include Korolev, Sentinel, Alternative Gothic.
Ghosts and Antiquarians — Book Cover
Trevor Hay has spent his professional life studying Chinese culture and history, and brings this knowledge and sensitivity to bear in his novels, which very often relate to the Western experience of China. We combined a number of images around a famous artwork — that of the Fragrant Concubine, a semi-mythical eighteenth century figure. We used Kepler for the title typeface.
Change and Time — Cover Design
Mala Naidoo depicts complicated human relationships in her novels, her authorial eye remaining consistently wise and warm. We wanted to convey the depth and subtlety of her protagonists, opting for a dramatic sky with layered faces and a large, classical serif typeface (Mort Modern).
When a Box is not a Box
Peter Ralph writes fast-moving financial thrillers. Recently he wanted to bundle together three of his ebooks to sell as one unit. Though the books are packets of digital information, they are promoted online as physical objects, as if they were an actual ‘box’ set. So we created a graphic showing the three cased books in all their virtual/physical glory.
Carpet Weaver of Usak and Code Name Camille — Cover Designs
Kathryn Gauci writes with insight and sensitivity about the difficult and intertwined histories of Greece and Turkey, and also about the great drama of the Second World War. Her characters are caught up in the flow of events, and often forced to deal with great tragedies and make impossible choices. The Carpet Weaver of Usak depicts Greeks living alongside Turks in Asia Minor, a circumstance almost unimaginable today. Typefaces used: Orpheus Pro and Playfair italic. Code Name Camille explores the world of the Resistance in France, and the attendant dangers and betrayals.
Rain — Book Cover Design
Mala Naidoo writes literary fiction — she prefers evocative, atmospheric cover images. For this collection of short stories. the composition we designed incorporated four images, including the barely visible hut in the woods (featured in one of her stories). The title typeface is Roman SD and the subtitle and author name use Essonnes.
Epic Fiction and Domestic Dramas — Book Cover Design
Thomas and Rose spans the globe and many decades, while Memoirs of a Stay at Home Dad charts the efforts of one dad to raise his children and deal with the changing roles of men. The Thomas and Rose cover uses the sharply cut and elegant Orpheus Pro for the title, and the Stay at Home Dad sports the rough and warm finesse of Five Boroughs.
Rubber Brain — Cover Design
A bright and cheerful cover for a book showcasing techniques for increasing mental productivity and resilience, and targeting tertiary students. The rubbery title typeface is Hamurz and the subtitle is Gilbert.
“In this book, five leading psychological educators show you simple tools derived from a wide range of solid science covering everything from positive psychology to goal setting, from mindfulness to CBT, and from emotional regulation to moral reasoning, to optimise your thinking.”
Virtual Box Set — Cover Design
Some of the conventions of print live on in digital books ... for example bundled sets of books are often depicted as an actual box set of the printed kind. We set up the pictured box set for Peter Ralph, the successful author of numerous financial thrillers.
“I’ve been involved in business and business litigation for most of my life and my story-telling is coloured by the days and weeks I’ve spent in lawyers’ offices, barristers’ chambers and courts waiting for the wheels of justice to grind to a conclusion. I enjoy slightly changing the facts, adding a little more violence than actually took place and changing the names of the characters to protect the guilty to produce what are hopefully enthralling business themed suspense novels.”
Australian Book Designers Association
There's an organisation for everything, even book designers. ABDA showcases the work of a group of designers with diverse approaches and workflows. It even organises awards, a few events and posts interviews with individual designers. Here's my interview from their archives.
Introducing the Illustrations of Pawel Nowacki
Pawel has illustrated several books with us now, with a range of subject matter. He has adapted well to every request and produces illustrations with personality and energy. Here's an introduction from Pawel:
"My name is Pawel (the Polish cognate of Paul) and I’m a freelance illustrator based in Poznań, Poland. When I was a small boy, my father showed me a ballpen-made portrait — I've been drawing ever since. Being self-taught, I barely ever leave my pencil behind, wanting to be a better artist. Working almost my entire life in IT business has given me an interesting perspective on art, and at the same time equipped me with some skills that are helping me out with my art work. Coming from two such distant worlds is both advantage and a challenge which I take happily, having a great motivation from my family, especially from my beautiful wife Joanna.
I really enjoy black and white drawings. Book illustrations, comics and graphic novels were always something special for me. Being able to actually create book illustrations is like fulfilling my childhood dreams. This is also why I really enjoy working with Luke, for he is a professional, honest and friendly person, giving me the opportunity to do what I really love:)
If you are a book author and want to decorate your book with any kind of illustration I'm more than happy to help you. I always like to research the subject of the illustration to fit it best for authors idea. I usually do hand-drawn, pencil to paper sketches then scan and add some processing work on the computer with use of a graphic tablet. I always like to leave a hand-drawn feeling to the final effect. I can create book illustrations, portraits, caricatures, etc. but I stay open for any kind of drawing / art idea you might have!
You can have a look at some of my previous works on my portfolio archive at pawel-nowacki.tumblr.com/archive and also on my Instagram account: www.instagram.com/nowacki_pawel, (user: nowacki_pawel)"
Author Testimonials #5
“I would strongly recommend you to anyone requiring this kind of service. I absolutely love it. Thank you so much. You are a genius.”
