Hi Icey
Yes, the fanned fore-edge artwork is often beautiful.
Normally only new releases and current hot sellers are placed on tables, or shelves, with their faces out.
I guess too it depends on how much space and inventory a store has available, what they do on the rest of the shelves.
Many I visit only have one copy of thousands of titles, and stacks of a hot book they expect to sell several of.
On my print books, I carry the cover design across the spine. I feel it is slightly more appealing than using a solid color or white on the spine.
I just glanced across my bookcases at the spines. Only three carry the cover design to the spine, sorta. One uses the same colors as the cover, but spaced differently to fit the words into individual colors. One has an image for the spine similar to the cover image but messes up the spine text.
Hard bound books are different, since they have an attached spine covering the binding. All of these are hot foil stamped text only. Sometimes with a glyph decoration.
Of all the books in both of my bookcases, other than the publishers logo, mine is the only one with an authors logo on the spine, but several have a series logo of sorts appearing on the spine. I'm surprised more authors do not have a logo. Most businesses would not consider opening their doors without having some recognizable logo, or special stylized name as their logo. I guess they don't see being an author as being in business, hi hi...
Best Book Cover Award
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Icey
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Aww, well some authors're very MUCH in business, and I totally agree with you. Books DO look more appealing with something on the spines, and I also can't understand why more authors don't use logos.
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Anything someone does that generates an income, no matter how large or small, is a business transaction, so they are in business.
What I don't understand is how some Profit Only businesses get by with claiming they are a non-profit organization.
Here is an example without naming any names, and I'm not pointing my finger at any particular business or organization, but consider this scenario.
The products you sell from your inventory costs you nothing, other than sorting, pricing, and placing the product on the stores shelves.
You do rent a storefront which is a business expense, probably have insurance, and a couple of employees. Somehow you also manage to have a few volunteers stop in to help out, which alleviates the hiring of extra employees. You pay your employees minimum wage, or less if you can get by with it.
Since you have no product cost, and only storefront rent and utilities, plus payroll. All product sales are 100% profit on the product, with minimal expenses to pay from the profits.
There are many of these types of stores across our nation, the owners are making triple digit incomes, and every single one is considered non-profit.
While a nearly identical business, who pays a minuscule amount for their inventory, and the owner barely makes enough to survive, his business cannot be classified as a non-profit.
Both companies sell to the same clientele! The same folks who shop at the non-profit store, also shop at the store who cannot be a non-profit. Remember, the non-profit owner makes a triple digit income, while the one who cannot become a non-profit is barely scraping by.
I was curious about this for many years, and it is all contained in the mission statement when the business is formed.
One sentence can make the difference whether you pay taxes or not, regardless of how much income you keep for yourself.
Although, I don't think any business or corporation should pay corporate taxes, since it creates a tax burden on the people four times greater than the actual taxes paid to the government, and threefold profits are made by the corporations. No Corporation pays Taxes, their customers pay the taxes for them, at four times greater the cost.
What I don't understand is how some Profit Only businesses get by with claiming they are a non-profit organization.
Here is an example without naming any names, and I'm not pointing my finger at any particular business or organization, but consider this scenario.
The products you sell from your inventory costs you nothing, other than sorting, pricing, and placing the product on the stores shelves.
You do rent a storefront which is a business expense, probably have insurance, and a couple of employees. Somehow you also manage to have a few volunteers stop in to help out, which alleviates the hiring of extra employees. You pay your employees minimum wage, or less if you can get by with it.
Since you have no product cost, and only storefront rent and utilities, plus payroll. All product sales are 100% profit on the product, with minimal expenses to pay from the profits.
There are many of these types of stores across our nation, the owners are making triple digit incomes, and every single one is considered non-profit.
While a nearly identical business, who pays a minuscule amount for their inventory, and the owner barely makes enough to survive, his business cannot be classified as a non-profit.
Both companies sell to the same clientele! The same folks who shop at the non-profit store, also shop at the store who cannot be a non-profit. Remember, the non-profit owner makes a triple digit income, while the one who cannot become a non-profit is barely scraping by.
I was curious about this for many years, and it is all contained in the mission statement when the business is formed.
One sentence can make the difference whether you pay taxes or not, regardless of how much income you keep for yourself.
Although, I don't think any business or corporation should pay corporate taxes, since it creates a tax burden on the people four times greater than the actual taxes paid to the government, and threefold profits are made by the corporations. No Corporation pays Taxes, their customers pay the taxes for them, at four times greater the cost.
