My Cover

Today I started, and finished, the front and back of my book. I had designed a wireframe version on Illustrator with sketches from online, and so, last night, I went out to draw the illustrations I needed. I decided on two hands holding because the book is about supporting people who can't cope through times of loss. I used watercolour brushes to create an artistic look to it, rather than completely realistic.

Today, I brought that to Photoshop, and I first designed this cover. I didn't really like the uncentered title, and my name being so near to the bottom. Also the shadow wasn't natural at all, as it was the wrong colour and made it look like a halo.

From this, I decided to change a few things. Firstly, I removed the halo, because it didn't look too great and didn't make sense. Next, I decided to switch the positions of the text. I preferred this as it look more natural and you could see the author clearly.

Next, I decided to change the actual background colour. This meant that I could cast a black shadow where you could see it and it looking natural. One thing pointed out to me was the look of the shadow and how it could be distorted to be even more natural. I decided against this because I did want it to have a 3D effect, but more like it was layered close together.

Last thing I did was move up the hands and title so it was more centred, as I didn't want any of it cropped or missed out.

I also designed the blurb, and I wanted it to be simple and link to the cover, so I cast shadow under the title, and just added the text itself and my logo, as, with seven pages, I probably wasn't getting a spine at all.

Overall, I'm really happy with the outcome.

My Brand

I needed to create a brand for my book, so I went online to do some digging at other brands and how they are recognised. Usually, publishers struggle with branding as the cover, and etc, has to display's the author's brand, too. However, there is one brand that when people say 'publishers'  think of: Penguin Group.

Maybe it's my age group, as they were popular when I was young, but whenever I saw the little penguin on a book spine or cover, I would know it's a penguin. Also, because of my age probably, the penguin was very memorable as I love the animal, and so did most eight year olds.

This makes the publisher, even to this day, stick in my mind, and helps me to recognise a penguin book when I see one.

Because of this, I decided to create a subtle logo to put on the spine of my book, and, as I was self-publishing, this seemed creative and easy to do.

However, I also wanted to brand as an author, in case I wanted to carry on a series and I wanted people to recognise the books are linked. One series I looked at as an example is the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.

The things that links these books together is the colours. The use of black, white and red is really clever as they instantly link together. Also, the pictures are soft of linked as they are simple and easy, and of normal, everyday things.

Another example is one of my favourite authors and series, Morris Gleitzman and his Once series. They do link together, however, the first book seems to be the odd one out. This may be because he didn't plan a series, or he just changed the look. But, they are all subtly linked due to the figures of people being used, and it portrays what happens in the book.

Back to the series, from Then onwards, there is a subtle Star of David, which, again, portrays what the book is about - WW2. Finally, the colours are clever as they aren't the same, but as a series they link through the contrast.

From my research, I decided to work on the cover so I can create a small logo around it, too. I decided on a simple theme of a black background and a drawing or picture of two hands holding. From this, I decided to create a logo with a white base so it did stand out on the spine.

I created this in Illustrator and I pleased with it, as it's simple, easy yet creative.

I put it on the 'spine' of my book to see what it would look like. I think it looks really professional, and suits the basic colour theme of the book. It also doesn't stand out too much so you're not taking too much time to look at the logo.

Some changes to my project

Something that's slipped over my head a little is timing. As of now, we have 30 days until submission, and I have 50 pages of a book to write, a interview to film and a website to design (plus printing the book). It's a lot to do, it's achievable but I have a lot to organise and get together. I have decided to build a planner for the next month to really get my project done and to a good standard.

Something else pointed out to me during the pitch was that I had a lot going on, and I could cut down the interview to just a 30 second preview of it, so it wasn't so much work to do. Or even, a small video on 'behind the scenes' of the making of the book. However, I think that would be hard to do as I would prefer to be filmed of making it and I'd have to get someone else to film me over time - and I only have a month.

I think everything else is great - I'm happy with what I'm doing and the amount of knowledge I have on my theme. I just need to organise everything and work really hard for the next month or so.

My Presentation - how it went

In my pitch, I showed the research and work I had done so far. I think all of the research, from war plays to surveys, was relevant and helped me in my progress. The thing I would criticise is that I haven't worked on the book itself. It has created a lot of pressure and if I had done something I had written before, it would be a lot easier. To solve this, I'm going to work on the book itself at home, about 5-10 pages a day, and work on things that I need the facilities at college for in college.

I liked my presentation, and what I included, but I did go in with notes in my hand. This meant when I strayed from them, I got a little lost and stuttered. For instance, if I was talking about my idea, and then went to my notes, it would read what I've said just differently, so I'd be thrown. Next time, I want to go in with just a few words summarising what to talk about, or even no notes at all. This means I can keep eye contact with the clients, and keep it natural, rather than talk at them.

My idea after my research

I did some secondary research on grief and loss to understand my theme fully. I found a quote from John Irving’s novel A Prayer to Owen Meany, ‘When someone you love dies, and you’re not expecting it, you don’t lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over time.’ - John Irving. This shows the time to takes to grieve after a loss - in this case - of a loved one.

Time was an interesting concept of my loss theme, so I made an infographic about the time process of healing from online articles, and this helped me understand grief better. I developed this 'time' concept further by using war plays I had read on coping methods in stress. Most characters, in the play, had a coping method, and some were destructive and constructive - however, those who didn't have a coping mechanism actually suffered in the long run more so.

I also looked at certain articles that showed the types of coping mechanisms, and how this effects the stress the person is going through. For instance, I found a website about the three types of coping (the image) but also ways to cope like drinking, smoking, reading, etc.

I also did some research on the reading preferences of other people. I asked things like 'how often do you read?' and 'Is the content or book cover more important for you?'. This helped me gain first-hand knowledge that helped me decide on the content of my project. For instance, I decided I wanted to print my ‘book’ physically, as my findings show that 42% of people liked having the book in their hands while reading. I also asked about any author knowledge people liked to have when reading a book, whether it be a biography or additional research on them. Based on my findings, I have decided to add a written short biography in my book, as 42%, again, said they liked to read it. Also, 17% said they liked watching author interviews so I have decided to link moving image into my project by recording an interview.

Market Research

I decided to do some market research on book covers, and go to stores to see what covers they had where. I went to Waterstones to see the front window display. There were different displays on show, and all of them were bases around one book. The display would share the same colour themes as the cover, and quotes of the book and reviews around it. These were all popular books displayed, but it shows that the cover plays a big part of the book.

However, when you walked into the store, it was different, as the books were catorigised into genres, and etc. This shows the cover is important, however the context of the book is what makes a person buy it.


I also decided to see the popular books on the online writers website: Wattpad. I wanted to see, again, if there was a consistenty for eye-catching covers. Below, you can see the covers on the 'front page'. Even though it's a small selection, you can see similarities between the covers though they're all very different.  For instance, there's a colour theme in each cover. This draws attention to the book itself and means from a distance you can still notice it.

Also,  they all have big titles you can see almost straight away, and in a font that isn't too fancy or graphic, etc. This makes you stop and study the picture, colours and even the author. This then leads to the next step of turning the book (or clicking on it) for the context.

From this, I've learned how important book covers are as they are judged, however the most important part of a book is the context, but you want the reader to pick it up.

I also wanted to list my book as a cheap and affordable price, but not so cheap that it makes the book looks bad. I found this chart on this site.

I would list my book as fiction, paperback, and young adult, so I looked at the average pricing which is £8.58. This is probably a good range as teenagers and students can't pay £15 on their leisure reading material. I did some further research, and this website here said that 9 is the magic number to sell at. This helps me round it up to a nice and even number and have decided on the price of £8.99/€11.99 for my book.