John Prescott Teaches “The Basics of Cover Design and Book Layouts” for SavvyAuthors.com

The Basics of Cover Design and Book Layouts (Aug 28, 2011 6:00 PM EST – Aug 28, 2011 7:00 PM EST)

The image you choose to be on the cover of your novel is one of the most important decisions you will make as an author. This Q&A with Author and Professional Graphic Design Artist John Prescott will answer your questions on how to determine what images should grace the cover of your book, obtaining pictures and artwork, fonts, layout, ISBN numbers, important copyright information, and useful software. Host: John Prescott

http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/showevent.php?eventid=1143

John Prescott was born in the deep southern woods of Mississippi. Art has always captured his attention and he has been drawing in one form or another for longer than he can remember. As one of the founding members of Atlanta’s famed DragonCon, he served as the Art Director for the original collections of program books, and worked with such esteemed artists as Larry Elmore and Ben Wooten. He is the President of White Silver Publishing, maintaining a freelance stable of over 25 artists specializing in gaming and world creation.

As the Chief of Design for Dark Continents Publishing he is in charge of all graphic design and cover creation, as well as working closely with the POD industry. But he considers his greatest professional accomplishment to be his novel, PRAY. Published in 2010 as the first in a three-part trilogy, PRAY is an end times novel set within the Book of Revelation. PRAY was recently listed as one of the top 100 best selling novels in Amazon’s Kindle Horror category. The second novel in the series, HELL, will be released on November 25, 2011.

Daily Routines

BY: Sylvia Shults
Humans are creatures of habit and routine. Routines give our days structure, and let us know that all is in balance in our little corner of the universe. I’m human myself, so I really like my routines. Get up, brush my teeth, put my contacts in, do my exercises, get dressed, go to work. Come home, feed the dogs, take them out, go to bed. On Thursdays, I’ve usually got some spare time in the afternoons, so that’s when I get a lot of writing done. It was a predictable life. It was my life, and I was content.
Then, last summer, a friend of mine blew that comfortable routine of mine right out of the water. All it took was one innocent little question.
“Hey, Sylvia, how’d you like to help me start a publishing company?”
And just like that, my comfortable routine was shattered into a million little pieces.
Of course, I didn’t give David a response right away. (Didn’t want him to think I was that easy.) It took a bit of cajoling on his part, as well as a lot of peer pressure. “John and Ade and Tracie are doing it too. Come on, take a chance.” But the more I thought about it, the more the idea appealed to me. Be part of a publishing company? One that specializes in horror and dark fiction? Hey, why not? Sounds like it could be fun. That’s how they get you, you know. That’s how they suck you in. First taste is free.
Then they made me a board member. I had a title – “Publicity Director”. (I still think they gave me that title because I have no sense of shame or moderation when it comes to promoting my work.) We got stationery with my name right on it – in ink. Suddenly I was no longer just a writer. I was no longer responsible just for my own work. I was a member of a company, with, you know, duties and stuff. What on earth were these people thinking?
Then David dropped the biggest bombshell of all on this routine-loving, homebody little librarian. “Oh yeah, we’re all going to the World Horror Convention. In Austin Texas. Yes, ALL of us.” Even me, who would much, much rather stay home and read a book (or write one) than go out on a Saturday night. I sighed. This would take me even farther out of my comfortable routine. I don’t even like going out to downtown Peoria, which is half an hour away. And David wanted me to go to Texas? Yeesh! But, I figured, if the folks from Britain and flippin’ Australia could make it, I suppose I could be there too. I left the dogs with my husband, took time off from work, and made the trek to Austin. (And that’s a whole ‘nother blog post…)
And something happened there in Austin, in the dealers’ room at the World Horror Convention. Something strange, something wonderful. I was standing behind the table, waiting to jump on the next soul who wandered past (“Here, have a pen! And a bookmark! And a catalog!”), when I glanced down at the books on display. Now, I’ve been to book signings before. I’ve sold books before, sometimes with other authors. We’re always good at tag-teaming each other, passing off potential customers to each other. After all, if SOMEONE makes a sale, it’s all good, right? But at the end of the day, each writer has their own books to sell.
But. But! When I looked down at the table loaded with books in front of me, something occurred to me. Whether I sold a copy of The Taming of the Werewolf, or Snareville, or The Left Hand, or Pray – it all benefitted the company. And in the end, no matter which book I ended up selling, it would benefit me. And if Tracie sold a copy of my novel Price of Admission, that would benefit her. We were all in this together. I could feel a grin spreading across my face. Boy, there really was something to this whole cooperative thing after all.
So this trip to Austin jolted me out of my routine. So what? It’s good to shake things up once in a while. And things have stayed shaken, that’s for sure. I can now call myself a member of a respected publishing company. I’m the Publicity Director for Dark Continents Publishing. I have, you know, duties and stuff.
I still would rather stay home than go out, though. And I still like to hole up and write on a Thursday afternoon.