Monthly Archives: November 2011

QQ Podcast : ep 2 : Self-publishing

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After a little chit-chat about annoying advertisements Andrew and Ian offer their insight into self-publishing. What is the professional book designer’s place in the self-pub market? How are traditional publishers going about signing self-pub authors? Plus, bonus behind-the-scenes audio of a confused Andrew freaking-out when he thinks he lost 45 minutes of their recording.

Articles referenced in this week’s episode:
Rich dude who owns the Mavericks is self-publishing an eBook.
Amy Poehler appeared in some Getty stock photos!

QQ Podcast: episode 1: Freelancing

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Fellow book designer Ian Shimkoviak and I have started a podcast. This first episode has a few bugs. I’m still learning how to do this, so I hope you’ll forgive me. The next episode is sure to be echo-free. —Andrew

Recently Read, November 14

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Interview with Barbara deWilde by Misha Beletsky, June 19, 2011
DeWilde talks about her early days of book jacket design. The innovations of Knopf’s designs in the 1980s have become part of the established approach to book design today.

Penguin Crowdsource Book Cover on AntiSpec, November 1, 2011.
Penguin is getting in some hot water with their book cover design contest. My initial thought was that this competition is probably limited to young adult readers who already make fan-covers for the author (not professional designers), and there is no payment for the winner. So, I kinda thought it shouldn’t be looked at as speculative work. However, this contest breaks the direct designer-to-clientrelationship, which is important to producing an appropriate solution. Crowdsourcing fans dismisses the value of designers, and it does not serve the needs of the book itself. A better idea would be to stick to the professional design process and hold this fan-art competition on the side. Maybe the winner could have received a special copy of the book with their cover, while stores sold the professionally design cover.  What do you think?

Novum Cover By Paperlux on Looks Like Good Design, October 15, 2011
With the threatening rise of the eBook, print publishers are stepping up the special physical-ness of their books, magazines, etc. Check out this very tactile and moveable magazine cover.

Malcolm Gladwell: Collected on the Dieline, November 2, 2011
Designer Paul  Sahre and illustrator Brian Rea collaborated on this gorgeous box set of Gladwell books.

Book Cover of the Future? on Galley Cat, November, 9, 2011.
This interactive cover for Daylight Savings hints at the special posibilites of the eBook.

Great book jackets: Tips from 4 design pros on Alan Rinzler’s blog, November, 10, 2011
Book designers David Drummond, Laura Duffy, Kimberly Glyder, and Henry Sene Yee talk about the importance of a well-designed cover.

Recently Read, November 7

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C. S. Richardson interview on Quill and Quire, October 24, 2011
Thanks to Dan Wagstaff’s Casual Optimist for alerting us to this Quill and Quire podcast interview with book designer C. S. Richardson.

Farm Anatomy: Evolution of the Cover Design on Book By Its Cover, October 27, 2011
Illustrator Julia Rothman talks about the cover design process for her book. My wife and I wrote a review of Farm Anatomy on her blog.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2011 on The Office of Letters and Light, starting on November 1, 2011
Each day for thirty days a designer volunteers a book cover for National Novel Writing Month 2011. Jon Gall is organizing the event this year.

How Vanity Presses Can Use Good Design To Boost Business on Fast Company, November 3, 2011.
I don’t agree with using the term “vanity press” to describe a self-publishing service, but this is an interesting article. There’s a new British self-pub company, ubyu, that offers designer-friendly options like colored cloth, colored headbands, colored endpapers, and foil stamping. This level of production quality is rare within the self-pub world, but I wonder how the pricing compares to the same options offered by commercial book printers.

Book designers Jenny Carrow and Roberto de Vicq both have new portfolio sites up. November, 7, 2011.