SNICKET COVER

This is the way all covers should be designed:

WOULD I PICK UP THIS BOOK OR NOT?

Fuse #8 did an interesting post about different versions of book covers – UK vs US, etc. I really liked looking at the difference between them, and, of course, I have my own opinions. I haven’t read any of these books so this is purely based on the covers. I’m calling this: WOULD I PICK UP THIS BOOK OR NOT?

Here we go:
Life - here symbolized by a leaf - is peaking through a long winter… this means there is promise of hope...but then there is barbed wire, subtly hidden along the edges, which a viewer might miss upon first glance. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to mean - some sort of pain or literal imprisonment? It looks boring to me. I know there’s barbed wire there implying that there must be something that goes on of interest but it’s just too subtle. I mean, I don't want to read about about a new sapling. I would walk right by this book.

(US COVER)

Yeah, this one hits you over the head – and the tag line does it even more so – “Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth?” But sometimes you need to hit the shopper over the head. People walk past shelves really quickly. I immediately see this cover and think three things: COLD, ALONE, PAIN. I’d wonder what this book is about.

(UK COVER)

Hmmm. I like the colors. The rocket is very phallic. The title is so small I can’t see it. I’m not sure if I’d bother to pick up this book or not.

(US COVER)
This is a completely different take. The designer decided to go with a font only approach, which is a very adult fiction thing to do. I do like the font. It’s fun to look at. I have to say that once again, I’m going to vote that I’m not sure if ‘d pick up the book based on this cover either.



(UK COVER)

Neither cover above tells me what the book is about. Why is that? I think of the two I'd go for the first. It's more interesting. There are a million covers that have funky fonts that take up the whole cover. That whole thing is really played out to death - and it's an adult theme for sure.

Below are two VERY different takes on the same book.

This is a very juvenile looking cover. The child looks young. It’s a playful looking cover. I think if Jack Gantos’s name wasn’t in skywriting it wouldn't look so young to me. I’d put it in a big black font that matched the font in the “Dead End” sign. That would make the cover look a little more edgy. I think that’s my issue. It seems a little too Beverly Clearly to me. I kept flip flopping on this one but ultimately I don’t think I’d bother picking up the book based on this cover. It looks… eeek… boring. Or like something that’s already been done a dozen times before.

(US VERSION)

The next version is the COMPLETE opposite. This looks very syphofisticated and adult like. I love the tagline “Welcome to the World’s deadliest town…” That definitely makes me want to read the book. The skeleton looks very Day of the Dead to me. The skeleton looks a little silly so maybe the book has some humor to it? I’m not sure. I might want to read the book but more based on the tagline.

(UK VERSION)

These three covers are interesting.

The first one: Boring. Very adult. It looks like a romance novel cover. This I would not even glance at.




I’m intrigued by the second two. The first says danger and mystery. The second is very trippy. I love the second cover because it’s so unique. I’d definitely vote for the second. I want to know more about the character just staring at it. Is she human? Monster? On drugs? Who is she a daughter of? I don’t have these questions based on the other two covers. It's a 3D glasses trip to stare at this cover and who wouldn't want to take that home?




The chime covers:

The green one is boring and typical. The viewer is looking straight at the person on the cover. I don’t want to know more about her. The background is boring. There’s nothing of interest going on there. And the whole thing makes the title boring too.



This cover is more interesting. There seems to be a root like hand crawling on her chest. And the character is wearing chocker that ads mystery and intrigue. The colors are very nicely balanced as well. The brown fades into the background allowing the blue title to jump out at you, meanwhile, the characters dark eyes have this piercing quality that catch your gaze and don't let go. Your eyes end up flip flopping between the font and dark eyes - It works well.


This third cover, however, is the one like best. It is the most mysterious. There’s something strange going on in the background but I can’t qute see what it is - an odd yellow light coming from the trees - yet the character is walking toward it. She’s wearing a long white gown, which is earie looking. I want to know where the character is going, what she is involved in. That’s a cover that works.


