The Business: #20Booksto50K Talking Covers With Jeff Brown

Craig Martel & Michael Anderle of #20Booksto50K interview cover artist Jeff Brown the other day. If you're getting into this business, either as a prospective client or as an artist, this is worth your time.

Jeff is not a cheap artist. He makes it clear with his price signals that he recognizes both the value of his skill and that of his time, but he's also not a wanker that pulls up the ladder behind him because he's using some of that time to pass on what he learned to those coming after him. That's not just a class act. That's how you build and sustain a body of practical knowledge across generations.

Buried within this conversation is a key takeaway for new folks: the cover is about prospective buyers. It's not for the audience; they're invested already. It's not for the writer, editor, or publisher either. It's purely about sales, and sales means appealing to your targeted buyers as best you can. This is its own problem to solve, as author and cover artist David Stewart explained this past week at his YouTube channel, which is why knowing whom the cover is for matters.

You can make that cover that maximizes appeal to prospects and still do whatever, but the former trumps the latter every single time. All that matters is that the prospect sees what he's looking for on your cover at a glance. No hiding shit in small print, no too-busy covers, none of that. Go study successful book covers, movie posters, etc. if you have to look at a thing to learn how to do it; it's how I came up with my Must Haves for Star Knight covers.

Yes, you still have to do your part if you're the writer and not the cover artist in this arrangement, but the cover makes certain that maximum eyeballs get on your work. That's why this is worth your time. Any additional insights? Put them in the Comments.