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Color Theory, Part 4

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 15, 2024

Color Theory, Part 4

I made it all the way to part 4? Cool!

Time to look at Color Theory, Part 4 – If you are interested in creating your own covers, or if you are a part of selecting your cover in your published work, you will need to understand color theory.

But what does it mean when you add blue to your cover? Blue is the favorite color for so many people, you would think it would always be a good go-to for a book cover.

Er, not quite. Read on.

Part 4 of The Basics

Color theory is the associations and impressions we get when we are confronted with a certain color or set of colors. Color matters.

Blue and its Family of Colors

Here, in part 4, let’s delve into blue’s families. The subtypes of blue all have their own quirks and associations.

Blue, Glorious Blue!

Blue works as a lot of people’s favorite color. We associate it with both the navy and sadness. It is the color of both the sea and the sky. It is also has associations with the Union during the Civil War.

Many websites use blue as an accent in their designs or even in their logos. Facebook and Twitter, anyone? PayPal and Dell also use blue in their commercial logos.

Blue also figures in the colors of numerous sports teams, from the LA Dodgers to the Carolina Panthers. Often, we associate blue with masculinity, particularly as a counterbalance to pink. But there’s no particular shade of blue. Light or dark, it doesn’t seem to matter.

Blue eyes aren’t too terribly rare, but at least two famous men were known specifically for the allure of their blue eyes—Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman.

A blue moon is a rarity. Winners get blue ribbons. We also associate blue with the Democratic Party, and with business, particularly conservative business attire.

But it is also the color of blue jeans. Well-known blue books include the Uniform System of Legal Citation, Kelley’s used automobile values, and the Handbook of United States Coins.

More Blue, Please!

Also, blue can mean depression, i.e. getting the blues. Talking until you are blue in the face means going past the standard and arguing until you run out of breath. And blue babies are in physical danger. It’s only fairly recently that medicine has been able to treat them.

Blue even figures in the titles of at least 100 films!

So, there are positives and negatives when it comes to blue. And there is a ton of ubiquity. You might want to avoid blue (or at least too much blue, that is) in order to not fade into the background and be lost amidst so many choices.

Purple & Violet

Violet and purple are not exactly the same color, although we often use them as synonyms. Many people will use the two terms interchangeably. But that’s not quite right.

Violet skews bluer; purple skews redder. And purple reminds us of gay pride, grapes, and Barney the dinosaur. Purple is also a color we associate with royalty, as is blue.

Purple prose is overly flowery and ornate; we tend to see it as over the top. Both shades remind us of flowers; purple is more reminiscent of wine and cranberries.

Violet is a woman’s name. The character Violet Bick in It’s a Wonderful Life is the town bad girl. And Violet Beauregard, in  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, is overcome by a gigantic blueberry.

Violet Gray was a main character in Peanuts, and she was the original mean girl. But she was relegated to the background, probably due to the popularity of Lucy Van Pelt. I imagine even Schulz got tired of writing a drawing a one-note bully.

So, even the name Violet is fraught.

Sports teams with purple or violet include the LA Kings and the Minnesota Vikings.

If you have regal or LGBT characters in your book, why not consider accents on the cover in either of these colors?

Going Green

Green is the color of early spring and Ireland. It is inextricably associated with both St. Patrick’s Day and Christmas, and is often associated with resurrection in culture, probably because of evergreens.

Green reminds us of aliens (little green men!), sickness, and poison, but also limes and mint. It means go and was also the lowest level of terror threat according to Homeland Security.

In the United States, it is also quite literally the color of money. Who doesn’t want greenbacks?

It can also mean that someone is new or has no experience. While this term is rarely in use today, the term greenhorn was once a common slang term for an immigrant.

And, we often will associate it with forests, gardens, and ecology. If you are setting your book in an agricultural society, then a green accent or two might be a good choice.

Sports teams with green as one of their colors include the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia Eagles.

The fact that green can mean both fresh and spoiled means you will need to choose your shade rather carefully if you decide to go with the green.

