FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESK...

Welcome to e-Writer Magazine. E-Writer is a magazine
for writers of all types at all stages of development from
the novice to the expert. In these pages you’ll find interesting
ideas and tips on becoming a more effective communicator,
as well as book reviews, articles, even poetry. We’re open to
contributions from our readers and hope you’ll send us
interesting articles and news. If you have something to say,
say it here. You can contact our editor at editor@llumina.com

AUTHORS, GET PUBLISHED!

Llumina Press publishes “e” and print-on-demand books,
and pays higher royalties—60% on e-books, and 30% on
Trade Paperbacks. Check us out at: http://www.llumina.com

We’re giving self-publishing a good name…

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PRESS RELEASES

JOBLESS RECOVERY IS SOMETHING TO LAUGH ABOUT!

FORT LAUDERDALE, APRIL 2005:   L.C. Evans’ new novel, Jobless Recovery, like all good satire, strips the newsworthy butt-naked, allowing us to see beyond the cellulite and into the guts of the matter.  Exposing the consequences of the trend to eliminate American jobs, Evans shines a humorous spotlight on some very ugly wrinkles of corporate America.  A morbidly ugly clown, grotesque to look at, but funny as hell.  

Dave Griffin thinks he has it made--beautiful girlfriend, computer programming job, and all the benefits that come with middle class life in America. Then Dave's employer callously decides to replace American computer programmers with a combination of offshore and imported labor in order to increase company profits. Now Dave is out on the street and can't find even a minimum wage job. But Dave still believes in the system. All he has to do is bring the problem to the attention of the media and the people in Washington to get results. But his agitating only deepens his trouble.  

Meanwhile, Dave's friend Joe Tremaine, a former FBI agent who lost his job after suffering a devastating head injury, is struggling to pay for his medicine and help his daughter. Cynical Joe knows better than to trust anyone in Washington or in corporate America. He embroils Dave in his fraudulent money-making schemes, and when Joe decides to educate the powerful senator who has been the driving factor in eliminating American jobs, his plan goes terribly wrong. Dave is the only one who can help, but helping will force him to choose who and what he cares for. Can an unemployed computer jockey manage to keep Joe-and himself--out of jail? Or will the oddly-shaped bundle in the back of Joe's truck spell tragedy for both of them?  

Jobless Recovery is a humorous, yet gripping satirical account of the desperation of people betrayed by their own country. It illumines greed and nobility, the fundamental choice between self and selflessness that makes us human. 

About the author:   

L. C. Evans currently lives in the United States.   

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New Edition of Evangeline Breathes New Life into Classic Work

FORT LAUDERDALE, March, 2005:  “This is the forest primeval.”  So Longfellow begins Evangeline, his first great work.  It is a tribute to the memory of the Acadians, who were forcibly removed from their peaceful home in Nova Scotia three centuries ago. 

Françoise Paradis, Ed.D.s’ new edition of Evangeline integrates the history of the Acadians, the history of Longfellow, her own connection and emotions tied to the work, reprints of lithographs of the period, and reprints of paintings by an Acadian artist to flesh out his work and breathe new life into a classic work.

Praise for Evangeline:

“It is a story we recognize today, and one which offers hope in the face of loss.”

                                                  Rhea Côté Robbins, Author of Wednesday’s Child                                                      Founder and Director, Franco-American Women’s Institute

“François Paradis has done a great service to the world of literature by reprinting Longfellow’s epic masterpiece…”

                               Dr. Roger Paradis, Acadian History Professor, University of Maine at Fort Kent

Dr. Françoise Paradis is the seventh child in a French-speaking family of fourteen children in Frenchville, the heart of French-Canadian and Acadian culture in Maine.  She currently lives in Buxton, Maine, where she has established Hidden Springs Psychological Services and Retreat Center and volunteers at the Wadsworth-Longfellow House and the Maine Historical Society’s library.  Dr. Layne Longfellow, author of the Foreword, is a member of the Board of Directors, Friends of the Longfellow House, Longfellow National Historic Site in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  His great-great-grandfather, Michael, was Henry W. Longfellow’s cousin.