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Icey
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Hello Gary,
Yes, I see what you mean.
Over here, charities don't pay tax on most types of income as long as they use the money for charitable purposes (questionable, since huge wages're paid to those "at the top"). You can claim back tax that's been deducted, eg on bank interest and donations (this is known as Gift Aid). To benefit you must be recognised by HM Revenue and Customs ( HMRC ), and most of these places ask for volunteers, who obviously don't get paid, so apart from renting premises and the cost of electricity, an enormous amount of money's generated nationwide - to the folk who set these charities up, and if people stand in shops, rattling their tins and buckets, there's no need to even HAVE premises, although obviously, clothes shops, etc., need somewhere to display the goods on offer.
People who may not have much money to spend, or who like to find bargains, shop at these places, but of course, similar shops in malls and on the high streets charge much more for what they're selling, even when they advertise that the goods're secondhand. They have to, to cover their overheads, and a lot of folk prefer to buy from them, rather than admitting to using non-profit organisations, which makes them sound like misers or cheapskates. Silly, isn't it? I give away some lovely unwanted clothes to charity shops. I know they could charge less, but I look at it that someone IS going to get a bargain, and it benefits me to get them out of the way. I don't want to sell the stuff myself, so I look at it that someone, somewhere's going to be pleased by what they find.
Lots of these charities aren't quite what people think they are though, and often only a fraction of what they make actually ends up where it's supposed to go, while a few get rich quickly.
I think that all businesses generating over a certain amount each year should pay tax like everyone else, and right at this moment, our ministers're drawing up plans to catch the tax evaders. It won't be easy, but offshore accounts're also being delved into. It'll still go on though. Where people can get away with things and make money, they're going to do it.
Yes, I see what you mean.
Over here, charities don't pay tax on most types of income as long as they use the money for charitable purposes (questionable, since huge wages're paid to those "at the top"). You can claim back tax that's been deducted, eg on bank interest and donations (this is known as Gift Aid). To benefit you must be recognised by HM Revenue and Customs ( HMRC ), and most of these places ask for volunteers, who obviously don't get paid, so apart from renting premises and the cost of electricity, an enormous amount of money's generated nationwide - to the folk who set these charities up, and if people stand in shops, rattling their tins and buckets, there's no need to even HAVE premises, although obviously, clothes shops, etc., need somewhere to display the goods on offer.
People who may not have much money to spend, or who like to find bargains, shop at these places, but of course, similar shops in malls and on the high streets charge much more for what they're selling, even when they advertise that the goods're secondhand. They have to, to cover their overheads, and a lot of folk prefer to buy from them, rather than admitting to using non-profit organisations, which makes them sound like misers or cheapskates. Silly, isn't it? I give away some lovely unwanted clothes to charity shops. I know they could charge less, but I look at it that someone IS going to get a bargain, and it benefits me to get them out of the way. I don't want to sell the stuff myself, so I look at it that someone, somewhere's going to be pleased by what they find.
Lots of these charities aren't quite what people think they are though, and often only a fraction of what they make actually ends up where it's supposed to go, while a few get rich quickly.
I think that all businesses generating over a certain amount each year should pay tax like everyone else, and right at this moment, our ministers're drawing up plans to catch the tax evaders. It won't be easy, but offshore accounts're also being delved into. It'll still go on though. Where people can get away with things and make money, they're going to do it.
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Yeppers, you know what's going on.
Personally, I don't think any business or corporation should be paying taxes other than property taxes maybe.
Or maybe it would be better worded this way, they should not have to pay income taxes.
I say this because although they APPEAR to be paying taxes, in reality, no corporation or business pays a dime in taxes themselves. In fact, they make a profit on the taxes they do collect before sending on the pittance to the government.
Taxes charged a business become an expense, a part of their overhead. Their overhead is calculated into the Cost of Goods Sold. This causes the taxes they paid to be hidden in the price they sell their product for, after they mark up the product whatever their standard mark up is.
Each business along the chain of manufacturing and distribution pays tax, and adds these taxes to their cost of goods sold. Eventually the product makes it to the retailers shelves with all these hidden taxes added into the price. So the Consumer is paying Sales Tax on all of these hidden taxes which become the purchase price for the product.
Only $1.00 out of every $4.00 collected is for the original tax. The mark up along the chain of distribution generates $3.00 in PROFIT from than $1.00 tax. So the Consumer is paying Four Dollars for every One Dollar the government gets in Taxes from Corporations.