Upshot: Part 4

Add green to your book cover and bring out nature or evoke business, or add purple to connect with gay pride. Or add blue for a conservative look, or to evoke the ocean or sky.

Colors are going to matter when it comes to your book cover. They can make or break your sales, so choose wisely.

Color Explorations

Color Theory
Part 2
Part 3
also, Part 4

Videos: Color Theory Videos

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Color Theory, Part 3

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 13, 2024

Color Theory, Part 3

For color theory, Part 3 – If you want to create your own covers, or if you are a part of selecting your cover in your published work, you will need to understand color theory.

What happens when you select a cover color predominantly from the family of yellows?

The Basics of Color Theory, Part 3

Color theory is the associations and impressions we get when confronted with a certain color or set of colors. Color matters. What do we think of, when we think of yellows?

Yellow and its family of colors

Yellow is a vibrant color but it is rather difficult to see against a white background. If your cover is mainly white, then yellow is a poor choice for author or title lettering unless you outline the yellow in a darker color.

We associate yellow with sunshine but also with lemons, which can evoke either cleanliness or a car that just never seems to work right. Yellow can also evoke cowardice and caution. It can also feel like early springtime, particularly in the northeastern United States. This is because two early flowers, forsythia and daffodils, are primarily yellow in color.

It can also remind us of taxis and urban living. But it can also remind us of Buddhist monks’ saffron robes, or even the spice saffron itself, which is rare and expensive. In science fiction, it signifies an intermediate alert, a cause for concern but not out and out panic. But we also use an amber alert for locating missing children.

And, sorry to the squeamish readers among us, but we all know that it’s the color of urine.

Gold

Gold more closely aligns with wealth and winning. We may also associate it with wedding rings and even old-fashioned false teeth. Gold is scarce. At least, that’s what we tend to believe when it comes to gold.

Gold is also something we use in electronics, due to its inherent properties. But if you want to dissolve gold (as opposed to just melting it), then you’ll need to make aqua regia. Oh, you don’t have hydrochloric acid and nitric acid just lying around? So, maybe hold off on dissolving it just yet.

So, gold can be pretty. However, adding it can feel a bit much, like gilding the lily, as opposed to illuminating a sacred manuscript. Gold has ancient associations with wealth, and was reportedly used in the Ark of the Covenant.

Add yellow to your book cover for a splash of sunshine or wealth, or scarcity, depending on the shade. And watch the darker shades. Unless, of course, for some reason you want people to think of #1 when they think of your book.

Want More of the Color Theory?

If color theory resonates with you, then check out my other articles about how colors can work with covers and more.

Color Explorations

Color Theory
Part 2
Part 3
also, Part 4

Videos: Color Theory Videos

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Color Theory, Part 2

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 8, 2024

Color Theory, Part 2

Time to look at Color Theory, Part 2 – If you want to create your own covers, or if you are a part of selecting your cover in your published work, you need to understand color theory. Knowing what works together—and what does not—will help you and your cover artist, big time!

The Basics of Color Theory, Part 2

Color theory is the associations and impressions we get when confronted with a certain color or set of colors. Color matters, even when we unconsciously do not realize that it does.

Red and its Family of Colors

Red tends to be a bold, standout color. It works with a lot of other colors. It can also help if you’ve got a mainly black, white, or gray image for your cover. Red lettering can potentially work with such a background.

However, if the value (brightness) of the red is the same as the gray behind it, you may find it feels like the color is vibrating.

Red means stop or anger or ripeness. It can also feel like excitement or danger, as it can remind us of everything from sports cars to raspberries to stop signs. The Twilight book covers in particular rely on red accents to great effect.

Red is also common in sports teams, like the Boston Red Sox and the Arizona Cardinals. But the latter, clearly, is getting its red from the name of the bird.

We also associate red with the College of Cardinals in the Catholic church.  But it evokes heat, too. Red eyes mean someone is either tired, or they have been crying. Drinking too much alcohol can eventually give you a somewhat red face. And, a classic clown will wear a big, red nose.