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Majority Rule, A Bad Idea?

Fort Lauderdale, March 2005:   “The promotion of majoritarian democracy has been one of the West’s greatest blunders of the 20^th Century.”  This view of a former member of the Zimbabwe Liberation Movement, Dr. Sondlo Leonard Mhlaba, is supported in his new book, Incentive-Based Franchise/A New Model for Global Governance. “Combined with forced integration of formerly separate communities into Western-style states,” the author asserts, “majoritarian democracy and its system of political parties created conditions for much of the political instability and violence seen in so many developing countries.”

To get to his proposal for a new definition and application of democracy, Mhlaba goes back to the basics; to the origins of modern ideas about the purpose of life itself and of government. The result is a fascinating, and some would say controversial, take on Abraham, Jesus, Mohamed, Confucius, and the Bhudda.  From this foundation, the author presents a practical, universal, results-oriented democratic ideal that he calls the Incentive-Based Franchise (IBF) Model.

Dr. W. Andy Knight, Professor of International Relations at the University of Alberta, Canada, and Editor of “Global Governance Journal” writes: “Students and observers of global governance will find this book a most intriguing read and will be drawn to this alternative vision of how the world ought to work.”

WorldBoston’s Executive Director, Brandie Elizabeth Conforti writes: “Perhaps one of Mhlaba’s most salient points is his proposal to reform the United Nations while, at the same time, fostering a performance-based form of democracy.”

Dr. Emma Zevik, Research Associate, Harvard University Asia Center writes:  “Insightful, informative, thought-provoking—Dr. Mhlaba addresses crucial concerns for today’s world with clear and concise writing . . . ”

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THE LAST CALL TO WITNESS PROVES THAT CHRIST HAS RETURNED TO WALK ON GLOBAL STAGE EXACTLY AS PROPHESIZED

Fort Lauderdale, April 2005:  The Last Call to Witness by Rod Ennis-Smith offers indefensible proof

which cannot be disputed or dismissed of Christ’s return.  This is accomplished by presenting names,

physical evidence, His own testimony, and a pattern of operation. Christ is here now with two of His old friends.  Just exactly as He said, and He is knocking on doors. Your door. This is shocking.  You will cry and cry.  Stop, look, and listen, and collectively think, Why?

That time as prophesied is now upon us for all God's plans to be revealed and Man’s schemes to be exposed.  God has commanded us to seek, watch and remain sober.  He, therefore, has challenged us to understand and continuously witness this plan, His plan.  His story (Man’s history) is meant to be personal.  Are you cosmic waste? Are you worth saving?  Why was Christ revealed to us like this?

If you sent Two Witnesses instead of Weapons Inspectors into Iraq, what do you think their destinies would be?  Could the medium be the message?  Could you follow that narrow path in the Two Witnesses footsteps?  Do you have their constitution?  If you did follow them, would they know you?  Can you assemble a complicated puzzle without first knowing or having the appropriate understanding of that picture or that outcome?

Now our time has come. There are things to realize. These questions must and will be answered.  The Last Call to Witness is an invitation (one of their many) to “come and see.”    To witness it.

In author Rod Ennis-Smith’s own words:

“David slew Goliath equipped with only a great heart and a sling-shot. If David could attempt to think it and do it, then I believe, so could I.  David was not a trained warrior, neither am I.  Knowing something and proving it are many worlds apart. I have carried the heavy weight of knowing and proving these events for over five years.  I have always been interested in science and cosmology.  This exploring led to a Biblical Prophesy and the discovery of many interesting mysteries.  After a year of investigation, just in a twinkling of an eye, out of nowhere, some puzzle pieces connected.  The more I understood, the more was revealed and then, additional pieces snapped into place.  Slowly watching and searching uncovered these here -- in fourteen puzzle pieces.  Adopting them, I assembled God’s plan to teach and redeem Man."