Consumer Goods would be much cheaper without all of these Compounded Hidden Taxes, which cause Tax on Tax on Tax, often up to seven or more times compounded.
I would rather pay the Government $1.00, than Corporations $4.00, knowing they are pocketing $3.00 and only sending the government the $1.00 Tax, which is costing us $4.00, plus Sales Tax on that $4.00 at the register.
Personally, I don't think any business or corporation should be paying taxes other than property taxes maybe.
Or maybe it would be better worded this way, they should not have to pay income taxes.
I say this because although they APPEAR to be paying taxes, in reality, no corporation or business pays a dime in taxes themselves. In fact, they make a profit on the taxes they do collect before sending on the pittance to the government.
Taxes charged a business become an expense, a part of their overhead. Their overhead is calculated into the Cost of Goods Sold. This causes the taxes they paid to be hidden in the price they sell their product for, after they mark up the product whatever their standard mark up is.
Each business along the chain of manufacturing and distribution pays tax, and adds these taxes to their cost of goods sold. Eventually the product makes it to the retailers shelves with all these hidden taxes added into the price. So the Consumer is paying Sales Tax on all of these hidden taxes which become the purchase price for the product.
Only $1.00 out of every $4.00 collected is for the original tax. The mark up along the chain of distribution generates $3.00 in PROFIT from than $1.00 tax. So the Consumer is paying Four Dollars for every One Dollar the government gets in Taxes from Corporations.
Consumer Goods would be much cheaper without all of these Compounded Hidden Taxes, which cause Tax on Tax on Tax, often up to seven or more times compounded.
I would rather pay the Government $1.00, than Corporations $4.00, knowing they are pocketing $3.00 and only sending the government the $1.00 Tax, which is costing us $4.00, plus Sales Tax on that $4.00 at the register.
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Icey
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Good evening Gary.
Well, I hear what you're saying, and we all know that the governments rake in as much money as possible - to give away and invest in things which they're probably part of anyway!
Over here, the Corporation Tax rate for company profits from 1 April this year is now 20%. For Corporation Tax, you pay at the rates that applied in your company's accounting period, so although double book-keeping's always gone on, things're getting keener over here now, with everything having to be shown and checked, but it's a huge job and a lot of businesses don't exactly pay what they should. We've personally never cheated the Inland Revenue, because the consequences're severe if you get found out, and we have a reputation to keep as well. 20% can amount to a lot of money, or break a smaller business.
Apart from at certain Cash and Carry warehouses, when tax's added at the till, all our consumer goods have it included on the display price in the shops, so no one has to worry about any extra cost at the check-out, and a till receipt has it all broken down for you if you need to save these for your accountant. Occasionally, you find exempted things, such as stamps, or the VAT rate drops for energy-saving devices, childrens' car seats and other stuff. It's impossible to break it all down for you, because there are so many different amounts of tax on different things, but VAT on clothes, as an example's, gone up to 20% from 17.5% (or something like that. I forget now), but anyway, food, clothes and all essentials're much costlier in the UK than over there, and don't even begin to compare fuel and energy prices! We pay way over the odds, and it's going to be a terrible winter for thousands of folk over here.
I can't properly convert it for you, but as an average, car fuel cost $1.54 - per litre! There's over 4.5 litres to the gallon, so now you can do a quick work out as to how much it'd cost you to put 1 measly gallon of fuel into your car tank. There's not much between petrol and diesel, so we'll work on those figures.
An average 3-4 bedroomed house, using dual fuel'll pay in the region of $1301 a year - and that's paying by Direct Debit and having both gas and electricity from the same company. You get a slight discount for having the two together, so separately, or just having electricity to power everything'd cost a lot more, and larger houses pay a LOT more. It's stretching people to the limit now, and elderly folk on a basic state penson're frightened to put their heating on. For those using oil, and something like an Aga for cooking and hot water, it jumps up to a huge $2296.28 a year! Then there's the electricity ..... and of course, it depends on the size of the house and the catchment areas they're in!
Well, I hear what you're saying, and we all know that the governments rake in as much money as possible - to give away and invest in things which they're probably part of anyway!