Pink

Pink comes across as a softer version of red. We often associate it with health and ballerinas, but also baby blankets and Barbie dolls. But its current association with femininity is fairly recent. Until about the Second World War, people considered it more of a masculine color.

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has leaned rather heavily into pink being seen as feminine, and essentially appropriated the color for its own use. And, this may do a bit of a disservice to the men who get breast cancer (yet, it’s possible). The fatality rate for men is far higher than it is for women, and men may even feel a stigma that to get breast cancer is somehow unmanly.

But I digress.

Sports teams tend to not use pink as a color. But they will break out the pink for Mother’s Day, and for breast cancer awareness.

Color Theory, Part 2: Orange

Orange is more likely to be associated with hunters or the harvest or prisons. But it can also be associated with traffic safety. It can remind us of sunshine and, of course, oranges, but also the toxin, Agent Orange.

And, let’s face it, we also associate it with the forty-fifth president of the United States. But a part of that has to do with spray-on tanning gone awry.

Sports teams which wear orange include the Syracuse Orangemen and the Baltimore Orioles.

Copper

Closely related copper associates best with pennies or cookware more than anything else. However, we also associate it with bronze (about 90% of bronze consists of copper). And so we may link it to the idea of third place medals.

Sports teams rarely use copper. In fact, the only example I could find was the football team at Arizona State University!

It might be a good idea to choose a color from the red family for your cover or for its accents. And expect some strong associations but also a cover that can really stand out.

Want More of the Color Theory?

If color theory resonates with you, then check out my other articles about how color can work with covers and more.

Color Explorations

Color Theory
Part 2
Part 3
also, Part 4

Videos: Color Theory Videos

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Color Theory

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 6, 2024

A Look at Color Theory

If you are interested in creating your own covers, or if you are a part of selecting your cover in your published work, you are going to need to understand something about color theory.

The Basics

Color theory is the associations and impressions we get when confronted with a certain color or set of colors. Color matters.

A Wheel and Some Hex

Your computer generates colors based on combinations of basic colors. These are written in RGB (red-green-blue) or in hexadecimal. This means that once you know the code, you can replicate any color.

Using RGB or hex is particularly important as you replicate your colors and branding across multiple platforms. What looks like pure fire engine red on my monitor may appear more like brick or tomato to you.

But at least with a uniform color code, I can get it right if I need to copy the red from your page or cover.

Imaging programs such as GIMP and Adobe InDesign both have color picker tools which look like eye droppers. Select the tool, click on the color you want to replicate, and the tool will grab the correct hex or RGB coded color.

How Does Color Make Us Feel?

It’s just like a lot of the marketing issues surrounding books and book covers. That is, a lot of this will depend upon the buyer persona or demographic associated with the most sales of your genre.

Let’s say you are a science fiction writer. Then a lot of your readership is probably going to skew male. Although if you write LGBT science fiction, you may find more female readers in the mix.

Either way, how do they feel about colors? Furthermore, if you mainly have an American readership, their associations with colors will differ from if your ideal readers are Canadian or Swedish.

There is no doubt about it.

Color matters.

Want More of the Color Theory?

If my rambling about color theory resonates with you, then be sure to check out my other articles about how colors work with covers and more.

Color Explorations

Here are a bunch of articles about the theory of color! Because there’s even more to it than this.
Color Theory
Part 2
Part 3
also, Part 4

Videos: Color Theory Videos

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Working With a Cover Artist, Part 2

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 11, 2022

It’s Time for Working With a Cover Artist, Part 2

There is more to the engaging of a cover artist part of working as an independent writer than just selecting an image or giving them an idea of what you want. Working with a cover artist involves some paperwork. Welcome to the business side of writing.

Because—surprise!—guess what you suddenly are now?

You’re a small business owner.