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Voice to a Generation Muted by its Own Insecurity, Scaccia’s Song Rings with Bittersweet with Clarity

Fort Lauderdale, March  2005: Self-proclaimed “existential punk-rock goddess with a heart of soul,” Annamaria Scaccia’s belts out her poetry in a powerful and insightful voice that belies her youth.  Born in the back roads of Brooklyn, New York, Scaccia’s poems have a distinctive Brooklyn accent tinged with the dialect of disenfranchised youth.  A talented goddess, she is a staff writer to the Brooklyn College Kingsman.  And her work has appeared on www.fictionpress.com, www.poetry.com, as well as in the short-lived music-zine, PicPockit, which Scaccia founded in 2002. Scaccia also paints expressionistic, post-impressionist rock star portraits and nudes.  Her free time is spent contemplating the battle between logic and desire and writing it down in her Moleskin notebook. And Scaccia loves Jeff Buckley.

Youth is just a distraction. Time is non-existent. Everything is questionable. Everything is lost. These are the basic thoughts that penetrate through the heels of Destiny for a Tragedy. A collection of poems, prose, songs, mistakes, regrets, boredom, and persistence, Destiny for a Tragedy tells of a tale of a young girl racing through the red lights of youth, side-stepping wilted lovers, estranged fathers, distorted friends and self-destruction in the form of one-liner notes and tangents. Split into five different chapters, Destiny for a Tragedy takes you down a road of tragic love, brewing hate, silent observation, frustration, cultural activism and political disgust. From words praising the perfect man to the memory of a murdered friend, Destiny for a Tragedy recounts the days of being in love, depression, loneliness, and youth, all while trying to find one’s self. Scaccia tosses together phrases and metaphors that enunciate what it means to be a teenager and what it is like growing up, stepping away from it all. With an epilogue to explain how she is now, content and ready to move on, Destiny for a Tragedy is a sensitive and provocative reflection of change.

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Another Small Town, U.S.A., Immortalized in Becoming Ruby by Marci Henna

Fort Lauderdale, March 2005:  Fireside, Texas circa 1967 is the next small Southern town immortalized in literature in Marci Henna’s Becoming Ruby.  In the tradition of Fannie Flagg’s Whistle Stop, Alabama, and Rebecca Wells’ Thornton City, Louisiana, Marci Henna’s Fireside, Texas is populated by quirky characters, hot gossip, Elvis, and cozy down-home Southern cooking. The local Fireside flavor combines with nostalgic details from those Flower Power years, as two sisters come of age with Ruby and Walt, grandparents who don’t act their age and whose love is legendary.

 Juliet Cranbourne remains in Fireside as a shopkeeper and editor of The Fireside Telegraph long after her grandparent’s deaths and her sister Evangeline’s moving on to big city life.  When Evangeline returns to help Juliet choose a headstone for Walt and Ruby’s graves, the rift between the sisters dissolves within their shared memories of growing up on the ranch with their doting grandparents, eccentric neighbors, farm animals, and each other during simpler times. 

 Fireside’s allure is in its simplicity as a backdrop to Southern cooking and superbly vivid characters.  In Fireside, people are loved because of their idiosyncrasies, not in spite of them.  Interwoven threads of the past surface in the tapestry of the present, as the sisters find that the legacy their grandparents left to them is one of love and acceptance, of the past, of the here-and-now, and of each other.  Becoming Ruby will take its place alongside Fried Green Tomatoes and The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Fireside and its inhabitants will live on in readers’ memories long after the last page is turned.

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 Fort Lauderdale, March 2005:  Forget those anonymous newspaper headlines about medical miracles and accompany Dr. Craig Collison, his family, colleagues, and friends, on an incredible journey through his death-defying ordeal with flesh-eating bacteria.  When a medical disaster ripped this young doctor’s body and world to shreds, the steadfast faith of his family circle made it whole again.