Over here, the Corporation Tax rate for company profits from 1 April this year is now 20%. For Corporation Tax, you pay at the rates that applied in your company's accounting period, so although double book-keeping's always gone on, things're getting keener over here now, with everything having to be shown and checked, but it's a huge job and a lot of businesses don't exactly pay what they should. We've personally never cheated the Inland Revenue, because the consequences're severe if you get found out, and we have a reputation to keep as well. 20% can amount to a lot of money, or break a smaller business.
Apart from at certain Cash and Carry warehouses, when tax's added at the till, all our consumer goods have it included on the display price in the shops, so no one has to worry about any extra cost at the check-out, and a till receipt has it all broken down for you if you need to save these for your accountant. Occasionally, you find exempted things, such as stamps, or the VAT rate drops for energy-saving devices, childrens' car seats and other stuff. It's impossible to break it all down for you, because there are so many different amounts of tax on different things, but VAT on clothes, as an example's, gone up to 20% from 17.5% (or something like that. I forget now), but anyway, food, clothes and all essentials're much costlier in the UK than over there, and don't even begin to compare fuel and energy prices! We pay way over the odds, and it's going to be a terrible winter for thousands of folk over here.
I can't properly convert it for you, but as an average, car fuel cost $1.54 - per litre! There's over 4.5 litres to the gallon, so now you can do a quick work out as to how much it'd cost you to put 1 measly gallon of fuel into your car tank. There's not much between petrol and diesel, so we'll work on those figures.
An average 3-4 bedroomed house, using dual fuel'll pay in the region of $1301 a year - and that's paying by Direct Debit and having both gas and electricity from the same company. You get a slight discount for having the two together, so separately, or just having electricity to power everything'd cost a lot more, and larger houses pay a LOT more. It's stretching people to the limit now, and elderly folk on a basic state penson're frightened to put their heating on. For those using oil, and something like an Aga for cooking and hot water, it jumps up to a huge $2296.28 a year! Then there's the electricity ..... and of course, it depends on the size of the house and the catchment areas they're in!
Last edited by Icey on 28 Oct 2015, 21:16, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Hi Icey
Yes, inflation really hurts everyone on a fixed income the most. Their income might go up by 2 to 3% while inflation jumps 8 to 20%, but always claimed to be only 3 to 4%.
In our family business we ran for 71 years, we relied heavily on our previous years data to determine this years price increases for our products. Due to changes in the law, or utilities prices and conversions, we did have losses in many years due to our low profit margin, which had to be recovered the following year or we would go out of business.
Major changes like utilities conversions required we obtained financing to pay for them. This adds interest expense to our overhead. All overhead must be considered when determining the cost of goods sold.
Because we are getting so far away from the original topic here, if I can find time, I will put together a small article about and start a new topic about hidden taxes in the products we buy, and how it generates profits for corporations.
Yes, inflation really hurts everyone on a fixed income the most. Their income might go up by 2 to 3% while inflation jumps 8 to 20%, but always claimed to be only 3 to 4%.
In our family business we ran for 71 years, we relied heavily on our previous years data to determine this years price increases for our products. Due to changes in the law, or utilities prices and conversions, we did have losses in many years due to our low profit margin, which had to be recovered the following year or we would go out of business.
Major changes like utilities conversions required we obtained financing to pay for them. This adds interest expense to our overhead. All overhead must be considered when determining the cost of goods sold.
Because we are getting so far away from the original topic here, if I can find time, I will put together a small article about and start a new topic about hidden taxes in the products we buy, and how it generates profits for corporations.
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Icey
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Thanks Gary and your information's always good to read, but I was thinking the same thing - we've waivered from the original topic.
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Getting back to book covers, I really lashed out at the organization for whom I judge book covers for Tuesday night.
They wanted to add another set of judging elements for 3D covers.
Adding such an element would merely add more points to those who use 2D and call it 3D.
There is no such thing as a Printed or Digital 3D book cover. No matter what they call it, it is still only 2D, displayed on a 2D device known as a monitor.
Because we judge many different genre, there must be an offset to balance out the scores.
An element which scores high in one genre would force it to score low in another genre, to keep the balance.
Today's technology does allow prismatic overlays on book covers. But the technology itself is from the WWII era. You've probably seen many of these as Cracker Jacks prizes, a little card you tilt one way to see one image, another way to see another image. Only with the technology of today, there can be multiple images instead of just two images, which can give the feeling of movement, etc.
Besides what I just mentioned, there is also Cavity Images, which work best when they are a real 3D object.
The easiest way to define a Cavity Image is to talk about a statue of a bust, showing someones face.