(UK COVER)

Read Fuse #8's post on this same subject because she has very different opinions!

E BOOKS - CHANGING THE DESIGN

You might see a trend here, with the whole me posting pictures of bookshelves thing. I played with all of the Nooks last week. Or should I say Nooks. There's no "the." I don't know why. Anyway, one thing that really bothers me is that you can change the type on them--meaning you can change the font size and color and the paragraphs around so that they're really skinny and so on. I understand that making fonts really big is great for people with vision problems... but I think it just goes way too far. We book people -- illustrators, designers, etc., work really hard to make the books look nice! Within seconds this can all be destroyed. There was a giant pit in my stomach the minute I found out that the reader could do this with the devices. The reader can BUTCHER a book! Ugh.

Just one more sad thing about where things are going. Plus... you can't hang dozens of multi-colored e-books from your ceiling. Keep that in mind.

THE RUNAWAY BEARD

This is a fun little story -- Dad shaves off his beard and tries to "hang" with the boy but finds that the beard doesn't really belong on his young face so the beard must find a new home, finally ending up on his bald uncle's head - but what I really love about it is the art and design. PLUS it comes with a beard!


Published in 1998.

UNIQUE DESIGN

This is what I aim for - a whole package with each book. Sometimes it's hard to do because these things cost more, but each little thing is worth it in my mind. And once again, this is something you can't get on an e-book. I appreciate the package too much to ever say goodbye.

ALPHABET ANTICS

I've had this since I was a kid. I think my aunt gave it to me to learn cursive. I don't know where she got it from it's old!

THE ZANER-BLOSER COMPANY
HANDWRITING SPECIALISTS
COLUMBUS OHIO
COPYRIGHT 1955







I just love looking at the way old books were designed and the fonts that were used.

Also... do you think cursive writing will soon be dead?

PACKAGING - WHAT GRABS YOU!

There have been a few things at work lately that have been calling me to buy them. Not because of their contents but because of their packaging. The first is this head by McSweeney's:

I LOVE it! And on the bottom is the inside of the neck:


I'm sure it's the weird in me but I WANT IT! I don't care about the books at all. Now that's good packaging!

Another cool thing is this Gary Panter book:


The slip cover is really nice. I really go for nice, thick, shiny slip covers.

Then there's this:


Oooh yes! It's a lunch box with the best cartoon illustration on it ever! I'm not familiar with this hip hop artist - M.F. Doom - but I'm so tempted to buy it just because of the packaging. And it comes with cards! So cool. Someone should do this with a kids' book.



Lastly, there's this children's book called Imagine:


It's got fun lift-the-flaps and pages that elongate to transform an image into something else.


I found these great drawings done by kids that were inspired by the book Imagine! They fold and they you pull them open to reveal something else. This is a great art project for kids....

DEISGN MATTERS

I went to The Strand last night. For those of you who are not New Yorkers, The Strand is an amazing new and used bookstore with an enormous selection of art books for CHEAP! At least 10 dollars off. It beats my bookseller discount. I can't go in there without walking out with a pile of stuff, which is bad because I'm out of bookshelf space. Anyway, I've been wanting a particular photography book for years but it's been out of print. Well, there it was! IT's called STEAM STEEL & STARS. Photography by O. Winston Link. He photographed old trains from the 50s at night. Amazing stuff.

Here's my problem. The design is awful. The text part at the beginning contains a HUGE bold font that's sort of obnoxious. It takes away from the photographs. Of course, my camera is out of batteries and my ipod has been downloading for the past 2 hours! It's SO annoying. All I did is say "yes" to upload the new program for it and it is now putting up all the contents ALL OVER AGAIN. Frustrating! So I DID take photos of the inside of the book but I can't get them off of the ipod. I will when I get home from work tonight so I can show you all.

In the meantime, this is the cover and an interior. Despite the bad design, the photographs are great. I got it for ten bucks!

