Hi Dee,

I think this looks very good. I am not too sure about Shades of Light. This makes me think of ghosts! But I love the artwork.

Ani

Yes, I like the artwork too. No problems from me if this was chosen as the cover.
Sam

Ani, ‘Shades of Light’ was just to put a title on there to give an idea. This mock-up came from my partner, Julian. The picture was to suggest flashes of inspiration and the title was just an idea of the different levels and depths of the writing in the collection.

Personally, I favour something along the lines of Flashes of Inspiration but any other suggestions are more than welcome.

Dee
x

Dee,

I love the cover, and would be very happy to go for it. (Don't hate me, sorry, sorry, sorry but I do wonder if it would be possible to change the colours - the purple & lilacs - to maybe blacks and oranges, on the grounds that the purple & lilacs are maybe a bit girlie. But it's not a biggie - I'd be very happy to go for it as it is).

Take care
Andrea

Funnily enough, Andrea, I was just thinking yesterday that we could maybe use the same picture but change the colours for subsequent volumes... oranges, greens, whatever.

But I don't have the foggiest idea how to do it.

Dee
x

I agree with your title, Dee and the alternative colours - the purples are a bit new-agey. i don't like the typescript either - I'd prefer something more classical. Otherwise, i'm happy with it. Dee, get your tecchie on the job!
Elspeth

I'm quite concerned about the marketing of this thing -the cover is crucial as I'm sure you all know...
Can you give me a week or two? I've just briefed one of my best art directors to work on this.
I'll post some cover ideas/options in a fortnight.

Best
Sion

That's fine by me, Sion.

Dee
x

Thanks Dee, I'm just going to (hopefully) offer up a few more options here, before we press the button.

I think the next questions are: are we planning to try to get this into bookshops? if so, how? - are we planning to sell it through a self-publisher's website? - can we get it onto Amazon's list? - do we want to run an ad in trade mags?- or post on other writers sites - can anyone get it into Uk book-fairs? etc. etc.

These might be obvious questions, but I've never had any involvement in book marketing before. Dee, do you know about any of this stuff?

Best
Sion

Once we have decided on the cover... I will happily put up a simple website to help promote it, and link to wherever we're selling etc. I'm no Super-webmaster, but I reckon I could do a decent job.

Other than that, I may be being green, but I'd like to think we might be able to persuade a handful of book shops to take a small number SOR.

Derek.

Derek, a website would definately be a big +. Thanks for that. Sion, I don't think we'll have too much trouble selling on a local level - it depends on the quantity we decide on, I suppose. I'll ask Colin M how his sales are going.
Elspeth

Hi all...

New cover concepts in from Sion. Please take a look -

http://www.dekstar.co.uk/ephemera.jpg

I will leave Sion to talk through the idea, but I really like it.

Derek.

Oh yes! I love it.

That looks like two slightly different versions. I prefer the one on the right.

What about the spine and the back, Sion?

Dee
x

I love them both, but especially the one on the right. It captures the essence of the book, is eye-catching original and all-round fabulous.

Go go go!

Andrea

Hi all,
these are two different versions of the same thing.
(slightly different layouts and type)

The basic idea is to get across the notion of a very varied collection, but the title Ephemera also has a secondary meaning which applies to the flash element, i.e the brevity of the stories.

This is only layout (not final artwork)
If we get consensus here, we'll work up the total design - spine and back cover. But we'll probably need help in sourcing additional images (copyright-free). Some of these could be old family photos or imagery from defunct companies etc.

We'll repost slightly higher quality jpegs in a couple of days.

Thanks Derek, Dee and Anj, we'll wait and see what the others think.

Best
Sion