Viewing the half of the mold containing the face, if it were sitting on a shelf, the eyes and nose will appear to be following you as you walk past them.
Although not as pronounced when printed on a sheet of paper, it still retains some of the effect. Now combine the printed image with a prismatic overlay and you can produce a scary cover image, if that was the desired affect.
If you wanted to judge the quality of such a book cover, what would you use to offset the added score so they do not have an unfair edge over book covers without the feature, just because they have this feature?
They wanted to add another set of judging elements for 3D covers.
Adding such an element would merely add more points to those who use 2D and call it 3D.
There is no such thing as a Printed or Digital 3D book cover. No matter what they call it, it is still only 2D, displayed on a 2D device known as a monitor.
Because we judge many different genre, there must be an offset to balance out the scores.
An element which scores high in one genre would force it to score low in another genre, to keep the balance.
Today's technology does allow prismatic overlays on book covers. But the technology itself is from the WWII era. You've probably seen many of these as Cracker Jacks prizes, a little card you tilt one way to see one image, another way to see another image. Only with the technology of today, there can be multiple images instead of just two images, which can give the feeling of movement, etc.
Besides what I just mentioned, there is also Cavity Images, which work best when they are a real 3D object.
The easiest way to define a Cavity Image is to talk about a statue of a bust, showing someones face.
Viewing the half of the mold containing the face, if it were sitting on a shelf, the eyes and nose will appear to be following you as you walk past them.
Although not as pronounced when printed on a sheet of paper, it still retains some of the effect. Now combine the printed image with a prismatic overlay and you can produce a scary cover image, if that was the desired affect.
If you wanted to judge the quality of such a book cover, what would you use to offset the added score so they do not have an unfair edge over book covers without the feature, just because they have this feature?
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Icey
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Why are books covers judged anyway Gary? Doesn't that mean that the winning book/books're more likely to be placed prominently and encourage readers to buy, whether the story's good or not? Or is it just a prize which goes to ... well, who DOES it go to - the author, or the person who created the cover?
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Hi Icey
Are you just opening a can of worms here, or shall we pop the lid on Pandora's Box?
There are contest for every feature you just mentioned. Cover Alone, Cover by Author, Cover by Designer, Covers relevance to story content, etc.
There are contests which judge the cover independently of the story in the book, which are usually graphical contests, and may not even have a book associated with them.
In some cases, authors enter their books in a contest, and the cover is the last thing to be judged, after the book itself attains a high enough status for further judging.
The particular contest I judge is held by a book promotional company. Long before the book reaches the book cover contest stage, it must have earned enough 5-star ratings to be included for extra promotional efforts.
Regardless of how many books an author may have written, only one is selected to become a spotlight book, and eligible for further consideration in our contests. Spotlight authors are already in competition with Featured authors for a prominent display of their works, who are also eligible for the book cover contest.
So, the covers I am judging are already for books who have earned 5-star ratings, and books selected to be featured by the promoter. Winning a book cover contest is only an enhancement of an already great book, and the prize is thirty day placement of the cover on the main landing page, dead center in the most prominent position.
This is beneficial for both the author and the promoter. As a promoter, you want the most appealing and customer drawing image as the main focal point of your website. As an author, attaining this prominent position almost always ensures a major boost in sales. The winning book cover is also featured on more than thirty websites for free. Again, this benefits both the promoter and the author as it draws more customers to the promoters website, which helps all authors who are featured there.
To make our contest fair to all:
A winning book cover is permanently ineligible to win another book cover contest.
The author of the winning book is ineligible to win another contest in any field for six months.
And ineligible to win another book cover contest with another book for twelve months.
This allows those who have never won with their lower book cover scores to have a chance at the winners circle.
If it were not for these rules, the winners circle would be dominated by those who can afford professional design services, and our intent is to also allow self-designed covers to have a chance. Sometimes the professionally designed covers score very low, and Indie made covers have super high scores.
Speaking of which, my very first book cover was designed by a professional book cover designer.
I thought it was not only tacky, but a box placed on the cover looked out of place.
Since I did pay dearly for this cover work, I decided to keep it, except get rid of the box.
I'm not at all happy with the cover, which is why I designed all the rest myself, using a certain theme I hope becomes recognized sorta like a trademark of my works. I may change later, but right now, everyone loves my cover designs. I've even been asked to do others for authors but refused. No time to get involved in work I'm not proficient in doing fast. Nor do I have the proper tools to do it as a business.
