So my friend (we’ll just call her Jane) gets an email with rambling, disjointed instructions - it was more of a wish list than actual directions.  Jane and I live close together and our kids are involved in many of the same things.  So, she asked me for a mini-crash course in covers.

Feel free to skip 1-4 . . .

I’m backing up here - Generally speaking, there are four kinds of books (6 if you include University Presses and Electronic Publishing, but I’m skipping them):

1.     Major, mass-market publishing house - pays an advance against royalties and has nearly total control over the look of the book.  The packaging of the book is largely at the publisher’s discretion, though some publishers give the author more input than others.  When I write for Harlequin, we fill out an Art Fact Sheet for the art department, then they use that to create the cover.  OFTEN I see my cover for the first time when the book uploads on Amazon for pre-order.  Simon & Schuster is completely different - Pocket asked for and made some of the minor adjustments, though truth be told, I liked both covers and would have been happy either way.  The art department isn’t the only department with input either - often the sales reps are shown cover flats (just what it sounds like - a single sheet with the entire cover on that page) and if they don’t react favorably to the cover, adjustments are made.  I’m guessing Nora Roberts has more of a say in the design process but the other 99.9% of writers get whatever the publisher decides is the best packaging to make the book fly off the shelves.  And just as an FYI - more and more publishers are using clip art services and graphic designers and fewer and fewer covers are drawn and painted by artists. 

2.     Small press:  These publishing houses are more like boutiques so the editor and the author might work more closely on the packaging.  A small press will have a modest print-run and often limited distribution.  Small DOES NOT mean bad or poor quality.  A great example of this is Oceanview Publishing - http://www.oceanviewpub.com/ . They have an impressive list of national and regional award-winning books.  I happen to have met the publishers and while they don’t come close to the number of releases of the major publishers, they do an excellent job and have teamed up with Writer’s House for sale of subsidiary rights.  Not insignificantly - Bob Gussin, CEO and publisher is hands on and very involved in working in tandem with the author.  Go to their website and order one of their titles - I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.  These books are available at some of the larger stores; by special order at most bookstores; and on websites like Amazon and B&N.

3.     Royalty-paying press - These publishers normally give a nominal advance ($100.00 or less) and a commitment to provide marketing support (creating ARCs, placing ads, doing press releases, etc.).  These publishers generally spend $2,000.00 - $3,000.00 to buzz the book.  Commonly you’ll find a lot of non-fiction, niche-market titles but the books are in a limited number of stores but they are on Amazon and the royalty rate for the author can be as high as 60%.

4.     Vanity/Subsidiary Publishing:  Actually, I don’t think these books should stand under the umbrella of having been published but rather they are printed.  The author pays the costs to have their manuscript bound and printed in whatever format they want - hardcover, trade or mass market.  A smart person will also pay for a professional freelance editor but often this step is skipped because of the cost (roughly $0.13 per word).  Then there’s the hidden costs - buying an ISBN ($100.00); buying a bookseller return package (roughly $700.00) FYI - This allows you to buy a listing in Ingram’s database - Ingram’s is one of the largest book distributors; buying a Library of Congress catalog number ($150.00); creating a cover (you can do it yourself and/or there is software you can use and/or you can pay the vanity press to produce a cover - for a fee.  A graphic designer will charge either by the hour (around $125.00) or on a flat fee basis but again, be careful, the flat fee might cover the creation of a cover, revisions and changes can be à la carte and pricey; finally, the cost to print the book - that can vary from $300.00 to $10,000.00.  I know I wasn’t going to mention e-publishing but there are a lot of vanity press opportunities in electronic format but be careful - some of these are fly-by-night, grab your money and shut down the website.  Have them put you in touch with one of their authors but there’s still a chance it’s a scam.  It’s called vanity press for a reason - it’s an opportunity for a person to create something that looks like a book.  Sometimes this is the only avenue for a niche book.  Most of the time it’s just an ego stroke. 

So back to Jane . . . wanting to do a good job and not being familiar with publishing, she asked my advice in creating a cover for Mr. Ego.  Mr. Ego has written a narrative with recipes - or at least that’s what the description he wrote sounds like.  I had a feeling he was vanity pressing since he was paying for a cover - legit publishers don’t do that.  Hell, they usually won’t use author-supplied illustrations because they have an art department they pay to do this and they don’t want to run the risk of violating copyright, etc.  For sales and marketing purposes, legit publishers make packaging decisions based on things we mere mortals aren’t aware of - for example . . . maybe they’re already publishing a cookbook with a red cover.  Or, maybe the title is too close to an existing release.  Or, they gather all sorts of info - demographics, color trends,  - just a bunch of stuff. 

Since I’m not cookbook savvy, I emailed a person who is, shall we say, not a close friend.  She has publishing more than a dozen cookbooks as well as a ton of fiction.  She spent a great deal of time explaining the buyer expectations of the cookbook consumer.  I passed the info as well as some standard stuff - what goes on the spine, the 10 and 13-digit ISBNs, etc.  And a suggestion that Mr. Ego do what I did - I went on Amazon and pulled up the top 25 cookbooks. 

Mr. Ego had a fit.  He wants his image plastered on the cover.  Cookbook author and a quickie search of Amazon makes it clear that ‘celebrity’ cookbooks have the author’s photo on the front but most of the others rely on a glossy photo of one or more dishes.  Not only did Mr. Ego take a personal pot shot at me, he was pretty snotty to Jane.  If someone talked to me like that, I’d tell them where they could stick their whisk.  His wife is his editor (hopefully she has the skills since Mr. Ego is under the impression that subtitle is two words) and the premise of his book is, well, not a recipe for success.  He started spewing all a bunch of cookbooks with the author on the cover - every last one of them was a ‘name’ whose image would be a huge selling point. 

I think he should call the book “All About Me.”  I’ve never seen back cover copy with so many ‘I, my, mine, me’ sentences.  I hope he has a large family willing to buy copies of his ‘book.’  I really don’t care.  I only get invested in the success of my BFFs' books and keep my fingers crossed when I have something on the shelves.

But the snarky part of me hopes that Mr. Ego gets exactly what he wants, and when that happens, I think he might regret putting his gianormous ego before the advice of an award-winning cookbook author.  Ignoring my general comments is all well and good but ignoring the advice of a successful writer in the genre he wants to be a part of is just flat out stupid.

It also happens a lot.  A billion years ago when I started seriously writing with an eye toward publication, I was a sponge.  I devoured information shared by successful authors who were gracious enough to donate their time.  I don’t think I understood it then, but now I know that when an author is speaking, he/she is taking time away from his/her work.  It never would have dawned on me to cop an attitude with a published author.  Yes, I think it’s important to be your own advocate but the reality in publishing is you have to learn to listen to criticism and - if it comes from your editor - make changes even if you don’t agree with them.  You have to dig deep and try to find  way to make the change in a way that will satisfy you and your editor.  In the 15+ years since I sold my first book, I’ve learned to pick my battles and check my ego at the door.  Often the revisions I hate doing turn into some of the best parts of the book.

So while Mr. Ego stands on the side of the road selling his ego-pressed product, I’ll be sitting in air-conditioned comfort.  The fact that he has to get up every day and be him is punishment enough.