Showing posts with label workshop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workshop. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Book Cover Design: The Expectations of Readers and How You Are Perceived

We have all heard the idiom: don't judge a book by its cover.  

Well, most of us have. Some authors and editors take this idiom to mean that their poor cover design won't be held against them by readers. 

WRONG. 

I could use other people's design mistakes to make my point, but that would be unfair. Instead, I will give a lesson with only my own designs as examples. 

So independent authors, here is your design workshop. 

If you have refrained from becoming astute in the ways of publication design and insist on creating your own book covers, yeah, I can spot them. Actually, readers in general can spot bad designs. When that happens, your book undersells, if the publication sells at all. 

Readers will not purchase covers that look and feel unprofessional. So, as the idiom goes: it does not apply to you. People do judge books by their covers.

Independent authors often use or pay for what someone else has created, as long as the background illustration is free or cheap. Some even try to create their own designs, but end up with a less than stellar dismount. What does a poor indie do?

If you are going the route of doing your own book cover designs, then avail yourself to a course in design theory. I had the opportunity to take courses and other avenues of study from creative industry experts when I went to community college. I was lucky. I learned from the best. 

When I first began doing my own designs, I remember how awful they were. My brain does not function well under constant inflammation, and I have to compensate for that ongoing disability. With time, however, I was able to recover my knowledge of publication design. If you have noticed, my book covers and website images look more professional by the year.  

I also have the advantage of being an award-winning digital artist. I understand composition, color, and creativity. Most people are not like me, some of them need a little help. I have offered to assist. Sometimes it works out great, and sometimes it is a disaster. 

I have placed an example of poor cover design above in Flying High. What draws you to the cover? What repels you? Would you read this book? 

This illustration of poor design fundamentals is why most independent or self-published authors under perform in their market. A bad cover means you are handing over your book sales to someone else. Your competition either has a publishing house creating their designs, or the authors have spent $250+ per cover.

What is the solution? Spend money you don't have? Or, learn good cover design?

First, compare and contrast. Go online to any retailer who sells books and look at professional book covers. What do you see that is on all of those covers? How would you modify those designs to make your own style but still be attractive to readers? 

I find that many independent authors just slap a design together without putting much thought in using their covers as a net positive marketing tool. Covers take time. The right design takes time. 

Here are a few cover designs I created: 

Now take notes on what you like and dislike about these designs. What attracts you? What repels you? In comparison with bad design elements in the Flying High example, what are good design elements that you can pick out from these three covers?

This article is your first step in creating a good book cover.

Use it wisely. 

Have a great and wonderful day.

_____

UPDATE: Book Cover Design will be offered via our Premium Content coming in 2023 as a part of Undawnted's Design Elements and Digital Artistry courses. 

Learn. Grow. Master... with Undawnted.



Saturday, January 22, 2022

On Poem Hunter for Review: Desert

Another short, structured poem was added onto Undawnted's Poem Hunter page.

Desert is a Cinquain. Five lines to change your mood with a descriptive narrative. 

If you like this poem, then please bookmark: DL Mullan's Poem Hunter page.

We would appreciate our readers to take a moment and leave a comment, rating, and review. 

Ms. Mullan loves to hear from her audience. 

 

Have a great and rhyme-filled day.  

 

Sunday, December 19, 2021

On Poem Hunter for Review: Asymptote

Undawnted's DL Mullan will publish her shorter albeit structured poetry on Poem Hunter, especially those poems used in her Special Engagement's Workshop series called Onomatopoetry. 

First up, Asymptote the science based poem. A workshop in the seasonal reads: Autumn Cider Genre Theater Workshop will be linked to this article to showcase how science and the poetic arts can be combined for an interesting prospective about the nature of our universe.   

So please, bookmark this new endeavor: DL Mullan's Poem Hunter page for quotes for wisdom and insight as well as her workshop poems. 

And take a moment to leave a comment, rating, and review. 

Ms. Mullan loves to hear from her readership. 

 

Have a great and rhyme-filled day.  