Collison was completing his residency and awaiting the birth of his third child, when a routine surgery turned into the kind of unique catastrophe that makes medical headlines.  The flesh-eating bacteria that was consuming his healthy body could not obliterate Craig’s belief in God, nor shake the faith of his family.  Collison’s wife Michelle put a journal at his bedside for well-wishers, and herself, to write their thoughts in.  Entries from that journal punctuate the gripping and dramatic account of how a fluke bacteria transformed Craig from healthy young doctor to critically-ill patient and how his friends and family kept the faith.

Tattered Flesh, Resilient Spirit is the incredible story of the Collison family’s struggle with “flesh-eating” bacteria, a spontaneous and horrible illness that caused massive tissue destruction with deadly and never-ending complications.  Raw emotion, both incredible joy and overwhelming sadness, as Michelle’s journal entries take you to the heat of the moment, inject you right into this real-life drama.  Their astounding faith in the verses used to try to understand why this happened gives witness to the Spirit at work in our lives, allowing Craig to persevere where so few survive.

 Fort Lauderdale, March 2005:  A real-life canine role model is immortalized with words and in pictures in Sari Mitchell and Greg Raische’s new children’s book, Ollie the Trolley.  Ollie, the real-life hero dog, lost his hind legs to an infection.  Ollie wears a trolley-like device to wheel around.  Despite the unimaginable pain this true-life puppy has gone through, his spirit and resolve made him the perfect role model for children of all ages and inspired this beautifully-illustrated children’s book, the first of the Patty-the-Petsitter series.  

Follow Ollie and Patty on their sunny afternoon adventure in this fanciful portrayal of the real life Ollie.  This brave, happy, and loving, handicapped wiener dog will unlock even the hardest of hearts.  Ollie is inspiration and example for everyone who has faced hardship and disability, and an education for those on the outside looking in.  The matter-of-fact approach to Ollie’s handicap makes Ollie the Trolley the perfect vehicle for introducing the concept of disabilities to young audiences.  Raische’s rhymes make Ollie an easy-read for beginning readers and Mitchell’s detailed crayon renderings are delightful.  There is even a little quiz at the end of the book to make certain the reader has paid attention to the tiny details! 

 Visit our website,  www.mostunique.com/ollietrolley.htm, to hear Ollie’s touching story, see where Ollie lives, meet his parents, his pals and experience a day in Ollie’s life. WEBSITE BONUS—Preview the next two companion books in the Patty the Pet Sitter Series: It’s a Ducky Day and The Curious Case of Mr. Banana Face.  A portion of the proceeds from sales of Ollie the Trolley are earmarked for The Special Olympics and The Humane Society. 

Fort Lauderdale, March 2005:  PEACE, WAR and the AFTERMATH is an account of war and communist takeover, and a coming-of-age tale with a twist. As a young boy, Sándor Erdélyi saw the horrors of war firsthand:  

 A work crew had already dug out a long ditch in the nearby church garden, a mass grave, in effect. We were given no tools with which to extract the bodies from the slush and ice that covered them. Shaking with horror, crying with despair, I dug alongside my mother.  

 After WWII, Hungary was stripped of vast chunks of her territory and her remnants were swallowed by Soviet Russia. Classmates and workplace colleagues disappeared and families were torn apart. Erdélyi’s generation was decimated by deportation, internal exile and murder as the communist regime tightened its chokehold on the country. By turns harrowing, comical and moving, Erdélyi’s story is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and a valuable chronicle of a country that is still poorly understood in North America.

About the Author

Sándor Alexander Erdélyi was born in 1934 in Budapest, Hungary.  He studied at a prestigious separate school, but the Communist government denied him a university education.  His early freelance writing career was aborted by government censors.  He escaped Hungary in 1956 with his wife and child and settled in Canada.  After almost thirty years of salaried work and business ownership, Erdélyi resumed writing, producing op-eds, interviews, and analytical reports for the government.  In retirement, he wrote short stories before embarking on his first full-length book.  He is currently working on several writing projects.

