I like all the things that a publisher can provide, especially wonderful guidance from insightful editors, and I'll always want to pursue traditional publishing. However, I'm delighted that I'll be able to offer my older books to new readers at more reasonable ebook prices and with cohesive cover art.
Jumping into self-publishing is a bit nerve-wracking, and I often go to the The Passive Guy and J.A. Konrath for guidance. I also had the pleasure of meeting indie wonder Amanda Hocking when she joined the Tor Teen book tour at our visit to Third Place Books in Washington.
The moment I found out that I was getting ebook and print book rights reverted, I contacted illustrator Nan Richards, who I'd proposed to my publisher for the original Nancy cover a gazillion years ago. (Instead I got the toilet paper cover.) Nan and I were able to reach an agreement for the cover art of Midnight Brunch, The Bride of Casa Dracula, Haunted Honeymoon, and Nancy's Theory of Style. We're calling it the Doodle Project. Nan knows exactly what I'm writing about -- because she was a chic young woman living in Pacific Heights like my character Nancy, and because she's visited the ranch that inspired the setting for the Casa Dracula novels.
I've gone through a long learning period about covers and I've worked with talented designers. But sometimes the cover art that I love isn't effective at a quick glance and as a tiny online graphic. I've had to accept that I can't be too literal or detailed with cover art, that it should be more symbolic and simple.
I hope to have my ebooks available as Kindle ebooks by the end of the month.
Next week I'll have galleys for The She-Hulk Diaries! This book is more of a flat-out comedy, and I hope people enjoy Jennifer Walter's/She-Hulk's shenanigans as much as I enjoyed writing them. My favorite part: song lyrics. Because I've realized that my secret talent is writing nonsense poetry. I've been writing silly poems since I was about ten. If I'd focused on them I would have been the Chicana Ogden Nash by now, revered by three or four people the world over.
After The She-Hulk Diaries is published, I hope everyone will refer to me that way: "Marta Acosta? Oh, she's the Chicana Ogden Nash!"
5 comments:
I loved the DARK COMPANION cover and the MIDNIGHT BRUNCH cover. I totally agree that the toilet paper cover was an insult to the book. I am looking forward to seeing what Nan comes up with.
I loved the DARK COMPANION cover and the MIDNIGHT BRUNCH cover. I totally agree that the toilet paper cover was an insult to the book. I am looking forward to seeing what Nan comes up with1480
Hi, Marta, Everything sounds very exciting. Good for you and continued success. I'm very curious about that She Hulk book. I was a huge comic book guy "back in the day" and still have them all. I believe I do have about 4-5 of those in that collection, and am very interested in what you've got her doing now. I'll look for it!
-Jimmy
http://jamesgarciajr.blogspot.com/
Hey, Dot, so your message finally got through blogger! I think my favorite cover was a copy of Midnight Brunch that was never used. It was really fun and suddenly it was replaced by a plain fork by a plain white plate. One of these days I'll scan in the first version. I love Christian Nacorda's Midnight Brunch art for the audiobook.
Hi, James, thanks for the kind wishes! I've been meaning to go to the local comic book store, which I haven't stopped in for some time, and pick up a few Shulky books. She's a fun character, and I hope I did justice to her and also to Jennifer Walter's, because it's shy brilliant Jen's psyche that creates She-Hulk.
DARK COMPANION is my favorite cover of yours. I love the gothic mystery of it. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who wasn't a fan of the toilet paper book cover, and I'm sure the covers Nan comes up with will all be fabulous! Like we've talked about before, a book cover can really make or break a book. So what if it's one of the greatest novels ever written? If it doesn't have an appealing cover, in any sort of way, people are just not going to pick it up. I've seen that time and time again in the library. I'm even guilty for that. I've picked up a book, not knowing about it, simply because the cover appealed to me. And if the book has a so-so cover, I can easily over look it for something else.
And I'm really excited to read THE SHE-HULK DIARIES. I'll admit, I've never read the comics, and I'm not going to (at least for now), because I'm just interested in your version of the story :-) It sounds like a really fun book.
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