_____

UPDATE: Workshops and Special Engagements have been moved to our Premium Content page.

Learn. Grow. Master... with Undawnted.


Friday, December 17, 2021

Onomatopoetry Workshop Added to Winter Frost: Holiday

Want to incorporate the holiday season and its spirit into your poetry?

The holidays are full of religious and secular meaning, symbolism, and stories of their own, so why not use these aspects as sources of inspiration for your own rhyming creations? 

For our Winter Frost Special Engagement series, Undawnted is bringing this poetry workshop to you. 

Learn to create holiday poems of your very own on the Onomatopoetry: Holiday Workshop page.

If you would like to learn more poetic forms, then visit Undawnted's Special Engagements: Onomatopoetry Workshops' page. 

 

Have a great and wonderful day.  
 
_____

UPDATE: Poetry workshops have been moved to our Premium Content page.

Learn. Grow. Master... with Undawnted.

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Autumn Cider's The Power of Myth- Love and the Goddess

Apart of our 31 Days of Halloween celebration, we are reviewing the Power of Myth in our lives. 

Where do our myths and legends come from?

"This is a prime myth in this period of the Goddess as the redeemer, the one who goes in quest of the lost spouse or lover, and through her loyalty and descent into the realm of death, recovers him. Isis and her husband Osiris were twins who were born of the goddess Nut. And their younger relatives were Seth and Nephthys, who were also twins born from Nut. Seth planned to kill his brother Osiris, and he took Osiris measurements secretly and had a wonderful sarcophagus built that would exactly fit Osiris. So there was a hilarious party in progress one time among the gods, and Seth trots in this sarcophagus, and he says, “Anyone whom this perfectly fits can have it as his sarcophagus.” And everybody at the party tried, and when Osiris got in, of course he perfectly fit. Just at that time, 72 accomplices come rushing out and they clap the lid on, strap it together and throw it in the Nile.

Poor little Isis, whose husband has been thrown into the Nile, starts this wonderful quest for Osiris, So she comes to the place where the palace is, and learns of the wonderful aroma and she suspects this is Osiris. And she gets a job as nurse to the just-born little child. Well, she lets the child nurse from her finger. And she loves the little child, and she decides to give it immortality. So she does this by placing him in the fireplace in the fire, to burn away gradually his mortal body. But being a goddess she could keep that from killing him, you understand. And when that would happen, she would convert herself into a swallow, and fly mournfully around the pillar where her husband is."


~Joseph Campbell, author of the Power of Myth 

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Please visit Undawnted's Special Engagements page for: the Love and the Goddess and enjoy the Lecture for Writers and the Workshop. 



Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Winter Frost Writer's Workshop is Now Complete

Circles We Find Ourselves In, Babylon 5 Fanfic, and Literary Device Writing Exercise is available for workshopping via our Seasonal Reads Program's Special Engagement's section*.

Winter Frost Writer's Workshop*

In a group or as an individual, writers can dive in, learn about a literary device, and write their own version using Session 1 and Session 2's Readings for Writers, Question and Answer, Workshop Assignments, and written application of the learned outcome. 

Please let me know through my social media pages how you liked the Winter Frost Writer's Workshop so I can continue to bring you more writing growth opportunities.

Have a great and wonderful day

_____

*Update: all workshops and special engagements have now been concluded, and new projects are now under Undawnted's Substack.

A writer at heart, Undawnted's own creative spark, DL Mullan, began writing short stories and poetry before adolescence. Over the years, Ms. Mullan has showcased her literary talents by self-publishing several collections of her poetry. She also writes novels, designs apparel, and creates digital art. Ms. Mullan‘s creative writing is available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. As an independent publisher, she produces her own book cover designs as well as maintains her own websites. She is an award-winning digital artist and poet. This year, DL Mullan has begun sharing her knowledge via A Novelist Idea Newsletter. If you too want to become a Fearless Phile, then subscribe to her newsletter on Substack.

Her innovative style teaches writers how to reach their creative potential, and write more effectively.

Learn. Grow. Master… with Undawnted.


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