Working With a Cover Artist Should Mean a Contract

A lot of us get nervous talking about contracts and copyright and that is completely understandable. They seem difficult, complex, fraught with meaning, and all-too final. It feels like a prenuptial agreement sometimes – don’t you want to have faith that everything will work out all right?

Eh, not so fast.

This is not your great love (even if the cover artist is a friend or a relative). Instead, this is about rights. Your rights and the rights which belong to the artist.

The question is: who owns what? Without getting into the minutiae of copyright law just yet, this site offers not only a decent basic breakdown of the law in the United States, but also a good basic contract for a free download.

Contracts are also extremely helpful because they are, in part, a set of instructions. The artist produces the work as of X date, you pay Y amount of dollars as a down payment, etc. So, you get the idea, yes?

So, Are We There Yet?

Are you all set now, and just have to fill in the blanks and you’re good to go?

Not exactly.

Read over the agreement. If any of it does not make sense to you, talk to a lawyer! Even those of us not specially trained in copyright or contracts law can generally dope out an agreement.

Further, in the US, you have got to have competence in Contracts Law in order to pass the Bar examination. It’s a basic part of the Multistate Exam.

Hence even your friend the real estate lawyer should be able to answer your basic contract questions. Oh, and please pay for their time.

One Quick Tip

For the part which is about City, County, and State, you want to write in your own city or town and state, and county or parish. Why? Because if a lawsuit comes down, you will be a far happier person if you get to go to the courthouse in your county, instead of one potentially on the other side of the country. It will be far less expensive, and you will be far more likely to exert your rights if you feel they have been violated.

But when it’s a dispute for $100 and it costs $200 each way to fly to where the lawsuit is happening, you’ll do a cost-benefit analysis and not assert your rights. At least, that’s what the vast, vast majority of people would and will do.

Second Quick Tip

Introduce the idea of a contract before the cover artist does anything. Make it clear you won’t engage them to do the work if the agreement is not signed, but also give them an opportunity to look it over and make changes to it (e. g. they might agree to a different-sized format, etc.). Note: this agreement is rather artist-centric. They probably won’t have much of a problem with it. But it’s not outside the realm of possibility.

Be patient and pleasant like you would be with anyone. This is not you forcing the artist to do anything. But do insist on a signed agreement.

Anyone who is insulted by your insistence on signing an agreement is never, ever someone who you would want to work with. Ever.

Changes

You might want to make changes to a design. You can spell those out in the contract. Should the artist charge you for any changes? They might. So, make sure all of that is in writing. See why it’s a good idea to know pretty much what you want before you start? It could come in handy for, say, an agreement that the first three changes are free.

Working With a Cover Artist Means Payments

Don’t pay it all up front, and don’t agree to do so. If you are absolutely, flat-out broke, you should still be able to pay something, even if the artist hand waves and doesn’t want anything for their work. Be good to your conscience and at least ask if you can make a small donation to one of their three favorite charities.

Otherwise, payments should be as specified in the agreement. Are they in dollars, Euros, bitcoin, or something else? Do you pay with a check, a credit card, PayPal, or something else? When is the first payment due? What percentage of the total is due at the time? What’s the mechanism for getting a refund if things don’t work out?

If this sounds an awful lot like engaging, say, a roofer for your home, then ding ding ding! You’ve got it. You are, in essence, working with a service contractor.

Recommendations

Do you absolutely love your cover? Or do you dislike it but still think the artist is great (in other words, sometimes our visions can clash)? Then find out where and how to recommend them, whether it’s a recommendation on LinkedIn or a review on Yelp. And be sure to tell your writer friends, too!

Be good to your cover artist, and they will reward you many times over.

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Working With a Cover Artist, Part 1

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 6, 2022

Let’s Look at Working With a Cover Artist

Have you ever worked with a cover artist?

They are a fellow creative soul. But they express their artistry in a far different way from how you and I do.

It is like any business relationship, or it should be. Respect your cover artist, and they will help you. Don’t, and beware!

