Graphic Design

Being an author can be a thankless job. Not everyone appreciates how hard you work. So I made some “merit badge” style awards you can use as a visual reminder of your successes. I added in some common milestones, but you can white them out and replace them with your own goals. Remember that even negative experiences and failures are …

All rules are meant to be broken, and I won’t swear that I never use these fonts (I even included some in my genre-based lists of fonts you CAN use). But you can only break the rules if you learn them first. If you’re not a designer, steering clear of these overused (and gag-worthy) fonts is the safer bet. I …

Bestselling horror writers James Thorn asked for some design feedback on a logo he’s making. Something kind of scary, like this one from American Horror Story. This was his first attempt:   Not bad, I can see what he’s going for. In general, bevel and inner shadow should be avoided. They look cool and 3D, but they’re old-fashioned now – …

Earlier this year I spoke at the Author Marketing Live conference in Cleveland about book cover design and book marketing. Today Jim at AMC sent me the video – which is not publicly listed and not supposed to be given away for free – but he’s letting me share it with you. I’m an awkward, self-conscious speaker, but there’s 45 …

My friend Amy (@ALSVossler) emailed recently to tell me about a My Little Pony episode she’d been watching. I’ll let her give you the details: “I found myself thinking, “Oh my goodness! This is Derek Murphy’s life in My Little Pony format!” “The premise is that a dress designer generously agrees to make fancy formal dresses for her five friends (for …

Today on Facebook I saw a post about the Awesome Indies website, which just relaunched with a new design. I support indie authors and want them to succeed, and I like the idea of indie authors grouping together and doing cool things. The intention Awesome Indies is noble: lots of people are publishing crappy books. Awesome Indies will sort out …

I tell my book cover clients to get a lot of feedback – especially when they’re starting to commit to an idea I disagree with. Authors can often get too close and personal with their covers; they stare at the options for hours, making decisions, slowly forming a bond that is hard to break. Which means, when they ask for …

Recently I’ve seen some articles circulating about “Book Cover Clichés” which put a handful of book cover designs from the same genre together to point out the similarities. The point of such articles, I infer, is to shame those cover designers who went for the easy, the obvious, the “cliché” designs instead of trying to make something more unique and …

At the end of 2013 I put out a package of DIY book cover templates in Microsoft Word and revolutionized publishing with a how-to guide to designing amazing book covers in an easy to use program you’re already familiar with. But it took me a while longer to figure out how to customize your front cover into a full print …

If you’ve read any of my articles on book cover design, you already know I don’t agree with the standard rules most indie authors keep reciting. They say stuff like: use bright, bold colors use big, clear fonts that can be read even as a thumbnail don’t use white covers because they disappear on Amazon Today I’d like to tackle …