It is easy to see which book cover does not match the rest in my collection of authored books.
Do I need to say it is also the ugliest of them all? Who knows, maybe you like it, some folks do!
Are you just opening a can of worms here, or shall we pop the lid on Pandora's Box?
There are contest for every feature you just mentioned. Cover Alone, Cover by Author, Cover by Designer, Covers relevance to story content, etc.
There are contests which judge the cover independently of the story in the book, which are usually graphical contests, and may not even have a book associated with them.
In some cases, authors enter their books in a contest, and the cover is the last thing to be judged, after the book itself attains a high enough status for further judging.
The particular contest I judge is held by a book promotional company. Long before the book reaches the book cover contest stage, it must have earned enough 5-star ratings to be included for extra promotional efforts.
Regardless of how many books an author may have written, only one is selected to become a spotlight book, and eligible for further consideration in our contests. Spotlight authors are already in competition with Featured authors for a prominent display of their works, who are also eligible for the book cover contest.
So, the covers I am judging are already for books who have earned 5-star ratings, and books selected to be featured by the promoter. Winning a book cover contest is only an enhancement of an already great book, and the prize is thirty day placement of the cover on the main landing page, dead center in the most prominent position.
This is beneficial for both the author and the promoter. As a promoter, you want the most appealing and customer drawing image as the main focal point of your website. As an author, attaining this prominent position almost always ensures a major boost in sales. The winning book cover is also featured on more than thirty websites for free. Again, this benefits both the promoter and the author as it draws more customers to the promoters website, which helps all authors who are featured there.
To make our contest fair to all:
A winning book cover is permanently ineligible to win another book cover contest.
The author of the winning book is ineligible to win another contest in any field for six months.
And ineligible to win another book cover contest with another book for twelve months.
This allows those who have never won with their lower book cover scores to have a chance at the winners circle.
If it were not for these rules, the winners circle would be dominated by those who can afford professional design services, and our intent is to also allow self-designed covers to have a chance. Sometimes the professionally designed covers score very low, and Indie made covers have super high scores.
Speaking of which, my very first book cover was designed by a professional book cover designer.
I thought it was not only tacky, but a box placed on the cover looked out of place.
Since I did pay dearly for this cover work, I decided to keep it, except get rid of the box.
I'm not at all happy with the cover, which is why I designed all the rest myself, using a certain theme I hope becomes recognized sorta like a trademark of my works. I may change later, but right now, everyone loves my cover designs. I've even been asked to do others for authors but refused. No time to get involved in work I'm not proficient in doing fast. Nor do I have the proper tools to do it as a business.
It is easy to see which book cover does not match the rest in my collection of authored books.
Do I need to say it is also the ugliest of them all? Who knows, maybe you like it, some folks do!
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Icey
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Awww, well good luck with everything Gary.
I was totally unaware of so many competitions taking place - seriously. Is this done for ALL books?? Sometimes I see a known book come out by a recognised author, and the first time I set eyes on the cover's when I know the book's on sale!
JK Rowling's writing a new Harry Potter book, moving forward into time when he's a middle-aged man, but I've seen nothing regarding what the cover'll look like. It's probably not even in its development stage yet, but once it's done it'll be out there on the shelves before everyone's had time to register that it's actually there, apart from maybe a bit of coverage re. the launch.
I was totally unaware of so many competitions taking place - seriously. Is this done for ALL books?? Sometimes I see a known book come out by a recognised author, and the first time I set eyes on the cover's when I know the book's on sale!
JK Rowling's writing a new Harry Potter book, moving forward into time when he's a middle-aged man, but I've seen nothing regarding what the cover'll look like. It's probably not even in its development stage yet, but once it's done it'll be out there on the shelves before everyone's had time to register that it's actually there, apart from maybe a bit of coverage re. the launch.
Re: Best Book Cover Award
I can think of over 150 different currently running contests going on at any given moment in the book industry.
Many of them are similar, some have much more clout than others, and thousands enter each one.
I've only entered a couple in all the years I've been writing, and both of those were local.
The world of book contests has changed drastically in the past few years.
Hundreds of new fee based contests designed solely to bilk authors out of their money has sprung up.
Here is just one example of these new contests. Not all on this list are bad, as it includes the good ones too.
http://www.newpages.com/classifieds/big ... g-contests
Although some of the most popular and best ones do have a small fee associated with them for non-members, and sometimes for members too. They carry enough clout to warrant a small fee.
