Books and Music That Make You Dumb

Wall Street Journal

Just for fun.

Jesus’ Return

Pew Research Center

Recent survey from Pew on the various views Christians have on the return of Christ. Many titles exist on this topic, yet the survey results beg for a re-purposing of old content or fresh treatment on the matter for consumers. Relevance: acquisition editors, product developers, and pub boards.

Brand Extension

Association for Consumer Research

This is an abstract of a longer, formal article on extending brands in the presence or absence of a category competitor. Great fundamentals for book and author branding. Relevance: marketing, acquisition editors, and pub boards.

How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write

Wall Street Journal

Interesting insights on the significance and impact of the e-book format and the way we might read and write in the future from Steve Johnson. Insights from here could be usefully applied to new product development. Relevance: acquisition editors, product developers, and pub boards.

Jacket Copy Sells, So Make It Good

Publishing Trends

A story on a recent study on the influence of book cover jacket copy on consumer purchasing conducted by the Codex Group. Among other things, the findings confirm the importance of publishers placing their strongest copy writing talent on the task. There is a very useful generational analysis included here as well. Relevance: marketing, acquisition editors, and pub boards.

Two Hot Topics on the Net

Pew Research Center

Last week interrogation techniques and same-sex marriage led the discourse on social media and blog sites. Christian publishing already includes many titles on same-sex marriage. But experts suggest the subject of interrogation will be high in our nation’s political discourse through summer. This opens new opportunities to create products for consumers who want to understand this issue from a biblical viewpoint. Relevance: acquisition editors, pub boards, or new product developers.

” ‘Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks . . . This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!’ . . . So the people went away to eat and drink at a festive meal, to share gifts of food, and to celebrate with great joy because they had heard God’s words and understood them.” (Nehemiah 8:10, 12 NLT)

The newly-returned exiles from Babylon had rebuilt the broken-down wall around the city of Jerusalem in a mere 52 days. As the people began to settle in, they needed to be reminded of their spiritual legacy. So Ezra the priest stood before the people on a platform in the city square and read aloud the Book of the Law as the Levites “clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the people understand each passage” (8:8). The effect was profound; the people were “weeping as they listened” (8:9).

What triggered the weeping? Perhaps as Ezra read God’s Word, the full realization of how far they had strayed from God and His laws weighed upon them. As they stood in the once-glorious city, they realized what their sin had wrought. Nehemiah and the other leaders comforted the weeping crowd. This was a sacred day because today they understood what God wanted. Yes, they had indeed strayed, but God was graciously giving them a new start.

Now standing inside the newly-rebuilt walls of their city, God, His promises, and their relationship to Him as His people all came together. God had brought them home. They had a huge task ahead to get their nation back on track. Depression and sorrow would not get the job done, but joy would. The joy of the Lord would give them strength. So Nehemiah sent them off to celebrate this new beginning.

What new beginning do you want from the Lord? Maybe, like the Hebrew people in that city square, you have experienced some failure in yourpast that causes you sorrow. Dig into God’s Word and ask Him to show you what you need to do. Don’t let depression or grieving over the past get in the way of God’s plans for you. Don’t let “wasted” time in “exile” affect what you can do now and in the future.

Want to move forward? The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Book covers really do matter. Editorial folks would like to think that it’s all about the content. Marketers would like to say that it’s the title and the marketing plan that will carry the day. While those scenarios may be true in some cases, we cannot escape the fact that readers buying books look first at the front cover. And that cover will many times determine whether or not they actually pick up the book and look more closely.

If you get them to grab that book, they’ll flip it over to the back cover, check out a synopsis of the book, and maybe read some endorsements. They then open it up and check the table of contents or begin to scan the wonderful writing that begins on page 1. At that point, they’ll make the buying decision.

But they first had to pick up the book. And that had to happen because of an interesting cover.

And think of the books that land on the desks of book reviewers. The best title and most well-written manuscript may not even get the opportunity of a review if the cover is poorly done.

You see, if you want the books you produce to be purchased and read, the covers must pass “the glance test.”

Here are some things to take into consideration as you look at book cover designs and consider that “glance test”:

• Is the cover design visually attractive? Is it tasteful?
• Does the cover design create interest?
• Does the cover design stimulate a reaction from the potential buyer?
• Does the cover design effectively convey the author’s message and style?
• Will the cover design appeal to the book’s target market?
• Does the cover design stand out from the crowd?

Don’t Cut Corners on Cover Design

To insure that you get a cover that satisfies all the bullet points above, you will need a professional graphic book designer. Because the cover design is a major factor in how your book will be perceived at first glance, you need to entrust the cover to someone who can deliver what you need.

Fair or not, it’s an inescapable truism in the book marketing business that not just any graphic designer will do—for the best results you need a designer who really knows the trade or industry that the book is written for and will be marketed in. These designers know the questions to ask, and they know how to work with the editorial and marketing departments to get the best possible cover for a particular product.

Remember the Spine

I purposely waited until the end to mention this last detail (because it is usually thought of at the end of the design process, if at all)—the book’s spine design. Most new books don’t get the luxury of being “face out” on the shelves. The spine is sometimes all the potential buyer sees. That means that the beautiful, dramatic cover (upon which great effort and sometimes expense may have been lavished) never gets seen if a book buyer doesn’t reach out and pull the book off the shelf. Therefore, a strong readable spine design is also extremely vital.

We’re Here to Help

Here at The Livingstone Corporation, our major client base is in the Christian Booksellers Association. We use CBA-experienced designers for all of our CBA cover design projects because of their familiarity with the subject matter and the customers themselves. We work with your teams to fine-tune every cover, giving it the attention it deserves.

After all, if you believed in a book enough to get it this far, we want to deliver a cover and spine design that propels it off the shelf and into readers’ hands.

Larry Taylor
Creative Director of Design and Production