I used to work at publishamerica.

redrighthand · Aug 5, 2010

Kaji said:
So Red, hi by the way. I have been a ghost in the background this entire thread. I used to be a "HAPPY DAMMIT" PA "author" and the person who made my cover did a fantastic job. What is up? lol did that person get fired for spending more than five minutes on my cover?! Usually PA will take the title and make a cover, even if the title has nothing to do with the book. Like a book called "The Dark Rose" and it is about a woman named Rose and yet the cover is nothing but pretty red roses, lol.

Well, it really depended on what the author wanted, and how reasonable their request was. A lot of authors just wanted something like "a sunset" or "the ocean with a sunset" and on and on. Thats not to say I didn't try, there were plenty of genuinely nice looking covers I did. However, if the author had something completely ridiculous that would be impossible to do within around 30 minutes, we were told to do something "abstract". And again, the authors never really put up an argument with this.

CatSlave · Aug 5, 2010

redrighthand said:
However, if the author had something completely ridiculous that would be impossible to do within around 30 minutes, we were told to do something "abstract". And again, the authors never really put up an argument with this.

So, you were expected to complete a cover within 30 minutes?
That would be 16 covers per day, but you said you had other duties also.

How many covers were the daily quota you and the other designers were expected to meet?
Can you estimate the number of books completed in your department during a normal work week?
Thanks.

Bartholomew · Aug 6, 2010

redrighthand said:
And what exactly, does "we writers" mean? Thats pretty goddamn condescending. I write, a lot. It's a catharsis. I've even had some stuff published in poetry journals. As in, vetted by a second party. But as of right now, I haven't written anything in over a year. I can't force it out. I've tried, but it's shit. Like listening to radio rock, it feels empty.

EDIT: That last bit sounds a tad angry, but I got so much of that "I'm a writer, waaahhh" stuff while I was at PA, it just became annoying. You wouldn't believe how many of their authors are in talks with tom cruise about the movie adaptations on their books.

I've been under the assumption that you were a professional graphics artist, rather than a professional writer. I doubt she meant to offend you.

redrighthand · Aug 6, 2010

Bartholomew said:
I've been under the assumption that you were a professional graphics artist, rather than a professional writer. I doubt she meant to offend you.

Everything is a hobby. It just depends on how much money comes out of it. I don't really care about making money from writing though, since its personal.

And each persons quota was 20 books a week, times that by 10 or so designers. I mean, it really depends on how many designers were working. And yeah, it wasn't a straight 30 Mon a cover, there are always mitigating factors. Some take longer, some less, it just depends how much time I had. The designers had complete control, I had never been told to change a design.

Kaji · Aug 6, 2010

Hya

merrihiatt said:
Hiya, Shane! Haven't seen you around the board in a while. Hope all is well with you.

/end derail.

I know it has been quite some time since I have found my way back to the PA board here. Been really busy working and writing. One day I hope to get a legitimate publisher to publisher something of mine.

How have you been?

merrihiatt · Aug 6, 2010

Shane, I sent you a rep note. Don't want to derail this thread further.

Kyra Wright · Aug 6, 2010

Hi, redrighthand. Thanks in advance for any information you can provide on this.

Can you walk me through the full process of designing a book cover for PA? I'm curious about the process mostly because of this video:

http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/03/08/blameless-or-how-to-design-a-cover-in-155-seconds/

The creator of that video said that it took about six hours to design that cover. I'm wondering what exactly is done at PA that it takes such a short time.

redrighthand · Aug 6, 2010

Kyra Wright said:
Hi, redrighthand. Thanks in advance for any information you can provide on this.

Can you walk me through the full process of designing a book cover for PA? I'm curious about the process mostly because of this video:

http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/03/08/blameless-or-how-to-design-a-cover-in-155-seconds/

The creator of that video said that it took about six hours to design that cover. I'm wondering what exactly is done at PA that it takes such a short time.

1. pick a book, any book

2. format the text of the book (to figure out the dimensions on the cover)

3. get 6x9 or 5.5x8.5 cover file template (depending on step 2)

4. design actual cover, not entirely unlike that video, minus the adobe illustrator and a designer who cares (or, failing that, pick a pre-designed template and plug in the book title and author name). also, they used photoshop cs2 when I was where, which is slightly outdated at the moment.

part of the problem is the lack of a good stock image resource. they used photos.com, the standard subscription. the plus sub. gets you a ton more images of much higher quality and variety. thus, we're stuck with only a certain amount of images that can work for us. there are only so many pictures of roses or broken glass one can choose from.

the cover image is then plugged into the book cover template, which is defined with the help of a custom (page count, barcode) generated template provided by lightningsource's website. everything is then added in, (spine names/title, back cover text, author pic) and then it's done! off to the author it goes, along with the text proof.

Tsu Dho Nimh · Aug 7, 2010

CatSlave said:
The OP doesn't appear to be dodging questions. Cover design has nothing to do with editing or layout, or anything that would involve company policy.

True ... my roomie designs chips. He has no clue about the brands of processing equipment used in the fabs, not why HR hires and fires people.

The only time I, as a writer/editor, actually saw a press was when I was touring local print shops and asking about their capabilities.

Kyra Wright · Aug 7, 2010

redrighthand said:
1. pick a book, any book

2. format the text of the book (to figure out the dimensions on the cover)

3. get 6x9 or 5.5x8.5 cover file template (depending on step 2)

4. design actual cover, not entirely unlike that video, minus the adobe illustrator and a designer who cares (or, failing that, pick a pre-designed template and plug in the book title and author name). also, they used photoshop cs2 when I was where, which is slightly outdated at the moment.

part of the problem is the lack of a good stock image resource. they used photos.com, the standard subscription. the plus sub. gets you a ton more images of much higher quality and variety. thus, we're stuck with only a certain amount of images that can work for us. there are only so many pictures of roses or broken glass one can choose from.

the cover image is then plugged into the book cover template, which is defined with the help of a custom (page count, barcode) generated template provided by lightningsource's website. everything is then added in, (spine names/title, back cover text, author pic) and then it's done! off to the author it goes, along with the text proof.

Thanks for the info.

I used to work at publishamerica.

redrighthand

figuring it all out

CatSlave

Mah tale iz draggin.

Bartholomew

Comic guy

redrighthand

figuring it all out

Kaji

Former "Happy-Dammit" Author

merrihiatt

Writing! Writing! Writing!

Kyra Wright

Skulduggery and haberdashery

redrighthand

figuring it all out

Tsu Dho Nimh

Kyra Wright

Skulduggery and haberdashery