Fort Lauderdale, March 2005: A learning guide developed while the author was serving as a consultant in conflict resolution, anger management, and creative problem solving, Planning with Purpose will give you the means to understand your own anger, and to effectively diffuse negative reactions in others.  The book was originally used in workshops that were conducted for adjudicated juvenile offenders and adjudicated adults who were judged as having anger management problems.  The book also evolved from experiences the author had as an Alternatives to Violence (AVP) facilitator in prison and community settings and from other conflict resolution and peacemaking training he conducted including: developing peer mediation programs in school settings and training law enforcement officers and community members as community mediators.

The learning guide teaches the application of two types of planning skills: finite and infinite.  Finite or "use-your-brain" planning focuses on traditional behavior management strategies for self-control of behavior.  Infinite or "heart and soul" planning emphasizes increased receptive skills such as listening and seeking an awareness of one's purpose in life.  The book includes learning strategies (written activities) designed to assist the reader in recognizing and reducing episodes of destructive violence and to increase creative problem solving and planning strategies associated with happiness and a purpose-filled life.   

About the Author

Robert Benefield is currently Professor of Psychology and Criminal Justice at East Texas Baptist University.  He is also Professor Emeritus at Louisiana State University in Shreveport where he taught for 27 years prior to his retirement.  He is a consultant in conflict resolution, anger management, and creative problem solving for law enforcement and community agencies.  He received his PhD from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, his MA from New Mexico State University, and his BA from Louisiana Tech University.  All his degress are in Psychology.  He is married and has six children.

Author Lets Book Rest for Ten Years Before Publishing 

Fort Lauderdale, March 2005:  Chris Pugmire, author of The Sentient Advantage, finished his manuscript a decade ago.  He waited ten years before publishing because, as Pugmire writes in the preface, “When I first wrote this book I wanted to enjoy reading it as if someone else had written it. so, I came up with the cunning plan of waiting ten years without thinking about it and then re-reading it. Surprisingly, my plan mostly worked; and even more surprisingly, I found that I really quite liked it and decided to get it published.”

The Sentient Advantage was well worth waiting for.  It is pure engaging, entertaining, and stimulating science fiction.  In the tradition of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, Pugmire injects an intelligent comedic element into a futuristic science fiction theme that will appeal to both sci-fi enthusiasts and satire lovers alike.  Pugmire’s deadpan delivery does not obscure the twinkle in his eye as his story unfolds.  It is difficult not to smile along with him as we follow his hero Jaros from a fall from space to a whole other world. 

Then Jaros wakes up and finds himself falling from space, he is alarmed to realize that he has no memory.  Nothing.  Yet it seems like he was expected.  He takes up residence in Kayla’s haunted house that is run by a house comp that won't take orders.  Together they must figure out what’s really going on, save the galaxy, and avoid being killed by large ugly aliens.  Every step of their adventure is hilarious.  This is the kind of book that people pass on to their friends, but want returned so they can read it again when their friends have finished.

 The Sentient Advantage did not lose a bit of its edge in the ten years that Pugmire had it under lock and key.  Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait another decade for its sequel to appear!

Fort Lauderdale, March 2005:  If anyone has survived grade school without being bullied, life has been kinder to him than the rest of us.  Most adults can remember a time when they were victim of a school bully.  And some of us have carried those scars into adulthood, allowing it to effect our grownup behavior and social skills.  We want better for our children.  Character Ed and the Magical Lesson of the Bully-Proof Vest is that something better.  

An honest and simple story of the-kid-next-door and his nemesis Buster the Bully, Character Ed opens the topic of bullies and victims up for discussion and shows children ways to disarm an intimidator without resorting to bullying back and sullying their own character.  It shines a spotlight on Buster that reflects back how a tormenter appears to the rest of us.  Whether you know a child who is being harassed or one who is doing the harassing, Character Ed and the Magical Lesson of the Bully-Proof Vest is a wonderful non-threatening starting point to open up discussion.  

Steven Rosenbloom’s experience as an educator and counselor shines through the pages of this sweet and insightful morality tale.  The illustrations that accompany the text are hip and colorful and make this story understandable for beginners (which is when most bullying begins). If you have kids or work with children, Character Ed should be an invited guest at your read-alouds.  Its lesson is a gift to both victims and bullies alike.

