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| Him from Powerpuff Girls as Palahniuk's new model |
Because idiots are rampant on the bookstores these days (including me), you can gain gazillions of money (pathetic hyperbole is intended!) by writing lorem ipsum dolor in the mid section of your generic story and sticking a kickass design on its cover. Read the stuff I wrote during my college days about book cover designs. I'm warning ya', read it!
Last week, I came across this “I think” one of a kind novel written by Chuck Palahniuk entitled “Damned” while I am aimlessly scouring the National Bookstore, just browsing for a good read. Well, I was like “OMFG, is this for real? The author of the effin’ Fight Club, Tell-All, Pygmy and Snuff?” (Yeah I know, this reaction is a bit unrealistic and a bit exaggerated at the same time especially when you personally know me, but let’s assume it this way. After all it’s just for situational purposes only and it doesn’t even matter if it is real or not)… I immediately put down Tim O’ Brien’s “The Things They Carried” like I immediately did when I grabbed the book entitled “Hush hush” because it fooled my clever eyes by its enticing book cover design (Damn those Twilightesque novels, they fill the sacred air of the Bookshops!). Yeah, I was like “I should buy this one; I know for Christ’s sake that I would love it” (meh, believe it or not, I whispered that for real). But first, I glanced at its price.”299 pesos? Man, such a perfect deal for a beauty like this!”… What a heck, I immediately rushed it into the counter. But, while I am in the middle of the line, I came into some sort of enigmatic realization between my three psychological entities and after a bit of self-reconciliation, I returned the book into the shelf where it belongs.
Why did I do
that? Why would I turn down a very potential one hell of a read? What is this
amorphously dark reason I came to realize, so strong that it drove me back from
getting “this” very novel that I suspiciously believe, deserves some reading?
What is it? It’s the cover design.
Marketing a new
book is indeed a tough chore especially for the new writers. And one of their
important mediums to gain readers is to have a very inviting cover design. It
has to be balanced. Sometimes, too much colors and flashes could possibly draw
the serious readers away. But when you flip the coin, when the design is a bit
scarier than usual, here comes the dilemma of scaring off those faint of
hearts. I know this because I am a graphic artist and I am currently practicing
this area of design. I’ve just recently read from centre.taleist.com.au a
survey that states that the authors who spends more money for their book cover
design gains 18% more than those who not. But then, I noticed that most people
think book cover designs are just an unimportant part of the book (Do not judge
the book by its cover? What the heck, are you trapped in the classical period
my friend?). And that is the very reason why I wrote this article: to open the
eager eyes of those people who think this way. I mean, hey… if book cover
design is really not that important, then why bother putting stunningly awesome
designs in it? Why don’t just cover them with plain hard cover with its title stamped
bold over there. Imagine yourself walking inside a bookstore searching for a
good science fiction novel because you feel so anakinic, darth vaderic or
yodanic, yodaic, yodastic yo… whatever. See how boring it is? To be welcomed by
those awesome novels wrapped up with a modulish, modulous, modulic cover?… or
whatever you call it, I just made up those terms anyway… whatever. Several new
writers that became my previous clients told me that stuffs. Yes, a brief and
meaningful back cover teaser would sometimes do the trick. But if you want to
make some noise in a silent bookshelf, man you got to work that boring cover
out.
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| Look! Awesome!... Emma Watson's name is in it! |
You
see, the book cover design plays a very vital role in marketing the book
whether it is the hardcopy version, or in the eBook version (or shall I say especially
in eBook because customers see the books only in thumbnail size, that is why it
is very important to have a very catchy cover design; more importantly for the
new and unrecognized writers who wants to make a big name in the current literary
industry).Oh yeah, hell I know that Chuck Palahniuk is an iconic writer. But,
the cover of his new book “Damned” is a bit “creepy” in several ways I can
point out but I would never certainly point out, at least not all in this
article. “Creepy”, because: one, a vector photo of stereotypical Satan is in
the cover. And two, it is drawn in a very obvious way that even a third grader
can easily tell that it is clearly “Satan” in a glance. The image looks kind of
like a villain from powerpuff girls who have an impish look. I’ve even read
several book reviews about it and some people also got intimidated by its
cover. I mean, hey! I don’t want to roam the surface of the earth while
everyone around sees me holding a book with this kind of cover. They might
misinterpret this one. They might think of me as “Oh! Look at this guy; he
might be the kind of person who wakes up 3 o’clock in the morning because he
ought to draw a pentagram in the middle of his living room while wearing a
black robe. He reads “that” book he is currently holding to learn how to summon
Satan because he wants him to fix his broken refrigerator blah… blah… blah”.