But most of the rest are meaningless, overpriced, and who cares even if you win, they have no clout or appeal to buyers.
For a contest to be valuable to an author, it must have a purpose greater than a little badge you can display on your website. Our contests are free to enter, and the winner gets 30 days of book promotion on 30 major websites readers frequent. No cost and has lots of value to an author.
Many of them are similar, some have much more clout than others, and thousands enter each one.
I've only entered a couple in all the years I've been writing, and both of those were local.
The world of book contests has changed drastically in the past few years.
Hundreds of new fee based contests designed solely to bilk authors out of their money has sprung up.
Here is just one example of these new contests. Not all on this list are bad, as it includes the good ones too.
http://www.newpages.com/classifieds/big ... g-contests
Although some of the most popular and best ones do have a small fee associated with them for non-members, and sometimes for members too. They carry enough clout to warrant a small fee.
But most of the rest are meaningless, overpriced, and who cares even if you win, they have no clout or appeal to buyers.
For a contest to be valuable to an author, it must have a purpose greater than a little badge you can display on your website. Our contests are free to enter, and the winner gets 30 days of book promotion on 30 major websites readers frequent. No cost and has lots of value to an author.
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Icey
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Wow - thank you. I didn't know about any of these comps, but do they just concern eBooks or paper/hardbacks as well?
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Most are open to the writing itself, not what format they are commercialized and distributed in later.
Except for the book covers of course, hi hi.
Some book cover contests are for FULL book covers, so mainly for print books.
Except for the book covers of course, hi hi.
Some book cover contests are for FULL book covers, so mainly for print books.
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Icey
Re: Best Book Cover Award
I find it incredible that all these competitions take place. Of course, it encourages writers to go in for them and then have their work noticed, but it takes me back to my schooldays, where, at our school, we had prize-giving days for various achievements, but the story-writing ones were always the best because the winner could choose their book instead of just being handed one which we'd probably read before.
That's an interesting link there as well Gary. Have you ever won any prizes?
That's an interesting link there as well Gary. Have you ever won any prizes?
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Hi Icey
I normally don't enter contests unless they are automatic like door prizes or whatever.
As a Judge, I am disqualified from several contests, because I supposedly have an unfair advantage. I know what areas are graded in what way to avoid or include them.
Most recently, I won a whole basket filled with books from our local writers' guild.
About two decades ago, I won an upright freezer for an Essay on Food Storage.
And about 50 years ago, a poem I wrote was published in a small trade magazine.
It has appeared in various altered forms for decades, and even appears on the internet from time to time, always giving someone else the credit or claiming the author is unknown.
Before the flood, I had a copy of the magazine it was published in as proof. But someone said it was around long before then, although they could come up with no proof of same.
Sorta similar to the above. My grandfather used to write jingles. One he wrote for a friend of his was used by, I think it was an insurance company, but don't remember for sure. Don't know if I could find a copy of it anymore.
In any case, another company began using it several years later. The insurance company had stopped using it decades before the new company started using it. When they went back to using it, the new company tried to sue them.
Grandpa got wind of it, and without telling either side, he appeared in the courtroom, visitors side. He waited a long time, letting the trial proceed, before he got the attention of the judge. He handed an envelope to the bailiff who in turn handed it to the judge. The judge looked it over, then told the two warring competitors, they both lose.
Grandpa would spend a whole hour telling his tale, giving a blow by blow description of the court proceedings, which suddenly came to a halt after the judge looked at the evidence grandpa provided.
Both sides had to pay court costs and were fined for something, but grandpa never saw one thin dime of it.
Getting back to book covers for a second. The 3D book covers I mentioned will be judged the same as the rest of the book covers, and only by the first image displayed in their thumbnails of the cover. Most won't do well doing it that way.
I normally don't enter contests unless they are automatic like door prizes or whatever.
As a Judge, I am disqualified from several contests, because I supposedly have an unfair advantage. I know what areas are graded in what way to avoid or include them.
Most recently, I won a whole basket filled with books from our local writers' guild.
About two decades ago, I won an upright freezer for an Essay on Food Storage.
And about 50 years ago, a poem I wrote was published in a small trade magazine.
It has appeared in various altered forms for decades, and even appears on the internet from time to time, always giving someone else the credit or claiming the author is unknown.
Before the flood, I had a copy of the magazine it was published in as proof. But someone said it was around long before then, although they could come up with no proof of same.
