Salute to My Cover Artist Fiona Jayde
Our theme this week is a shout out to the non-author creatives we collaborate with, or who enrich our lives. I’m going to keep my focus on the author sphere of my life and mention […]
Judging Books by Their Covers: BABEL 17
Let’s have some fun. Let’s live dangerously. Let’s run with scissors. Let’s open up an umbrella indoors. Lets judge some books by their covers! Judging a book by its cover is not wise, but we […]
The Artful Collector: Why Artists Disappear
You may be wondering what inspired my ongoing series “Where are they Today?” – postings which shed light on the doings of artists whose works, only a short generation or so ago, were prime targets […]
Pick Your Favorite Paul Poll #4: April 1928 – March 1929
The last of our four preliminary polls to choose our favorite Frank R. Paul Amazing Stories cover.
Asni’s Art Blog: Interview with Tais Teng
Tais Teng is a well established and prolific science fiction and horror writer and illustrator from the Netherlands. He has made several hundred covers and interior illustrations – most notably the Jack Vance e-books. His particular affinity is for the work of H. P. Lovecraft.
ACE Doubles and Some Amazing Illustrators Part Two
This week’s piece covers the remainder of the main ACE Doubles cover artists and illustrators.
Movie Review: Rewind This! Documentary + Photo Gallery
A review of the video tape industry documentary, Rewind This!
Marketing 101: Making Exceptional Covers
Michael J. Sullivan has been delivering some of the best advice and insight into self-publishing offered on the web, and he’s not stopping yet. Today – how to get yourself an awesome cover!
Fresh Eyes on Cover Art
if you are an indie author, or a small press publisher, you can’t afford a great cover artist to create bespoke art for your cover.
Well-Covered
I’d get more into the topic, but I haven’t got time to plumb the depths of Amazon. Instead I recommend that you do. Look at the genre you picked for your story, and see what the bestsellers are (taking out authors like RR Martin and mega-bestsellers, who can sell on the author’s name alone) and look at their covers. Keep in mind that most ebooks will be viewed at a very small size of image initially, and design yours to look good at thumbnail, then full-size. Stick to the recommended proportions. A square cover image will scream amateur in the bookshop, unless it’s a children’s picture book…
From Locks to Freedom
The problem with the internet is that anyone can write something down, publish it, and present it as fact when it’s not. I have ten titles on Amazon, and another one coming out later this week. Every single one, the default is no DRM, although there is a check-box I can click if I decided I wanted it on my work. Which I don’t. Unlike Big Music and Big Publishing, I don’t think all people are thieves. I also know better than to think that DRM is anything but a challenge to hacker twits who break stuff just for jollies.
Walter Popp
I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about old science fiction art, particularly pulp magazine art and artists. My knowledge is not so vast, however, that there aren’t still some surprises and new discoveries to be made.
Part Two of the Art of Covers
This is part two of Eric Gustafson’s guest post for me on covers. It’s a huge topic, and even if you aren’t responsible for your own covers, you should understand how a bad cover can […]
The Art of Designing Covers
Today I am pleased to present a guest post by Eric Gustafson, an innovative artist and book cover designer. I am still learning so much about cover design, and as Eric has been one of […]
The Cover with no Cover Art
Books need a cover. At the very least one needs to know the title of the book and usually who wrote it. Those are basics. But the cover of a book is the first point […]
What You Will Find Here
Since January 2nd of 2013, members of the Amazing Stories blog team (you’ll find them all listed under Staff where you can learn more about them) have been writing away on their favorite subjects. Chances […]
What I Mean When I Say…
Over the last year or so, I’ve noticed something when I’ve conversed with people (in person or through email), posted things on my blog, or left comments on someone else’s blog. We may be using […]
Attention Grabber
The single most important step for a reader is the initial act of choosing what to read. After that, everything else is just a formality of literary cultivation. You read, you absorb and you grow. But it’s that first step that determines who you are as a reader. So, what books grab “your” attention?
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