FORT LAUDERDALE, March 2005:  Koenig’s Wonder, a riveting multi-generational saga of a fragmented family emigrated from Germany, blends the world of horse-racing and international art into a masterpiece of mystery and intrigue.  In this fictional world of horse racing, Koenig’s Wonder, a magnificent Kentucky Derby winning Thoroughbred stars in author Linda Kuhlmann’s novel of family secrets, deception, greed and murder.   

In 1937, two brothers flee pre-Nazi Germany and embark at Ellis Island in New York City with only a white Lipizzan stallion and a stolen Friedrich painting. Their relationship, fractured by deceit, causes the brothers to go their separate ways in their new homeland.  What follows affects three generations of the Maseman family as they are torn apart by greed, war, and revenge.   

Years later, Emma Maseman discovers the harsh truth about her family when she is investigated for the theft of Koenig’s Wonder. As the mysteries unravel, Koenig’s Wonder races toward the finish line in a brilliant and thoroughly engrossing fashion.

FORT LAUDERDALE,  March 2005:  Ah, the college years: exciting new friends, exams and all-nighters, loads of books, parties galore, graduation, and…murder? 

In Creamed at Commencement: A Graduation Mystery, Professor Melanie Andrews, a brilliant academic, is murdered at the Yonkers University Graduation.  Katie Maguire, sixty-something sleuth, and Maria Rodriguez, her twenty-something sidekick, are on the case.  Professor Andrews turns out to be a control freak who thought everyone’s business was her own.  Whodunnit?  A competitive professor, a dishonest dean, a sneaky janitor, a disgruntled administrative assistant, or a frustrated family member?  Follow this unlikely couple as they traverse New York City in search of the killer, learning about the art and science of detecting in the process. 

Gail Farrelly (www.FarrellySistersOnline.com) has published academic, professional and Op-Ed articles, as well as fiction.  Her first mystery, Beaned in Boston, was named to the 1997 Washington Irving Book Selection List.  After the publication of her second mystery, Duped by Derivatives, the Westchester Library System in New York named her a “Millennium Author.”

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Interviewer:  Rocky, you have designed an incredible number of book covers on such a wide variety of topics. How do you get your ideas?  Do you have to read through every manuscript?

Rocky:  Heck, no. If I did that, I would never get done.  Most of my ideas originate in conversations with the author.  When I listen to someone who is passionate about his manuscript, ideas come out of my head from a whole other dimension.  When an author meets with me, and he or she is excited about being published, that enthusiasm generally is provocative enough to open up a fountainhead of ideas.

Interviewer:  You said, “ideas” – so, how do you finally narrow it down and define the cover?

Rocky:  Listening to the author is probably the most important ingredient for me in getting my ideas for cover artwork.  From those cues, I design a mock cover, marrying up my own ideas to those I’ve gotten from the author.  Then I run the mock-up by the author and get ready to listen again.  Designing a book cover is collaborative.  I may be the art director, but my inspiration comes from listening and observing the world around me.

Interviewer:  What are the elements of a well-designed book cover?  Is there any particular style that sells?

Rocky:  The elements?  There are so many different ways of hooking someone to pick up a book. For a visual cue, you can have abstract, realism, digitally-enhanced elements, animae, clip-art, photography. Art technology provides us with so many more possibilities than were available ten or twenty years ago.  It is more about the way the elements blend together holistically, than in isolating any one element. 

Interviewer:  What about color?  Does color play a role in how well a book sells?

Rocky:  Of course, choosing a color depends a lot of what kind of mood the particular book is trying to project.  Yellows, blues, and pinks--not real pinks, but rosey hues, are easier on the eye, more visually-dynamic.  Hunter green and blood-like burgundy are harder to work with and you get less impact from those darker shades.  Unless, of course, that is the mood you are trying to convey in your visual.  Sometimes a dark cover is appropriate to the tone of the manuscript.  Dark colors say ‘serious stuff’ to me, children’s books, humor, self-help, and lighter reading usually require lighter colors to convey the mood of the book.