Get an Idea of What You Want Before You Start

So the last thing a cover artist wants to hear is, “Surprise me!” When they ask you how you envision your cover, you need to have an idea. One of the best ways to get such ideas is to browse Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and even your local bookstore. Look at the typical covers in your genre. Are they natural-looking? Industrial? Hand-drawn?

What are the predominant colors? Black and white? Green? Pink? Red? Something else? So are they angular, or are the shapes softer and more muted?

Consider the fonts as well. Science fiction tends to have sans serif fonts. Romances tend to have serifs and script display fonts.

Also, are there people on the covers of the books in your genre? Is it two people holding each other, or just someone’s impressively chiseled abs?

Use Care!

Now we have all heard or read the expression, don’t judge a book by its cover.

Except that it’s absolutely untrue. We do judge books by their covers. All. The. Time.

Do Your Cover Artist a Favor and Do Some Research

If the covers in your genre’s section of the bookstore are all orange, should your cover be orange, too? It’s hard to say. You want it to look like it belongs in that section, right? But you also want it to stand out. I would say, if you are a new author and you are predominantly selling online, you need to consider how your work is going to look when it’s shown with others in the genre.

Perform an Amazon or Barnes & Noble search for your genre, and for any keywords related to your plot. If your book is a children’s work about a super-ocelot named Clive (please don’t steal this work. I suddenly have a wicked plot bunny ping-ponging around my head), then you could search under children’s works and then under superheroes or animal stories, etc.

Do some in depth research because your cover is a valuable piece of your marketing.

It might even be helpful to take a screenshot, print it and then consider images which would fit in and images which would stand out.

Your Name

So, your name is probably not going to be recognizable to most people. While it is an important part of the cover, it might be better for the artist to make the title stand out more. Unless you are very famous already, it is highly likely that the cover will have the title of your book at the top and your name at the bottom.

Cover Artist Contracts!

Oh, and another thing – be sure to have a written agreement with this person. Even something relatively informal, signed by both of you, is better than nothing. But why? Because you’re exchanging money for labor. And that means, sometimes, people sue.

This is the very essence of the business side of writing. So, it’s time to pull out all the stops and be a professional about such things.

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Working with Covers

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on January 18, 2022

Let’s Look at Working with Covers

Covers! Let’s say you aren’t working with a cover artist. Or maybe you are doing the covers work, and you have purchased the artwork and you been given full rights to it, to do with it as you please. Or maybe your work is not selling, and you are looking to make your own cover or covers (perhaps with a unified theme). Not to worry. I got ya covered.

Making Your Own Covers (10 Rules)

So you might find that this is the way to go. Also, this can be an option if you are a decent photographer or cannot afford a cover artist. However, seriously consider a cover artist just the same. Or try Fiverr if you’re really stuck!

But let’s say you are bound and determined to create your own cover art.

Some Tips

  1. First of all, do yourself a favor, and use a program designed for this purpose. This means Adobe Photoshop or Adobe InDesign, or Gimp. Please don’t use Paint. This is because you just won’t have the options you would with these other programs I’ve listed.
  2. Go simple. Why? Because busy covers look terrible online, and they usually don’t look so hot in bookstores, either. Consider a main element from your story and go with that as your image. The Twilight novels use this to stunning effect.

Use the Right Images

  1. Use images which you have permission to use, always! Just because you can right-click on an image does not mean you have permission to use it. Here are three ways to assure you have permission to use an image:
    • Take the picture yourself.
    • Buy it from someone! Also, don’t forget to have a written agreement with them for usage. And you may need to attribute them in some manner. Be a sport about that and never given the artist a hard time about crediting them.
    • Get it from a friend or relative who has taken it. Yet again: don’t forget to have a written agreement with them for usage.
  2. Don’t use a model unless you get a model release.

