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Why the Book Cover Helps You Finish the Book

 

Book covers telegraph a great deal, and as much as I wish for the good old days of not judging a book by its cover.  More than ever, we need to judge and categorize books based on their cover.
 
Three days into a book idea –   I decided  to try out the title – Moving Target on a book cover.   
That sounds very early, and it is, but it also helped me focus on the book’s theme and what it was really about.
Like trying on a dress or suit in preparation for a big party, the first one may not be the best one.  As was the case with my nacent cover.
For graphics I love Canva, and it was quite easy to plug in the working title and ask their AI to make suggestions.
Or I could have asked graphic AI to create a cover based on the title.
And what I discovered – nothing worked.  No cover expressed the themes I had in my head.  
So I addressed the theme.
What was the theme of the book?  Why didn’t it translate into a workable image?
I changed the title and purpose to 
 Out Loud – A writing adventure for women.
I sent that idea to a graphic artist – not AI – a real person with real talent and insights.  She returned three different interpretations of the title and theme.
The one that worked was the boat featuring all the equipment a person needs to write including lipstick and wine.
 
Such a lovely cover  inspired me to do my best to make sure the book lived up to the cover’s promise.  An aspirational graphic from which to draw inspiration and encouragement.
The cover becomes the goal.
If the first ideas for a cover (and go ahead and start with AI, but I recommend finishing up with a human professional) don’t work, or don’t fit or are somehow just “wrong”.  use that information to consider the themes of the work.
is the cover of your romance  too sweet?  
is the self help book cover too corporate?
is the history book cover too whimsical?  
 
 A  book cover suggests themes, ideas and even an underlying narrative.  Once you have that, now you can write up a book worthy of its cover.
Flower with background
Has making art improved your life?  Has it influenced your health?  Does participating in art  make life more fun?  
Please take about five minutes to answer the survey. Your experience and story about  your art practice may be featured in the  upcoming book, Take up Space (working title), tentatively scheduled for release in 2026. 

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CatharineBramkamp

Catharine Bramkamp is a successful writing coach and author. She has published over 300 newspaper and magazine articles in publications like Modern Maturity (AARP), SF Chronicle and Santa Rosa Magazine. She was a contributor to two Chicken Soup Books and has published anthologies of her work, non-fiction works and novels. Her work has also appeared in a number of poetry and fiction anthologies. She has experimented with the self-publishing world since 2001. She has published and self-published seven books through companies like Author House, author assist companies like 3L Publishing and through traditional publishers like Write Life. Her poetry collection, Ammonia Sunrise, will be released in August 2011 by Finishing Line Press and her mystery novel, In Good Faith will be released by Write Life in 2011. Catharine holds a BA in English from UCSB and a MA in English from Sonoma State University. She is a 25 year member of California Writer’s Club. She is an adjunct professor for the University of Phoenix. She works with authors of both fiction and non-fiction to make their dream of producing a book come true. For more information on that, visit her at www.YourBookStartsHere.com Catharine has lived in Sonoma County for 25 years and considers wine a food group. She is married to an adorable and very patient man who complains he’s never featured in any of her books. Her grown children who are featured in a few of her books have fled the county.

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