A novel is a tough sell to your average Internet denizen. A visual artist need capture your attention for but a moment; a musician, but a few moments. But a novel? Way more of a commitment.
Knowing this, I paid an artist on fiver to draw me a cool cover:
I'm a fan of the simple and minimal design in the vein of Gallimard, Adelphi, or Fitzcarraldo. One color, no pictures, just title and author. Admittedly that might not be right for a self published book as it signifies the aesthetic of a publishing house. It would however make a book stand out among many of the over the top American covers.
Excellent post. If I ever finish mine, I have plans for the physical presentation, which will be expensive to pull off, but as you correctly say, it's up to the artisan to find the means.
> Novels and book culture might need to do the same. Much like how playwrights understand that their artform is dialogue with actors, novelist must be in dialogue with books as beautiful objects. Who makes it and how its made is important. The novel is dead! Long live the novel!
I think it would be really cool if more indie presses did custom runs of books with really premium binding, but only Passage Press has pulled that off. Would be cool if there was a centralized service that could push that quality out.
> PSS I noticed that the binding on the print run of Incel was perfect binding which is far from perfect
I ordered a copy. Looking forward to reading it!
Let me know what you think!
A novel is a tough sell to your average Internet denizen. A visual artist need capture your attention for but a moment; a musician, but a few moments. But a novel? Way more of a commitment.
Knowing this, I paid an artist on fiver to draw me a cool cover:
http://www.thedragonbehindthecrown.com/
I'm a fan of the simple and minimal design in the vein of Gallimard, Adelphi, or Fitzcarraldo. One color, no pictures, just title and author. Admittedly that might not be right for a self published book as it signifies the aesthetic of a publishing house. It would however make a book stand out among many of the over the top American covers.
Alan Rossi’s Our Last Year is a beautiful minimalist instance of this.
Wait a minute, I got the grey copy of your book, what's that white one?
https://www.decentralizedfiction.com/p/self-publishing-101-maybe-dont-market
Wow quite a ride! I never noticed the Stoner thing but I do agree it’s a perfect book, one that everyone, but especially young men, should read
Excellent post. If I ever finish mine, I have plans for the physical presentation, which will be expensive to pull off, but as you correctly say, it's up to the artisan to find the means.
Thank you sir!
The piece today by Sam Kahn seems to be covering much the same territory as this post.
https://substack.com/inbox/post/160133728
Need to make it fashionable to hang novels from the wall in the way people do with records
> Novels and book culture might need to do the same. Much like how playwrights understand that their artform is dialogue with actors, novelist must be in dialogue with books as beautiful objects. Who makes it and how its made is important. The novel is dead! Long live the novel!
I think it would be really cool if more indie presses did custom runs of books with really premium binding, but only Passage Press has pulled that off. Would be cool if there was a centralized service that could push that quality out.
> PSS I noticed that the binding on the print run of Incel was perfect binding which is far from perfect
Sadly I have to rely on Amazon POD, haha