Interviewer:  What about text on a cover?  Is font important in cover design?

Rocky:  Yes, it is.  Text needs to balance the cover layout with whichever images are chosen.  There are also covers that are only text, as requested by the author.  On these types of covers, text not only becomes the important factor in the design of the cover, but also the image.  Text can be converted, stretched, skewed, flipped, painted over, shadowed, given special effects, etc.  I consider the text the same way I consider art.  It was designed, therefore, it is a design element, not an add-on or just type.  After all, type conveys mood too, and different fonts create different feelings in the viewer.

Interviewer:  What was your all-time favorite cover design?  And what made it great?

Rocky:  The Sentient Advantage was one of my favorites.  Unfinished Business, which is completely a graphic design, was a joy to do.  I also like Mystical Toy Guitar.  These covers embody the extremes of what cover design is about.  With The Sentient Advantage, I created a landscape of outer space from various graphic sources, which all integrate into one seamless representation of a universe that really doesn’t exist.    Mystical Toy Guitar came to me in a dream.  The guitar photograph was completely revamped and the Union Jack flag was imposed on the original photograph.  That guitar never existed, yet looks like the real thing.  Unfinished Business had so many elements from the story that I could have used on the cover.  It would have been confusing to incorporate all of them into one visual.  The story begged for a more graphic design, a little on the abstract side of the street, to unify all those elements.

Interviewer:  And the worst, not to name names?

Rocky:  There really is no bad cover, no bad art; it is all about personal taste.  Sometimes a low- resolution photograph that an author is intent on using does not reproduce as well as I’d like it to, but art really is in the eye of the beholder.  Or sometimes an author has just too many elements they want to include on their cover and the result is too busy.  When that happens, I discuss it with the author and try to narrow it down to which elements are really the most essential.  Ideally, the cover should work with the book, and for the book, as covers cannot stand on their own.

Interviewer:  So, is it true then, that you can’t tell a book by its cover?

Rocky:  A book cover shouldn’t tell so much you don’t need to read the book.  Just enough visual to seduce the reader into picking it up and reading the first page.   Cover art should be a tease, a hook, it should entice and intrigue.  The art and the text should work together to give the buyer a visual taste of what’s inside without competing for the spotlight.  The book is the star of the show, while the cover is just a supporting cast member.  Ideally, good book cover design costumes a manuscript to show off its finest features.  That’s always my goal.

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I need an editor?   My book needs…gulp…editing? 

Some writers absorb those words with the same enthusiasm they might exhibit when anticipating open-heart surgery without anesthesia.  A death sentence, a dire prognosis, a grim course of treatment for their word-baby.   Other writers view editors as healers and helpers, and can’t wait for to get their book under the expert’s microscope.  Whether it be to take scalpel to their manuscript, give it an injection, take its marketability temperature, or pronounce it healthy and fit for publication, these writers wouldn’t think of publishing their books without a complete physical examination with a book doctor. 

For all you edit-phobes out there, here’s a quote from a Datus C. Smith, Jr., publishing giant and author of A Guide to Book Publishing:

“The author or the translator is supposed to turn in the manuscript in a form ready                                          for the printer.  But no author, in the history of printing, has been able to do that.”

So, if the superstars of writing don’t wince when disrobing in front of an editor, one would think that the rest of us writers would gladly drop our drawers to ensure that our manuscripts get a clean bill of literary health, no?  So, what are we afraid of? 

Many writers fear an editor will perform major surgery on their manuscript.  This is hardly ever the case.  Although some manuscripts do benefit from these life-saving measures, most don’t need more than a little first-aid to make their book hale and hearty enough to compete in the literary arena.  It is those unedited manuscripts that limp into the book market in need of splints and bandaids that fall on their face before they even get to the reviewers. 

Why?  Because as healthy as you think your book reads, a book doctor’s diagnostic expertise will make it better.  And, if by chance your book is fit to print, wouldn’t it be sweet news to get an expert’s concurrence before sending it out to compete with the champions?