Sorta similar to the above. My grandfather used to write jingles. One he wrote for a friend of his was used by, I think it was an insurance company, but don't remember for sure. Don't know if I could find a copy of it anymore.
In any case, another company began using it several years later. The insurance company had stopped using it decades before the new company started using it. When they went back to using it, the new company tried to sue them.
Grandpa got wind of it, and without telling either side, he appeared in the courtroom, visitors side. He waited a long time, letting the trial proceed, before he got the attention of the judge. He handed an envelope to the bailiff who in turn handed it to the judge. The judge looked it over, then told the two warring competitors, they both lose.
Grandpa would spend a whole hour telling his tale, giving a blow by blow description of the court proceedings, which suddenly came to a halt after the judge looked at the evidence grandpa provided.
Both sides had to pay court costs and were fined for something, but grandpa never saw one thin dime of it.
Getting back to book covers for a second. The 3D book covers I mentioned will be judged the same as the rest of the book covers, and only by the first image displayed in their thumbnails of the cover. Most won't do well doing it that way.
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Icey
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Well done for winning something, even if it was a while ago now, but yes, I can see why you aren't allowed to enter some of these competitions. It's the same as when some company advertises a comp and their employees can't have a go either.
LOL about your grandpa, even though he never benefited from handing in that envelope in court, but it was the principle, wasn't it?
You know an awful lot about the publishing industry Gary, and all the stuff associated with it, but just knowing it all makes you quite an expert on the subject. I don't know which you're best at - advising folk, or writing yourself!
LOL about your grandpa, even though he never benefited from handing in that envelope in court, but it was the principle, wasn't it?
You know an awful lot about the publishing industry Gary, and all the stuff associated with it, but just knowing it all makes you quite an expert on the subject. I don't know which you're best at - advising folk, or writing yourself!
Re: Best Book Cover Award
Writing for a publisher, and writing for yourself, is two totally different worlds, miles apart from each other.
Although I learned a lot about how they do things, it didn't help one iota for writing you own stuff, except in a small way.
One can almost compare the difference to working as a short order cook in a restaurant or cooking at home.
A restaurant has a 16 burner constant temperature grill, and the meats are perfect sizes and shapes.
You know how many minutes, and seconds on each side before you flip the meat for each range of done, rare, medium, well, etc. Everything that goes with it is pre-processed in the kitchen so it is ready to use.
You home grill is only 1 or 2 burners, not consistent across the surface, and usually cannot achieve commercial grill temperatures. Each piece of meat you are cooking is a different size, thickness, and shape.
Almost all timing is totally guesswork, and always much longer than on a commercial grill.
In other words, cooking at home, and cooking at a restaurant is like comparing apples to hub caps, no similarity.
Unlike an Author who writes a Novel, has it edited, rewrites, edits again, etc. and ends up with a completed work. (A home cook).
Publishers manufacture books, with many different people working on different aspects of the book. No one does it all. (Each person does the prep work, and the cook merely watches a timer to know when to flip the meat).
Although I learned a lot about how they do things, it didn't help one iota for writing you own stuff, except in a small way.
One can almost compare the difference to working as a short order cook in a restaurant or cooking at home.
A restaurant has a 16 burner constant temperature grill, and the meats are perfect sizes and shapes.
You know how many minutes, and seconds on each side before you flip the meat for each range of done, rare, medium, well, etc. Everything that goes with it is pre-processed in the kitchen so it is ready to use.
You home grill is only 1 or 2 burners, not consistent across the surface, and usually cannot achieve commercial grill temperatures. Each piece of meat you are cooking is a different size, thickness, and shape.
Almost all timing is totally guesswork, and always much longer than on a commercial grill.
In other words, cooking at home, and cooking at a restaurant is like comparing apples to hub caps, no similarity.
Unlike an Author who writes a Novel, has it edited, rewrites, edits again, etc. and ends up with a completed work. (A home cook).
Publishers manufacture books, with many different people working on different aspects of the book. No one does it all. (Each person does the prep work, and the cook merely watches a timer to know when to flip the meat).
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Icey
Re: Best Book Cover Award
LOL! Hello Gary. Love the comparison.
Yes, I know exactly what you mean, but you seem to have the best of both worlds - writing a novel AND doing the jobs associated with with publishing. You've acquired a good knowledge of both.
Yes, I know exactly what you mean, but you seem to have the best of both worlds - writing a novel AND doing the jobs associated with with publishing. You've acquired a good knowledge of both.