See, I know that because I’ve already experienced that similar scenario several
times when I was reading a copy of the book entitled “Know Her More” (it is a
book about women. Like a module or something to understand them better, not
only in sexual areas, but also in their emotional and physical parts. Yeah I
know it’s pathetic for god’s sake). It has a book cover with some sexy women in
it. One good example is this one time when I was with my uncle riding a
multicab. My uncle in front of me laughs inwardly every time he snatches some
glimpses while I’m reading it. I asked him when I think he finally looked
obvious and he just replied: “Kid, you know? G-Spot is in the upper front of
the hole… being on top would do the trick! Man... Know her more! Hahaha, so
hilarious!”…Most people like to assume and throw several miscalculated
judgments whenever they have zero idea over something. They always generate “facts” from their
“theories” rather than doing the opposite. Regarding to the “Damned”, I ended
up getting the eBook version of it.
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| Boner Alert! |
Book cover
design makes the first impression so if you are a self-publisher, you got to be
careful. Chuck Palahniuk’s “Damned” is obviously intended in a selected range
of readers that’s why it has a very peculiar design. Although it is not as
famous as his previous creations, he still succeeded to make an impression to
his target readers (Certainly I am not included in that cluster of readers). The
website www.bookish-brunette.com just admitted that they refuse to review books
with ugly covers (or at least some with unprofessional book covers). They said
that “Well as book reviewers/bloggers we receive tons of book review requests
per week”. So given that instance, they cannot waste time on a book that cannot
promise a decent reading experience (although some might actually be an
exception in this policy, probably when it comes to a positive background of
the certain book). See? So what would they prioritize first? Of course those
books that looks legitimate, and their legitimacy more or less manifests in
their book cover designs. Not convinced yet? Let me elaborate the benefits of a
convincing book cover designs.
Benefits of a Good Book Cover Design
1.
Believe it or not, the chance of your book is
just a matter of seconds when it comes into pulling the potential readers.
Clue: A crappy design certainly won’t help (Can you fight the flashy design of
“Beautiful Creatures” if you have a book cover design identical with the label
of a Turpentine Chaser?). You have freedom. Make it as flashy as the fight
scenes of the star wars movies or make it as revealing as those precious hearts
romances novelettes that you can rent from the neighborhood’s sari-sari store
for P5.00-a-day (oops, I mean romantic, not revealing… meh, I think I’d stick
with the word revealing… if you know what I mean). You could also make it as
strange as you can just like the post movie-showing version of one of those new
teen-fiction books where a zombie is giving a flower to a blonde chick... man!
Since when did necrophilia turned into a romantic endeavor?
2.
Curiosity is the real deal: Take this as an
advantage. Bob Ong is one hell of a master in this style. His book “Alamat ng
Gubat” is a good example (Although risky at the same time. If you want to know
why, just read his explanation in his book “Stainless Longganisa”). He used a
cartoon themed art in his cover with its title written in a very fancy
typeface. It looked very childish, just the way he meant it. At first, you
might just confuse it with some ridiculous children book, but by the time you
discover that it is a piece of Bob Ong, you’ll understand why (You do know Bob
Ong right?). The point here is that, sometimes, marketing the book is not all
about that cheesy, flashy and exaggerated kind of cover art; sometimes giving
it a little bit of enigmatic touch could prove wonders.
3. Make
a good first impression. With the right design, you can make them think about
your book the way you wanted them. This is my problem with Chuck’s “Damned”.
Although I certainly understood his point in having that kind of book cover
design, my dilemma is the people around me. Don’t worry; I am not a dingbat. I
have an eBook version of it. I just don’t want to be seen by everyone around me
and get misinterpreted again so I didn’t get the hard copy version. Do you want
to know where I downloaded it? Sorry folk, I don’t promote piracy.
4.
You can spoil your story in 10 seconds. A good
book cover design could tell an hour of awesomeness trapped inside its pages.
5.
Lastly, in eBook version of your book. If you
don’t have a book cover design, you’ll end up having your book displayed in
myriad blue font together with other unfortunate souls like you (in worse
cases, it will end up next to a colorful flash advertisement e.g. Watch Cebuana
Girls in Live Cam, Earn 10$ per Month, Be A Working Mom and etc. It’s like
having a sari-sari store next to a convenience store which is totally
inconvenient). You get the idea of this right? Yeah, it’s bull crap. At least,
if you have a book cover, you can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that you
can’t end up in this position.
I
know that the verdict still lies in the main content of the book. But we can
never underestimate the power of the first impression and that totally relies
in the cover design of the book. Do not waste the hard works spent in creating
the contents of the manuscript and provide it with a cover as creative as the
contents itself. I think that’s all for now. I don’t have anything left to say
at all so, Potato potato potato potato potato….
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