CINDERELLA 1950

I was doing some research today for a new book I'm working on that takes place in the late 1950s, early 60s, and I stubbled upon this:



WOW, what a great cover! I could eat it up.

Then I went looking for more about this edition and found a blog that posted all the interiors!



Check them all out here.

Now I'm going to ebay to see if I can get my hands on the real thing. That would make me very happy indeed.

DESIGN & TEXT IN BOOKS

I have been looking at THIS IS NEW YORK a bit because I'm working on a new book and it takes place in the late 50s - early 60s. This is New York was made during that time period. A lot of times I want the design of my books to be inspired by the time period I'm writing about. As I was looking at the book below I noticed that there is a lot of negative white space. Where the designer chose to put the type is interesting. I think it works well:

period











But if the type was lumped all together in one place, as opposed to sprinkled about asa it is, the book might be ruined. OR suppose the designer got a little overzealous and used odd fonts or bold type or made the fonts colored? The book might also look awful.

What would you have done?

A NEW YEAR A NEW BLOG A FIRST POST

Hello and welcome! This is the start to a new year, and for me, the start of a new blog. Of course, being the artist design-thinking person that I am, I will want to rearrange the look of this blog. All in good time I guess. For now, this will have to do.

Here are a few reoccurring topics that I have in mind:

1) THE EDUCATION OF AN ILLUSTRATOR: illustrator interviews. Of course the questions I ask will have my slant to them so stay tuned for that.
2) FROM THE EXPERTS/IN THE FIELD: Bookseller interviews, librarian interviews, and teacher interviews. I’ve yet to see this and would like to try. I have a lot of questions I’d like answered! This is a good place to see a dialogue started I think.
3) BOOK DESIGN: Now and then perhaps I’ll have something to say about that. Heck, maybe I could even do a few Q&As with designers.
4) BUSINESS TALK: publishing news…my opinions on it… that sort of thing.
5) CREATION STRUGGLES: If I have any new insight (or NOT) on what I’m working on I will share that
6) WHY ART MATTERS: I love all sorts of art forms and may talk about them from time to time because I think we can all draw inspiration from them. I know I do daily when brainstorming, coming up with ideas, and so on.

Lastly, if you don’t know me know this: I’m opinionated. Feel free to voice your opinion also. In fact, I welcome it! I want nothing more than a good dialogue between publishing and book loving folk and I hope that I can somehow foster this in some small way. But I do wish that whenever possible you do post your name and not “anonymous.” Also, please don’t get mean. Somehow, though, I fear that I may be left with one poster here and there and may be talking to myself most of the time. That would be sad, though, wouldn’t it? Please don’t let me talk to myself!

For me this blog will be a place to throw out ideas, let others throw out ideas, and feel safe to sometimes “tell it like it is.” I am not using this as a place of promotions so you won’t be seeing a lot of new book release announcements or awards that I’ve just won. I already have great places for that.

On the topic of "telling it like it is," I remember a while ago I agreed to do a series of booksignings, which of course to an outsider one would consider good self promotion. I had blogged about how I thought doing some of them were a waste of time. An anonymous poster called me a “diva.” This still bothers me because if you know me you’ll know that I’m far from it. I’m just an honest person. So my plea to you now, if you’re still reading, is to please not fault me for my honestly. Know that I’m just giving people my perspective/reality on children’s book publishing. It’s not all pink bunnies and roses. It’s a struggle like anything else but it has its rewards. But it could be far more rewarding if more people felt comfortable talking about the struggles because then we could collectively figure out how to improve things. And if there is no way to improve things then we can at least commiserate together.

So now I’m throwing open the floor: if you have any great topic ideas for me, let me know! Anything else to say? Go for it. Just don’t call me a diva… unless I become like Hunter Thompson was, who (bookseller lore has it) demanded that booksellers wheel him around on a cart after the bookstore was closed to pick out books so that he could do his personal shopping for an hour while his “nurses” “medicated” him.

Faithfully yours,
Meghan