Being an artist/author, has its downs and ups. I've been rather busy, trying to get my last and third book written, illustrating a children's book and lastly, designing book covers for a Indie Publishing Press.
Now, I have written many things about what to look out for in the writing world, publishers, etc., but I have not written anything about the artistic aspect of the business. It too, has its drawbacks.
I recently was taken on with a Indie Publisher, one of who I will not name only because I have yet to hear back from them, which is why I left them in the first place . . . lack of communication. I don't know much about how the publishing press itself holds itself toward the creation of the book cover. What I mean is, how much of an input do they really have in their book covers. As it stands, I had always worked with the authors and not the people within the publishing press. Stands to reason wouldn't you think that the author would be the one you would work for, seeing how it is their book you are creating the cover for, but this was not to be true according to this publisher.
First of all, when I applied for this Publishing Press, I was told that they would get back to me within 4 to 5 days. . . it took them two weeks before I heard anything back from them. I figured they didn't want me and this was their way of telling me. So, a red flag went up when I did hear from them wanting me (should have listened to my red flag).
So, I got the position, started with my first cover. Now, cover artists get paid $50 for their work, $25 for taking on the job and $25 for when the cover is finished. Fourteen Days, was the book I was designing for and I was becoming very frustrated with it, for I had already done this cover fourteen times, maybe more and the publisher still didn't like it, author did, but I'm not suppose to converse with them, because according to this publisher the author really doesn't know what he/she wants . . . "excuse me?"
Well, I got that cover done, but when it came time for the next one, again, the following week I was to get my next assignment. Two weeks into waiting and I write again, so I finally get a response. Now, with this Publisher, they send you all the information about the storyline, information from the author as to what he wants in the cover (I thought authors didn't know what they wanted?).
I read the information thoroughly, and started in, what then happened was that my cover wasn't what the Publisher was asking for, even though that's what was asked of me to do with it . . .
To end this she apologized to me for the mis-communication and if I liked the cover she had concocted up with, then it would be fine, and that she'd give me another one to assign. She did, but what she was asking she didn't have the images for and I wasn't about to spend any more money buying my own images, when they have a database full of usable images.
Yeah, I had to buy some images, because the Publisher wasn't getting back to me when I was requesting images for the book cover. So, I quit.
So, authors, if you go into an Indie Publishing, make sure you have most of the input as far as how you want your book cover to look like. I think it's weird that the publisher has sole creativity in that department, makes no sense at all to me. I really should have listened to the bells and whistles that were going off in my head when I started working for them.
Now, I have written many things about what to look out for in the writing world, publishers, etc., but I have not written anything about the artistic aspect of the business. It too, has its drawbacks.
I recently was taken on with a Indie Publisher, one of who I will not name only because I have yet to hear back from them, which is why I left them in the first place . . . lack of communication. I don't know much about how the publishing press itself holds itself toward the creation of the book cover. What I mean is, how much of an input do they really have in their book covers. As it stands, I had always worked with the authors and not the people within the publishing press. Stands to reason wouldn't you think that the author would be the one you would work for, seeing how it is their book you are creating the cover for, but this was not to be true according to this publisher.
First of all, when I applied for this Publishing Press, I was told that they would get back to me within 4 to 5 days. . . it took them two weeks before I heard anything back from them. I figured they didn't want me and this was their way of telling me. So, a red flag went up when I did hear from them wanting me (should have listened to my red flag).
So, I got the position, started with my first cover. Now, cover artists get paid $50 for their work, $25 for taking on the job and $25 for when the cover is finished. Fourteen Days, was the book I was designing for and I was becoming very frustrated with it, for I had already done this cover fourteen times, maybe more and the publisher still didn't like it, author did, but I'm not suppose to converse with them, because according to this publisher the author really doesn't know what he/she wants . . . "excuse me?"
Well, I got that cover done, but when it came time for the next one, again, the following week I was to get my next assignment. Two weeks into waiting and I write again, so I finally get a response. Now, with this Publisher, they send you all the information about the storyline, information from the author as to what he wants in the cover (I thought authors didn't know what they wanted?).
I read the information thoroughly, and started in, what then happened was that my cover wasn't what the Publisher was asking for, even though that's what was asked of me to do with it . . .
To end this she apologized to me for the mis-communication and if I liked the cover she had concocted up with, then it would be fine, and that she'd give me another one to assign. She did, but what she was asking she didn't have the images for and I wasn't about to spend any more money buying my own images, when they have a database full of usable images.
Yeah, I had to buy some images, because the Publisher wasn't getting back to me when I was requesting images for the book cover. So, I quit.
So, authors, if you go into an Indie Publishing, make sure you have most of the input as far as how you want your book cover to look like. I think it's weird that the publisher has sole creativity in that department, makes no sense at all to me. I really should have listened to the bells and whistles that were going off in my head when I started working for them.
Wow, I've done book covers for writer friends but not for a company, but I'm pretty sure if they fail to provide you with the tools (ie images) to do the job, I'd get very frustrated - and not to mention following briefs to a T only to be told it's not what they want. Grrr...!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks . . . I'm just super frustrated with the whole lot, so I had to get out. Plus, re-doing the same cover over and over again, is definitely not worth getting paid $50. I usually allow for 5 corrections and anymore, they have to pay for, aside from the regular fee for their cover as well. I still don't get that the author has no real say in the end result of their book cover either.
ReplyDelete