Covers – Titles

Create a Compelling Book Title

I’ve been coaching several of my clients through the process of coming up with a good title for their book, so I thought I’d share my tips with you. Let’s start by acknowledging a few things. The publisher is usually responsible for the final decision on title, and in the query stage, it’s not that…
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How Do I Decide

Books Covers and My Experience with 99 Designs

Whether you’re self-publishing or working with a publisher, creating an effective book cover is extremely important. I’ve worked with publishers on hundreds of covers, and now I have the experience of working with designers on the cover of my own first e-book. From my perspective, the single most important thing to understand about book covers…
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Classic books

How Important Is Your Book Title?

I was talking to a writer who mentioned she hadn’t worked too hard to come up with a great title for her book. When I asked her why, she said she’d been to a workshop taught by an editor at a major publishing house, who said, “Don’t get too attached to your title — there’s a good…
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The Making of a Book Cover

Guest Blogger: Monica Lee In celebration of the release of Erin MacPherson’s The Christian Mama’s Guide to Having a Baby, we’re doing something totally different! Monica Lee is the illustrator who created the images for the cover and the interior of the book, and I  thought it would be fun to hear about the process. Here’s Monica… As a professional illustrator,…
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When Publishing Dreams Become a Nightmare

Most of my clients have had terrific publishing experiences. They enjoy working with their editors (even when the revisions are very challenging), they like the titles their publisher comes up with, and they love their book covers. Then there’s Allison. Allison’s journey hasn’t been so rosy. I’m not even using her real name here because…
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Who Decides Titles and Cover Design?

Blog reader Melanie asked: How much say does an author have in the final decision regarding the title of a book to be published and in the artwork for the cover? And who are the people that come up with the design/photograph for the covers. Does each publisher have a team of people or a…
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Ode to the Book Cover

Last week I had a little epiphany that made me just the teensiest bit less enthusiastic about e-books as the primary delivery method for books in the future. I’d been reading The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow by Joyce Magnin on my Kindle. Then Joyce did a guest post for me and in the course of…
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Is Your Book Worth It?

Yesterday I told you how book royalties work, so today I want to go further and explain a little more about the finances of publishing, this time from the publisher’s perspective. One of the things that’s hard to remember is that the publisher makes a significant financial investment in each writer, with no guarantee that…
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Guest Blogger: Angela Scheff at Zondervan

Being Proactive about Your Cover and TitleOftentimes I hear that an author is frustrated because they don’t like the title or cover the publisher chose for their book. While you probably won’t ever have the final say over your title or cover (unless you’ve already sold millions), here are some ideas that may make the…
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