Working With Images

  1. Start with a big image. Scaling it down is possible. Scaling it up will result in a loss of quality.
  2. Consider what the image will look like if it any part of it is cut off. This is another argument in favor of simplicity.
  3. Consider what the image will look like on mobile devices. Most of us access the internet via our phones at least some of the time. Ignoring what your cover looks like on a phone or tablet is an exercise in losing sales. And, you’ll need to see how it looks as a thumbnail, because that is how it will show up in places like Amazon.
  4. Never, ever use the word ‘by‘ unless you are referring to an ‘edited by‘ line. Otherwise, just use your name as the author name. Don’t believe me? Go to a bookstore or Amazon and look at what’s out there.

Fonts and Verbiage

  1. If the title is in serif font, use sans-serif for your name, and vice versa, unless you are using the exact same font. In other words, don’t use two different serif fonts. They’ll look mismatched.
  2. Also, make sure your verbiage (title and author name) is readable! This means size and color, and sometimes outlining. Usually it helps if your image is more or less all one color or at least one color tint, tone, or shade. That, is make it all bright or all pastel or all muted, as that will make it easier for the verbiage to stand out and be readable.

Finally, practice! You aren’t going to turn out a great cover without knowing your program well.

Oh, and please, please get feedback from lots of people. Much like your prose needs to be edited, it is highly likely that the first cover your create will need to have some kind of changes made to it.

Covers: Takeaways

Creating your own covers is very possible, and some people can become very good at it. You can potentially become one of those people by keeping things simple and following the cover conventions of your genre. A romance novel cover does not look like a science fiction novel cover. Don’t try to fit that square peg into a round hole.

Also, a well-liked cover artist who also writes is a natural for beta reading groups, book discussions, and writers’ groups on places like Facebook and Meetup. Those are your prime customers, if you ever want to sell your cover designs.

You can do it!

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Creative Commons

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on January 11, 2022

A Look at Creative Commons and Whether You Can Use Certain Images

What is Creative Commons?

Their story is best told by them:

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.

But this is not copyright! Instead, the concept exists to work with copyright, in order to help you refine the rights in your work. Also, it can work to help you understand the nuances of rights in others’ works. But which others? Cover artists and songwriters, to name two.

Can I Use All of the Images That I Find Online?

Absolutely not. Just because you can right-click an image or take a screenshot does not mean you have the right to just take it. And do not get me started on wiping off someone else’s photographic watermark.

Just don’t do it. Don’t be a jerk.

It doesn’t matter if everybody else is doing it.

Currently, CC specifies six separate types of licenses. So be sure to click and read the specifics!

  • Attribution CC BY – this is the most open of the licenses. It allows others to do nearly anything to a creative work. “This license lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.”
  • Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA – this one is similar to CC BY. Except, it requires you attribute to the original artist. Wikipedia uses this one!
  • Attribution-NoDerivs CC BY-ND – you can pass along the work. But you can’t alter it. And you must credit the creator.
  • Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC – you can alter the original work, but you must credit the original artist. Furthermore, you can’t make any money from the work.
  • Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA – this one is the same as CC BY-NC. Except, you must license any new creations under identical terms.
  • Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND – this is the most restrictive license, allowing for sharing. But attribution is required. Also, you cannot make any changes. Further, the sharer can’t make any money off the creative work.

Takeaways: What Does Creative Commons Mean to Us Writers?

Probably the biggest and most important way it matters is when we look for images for covers, or we hire a cover artist. If you don’t know where an image comes from, or you aren’t sure, change it. If the cover designer balks, then your remedy is clear.

Find another cover designer.

I recognize that covers in particular are rather expensive. You may be tempted to cut corners.

So, don’t come crying if someone does the same to you.

Creative commons also matters when it comes to music. Are you creating an author teaser trailer for YouTube? Is it monetized? If you’re not providing attribution as needed, or if you don’t have permission to use music, then don’t.

Here, the remedy can actually be pretty cheap. There are a number of public domain music sites out there. You’ll have to do some digging in order to determine which one is best for your purposes.

And finally, respect other artists—writers, singers, songwriters, musicians, artists, etc.—as much as you want them to respect you.

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