I am so excited to share this interview! The B.R.A.G. Medallion is a hallmark of quality in self-published books, and several of my awesome clients have been awarded this honor. I was honored to receive an invitation to appear on the blog to talk about my book cover design business. I'm sharing a handful of questions here, but there are many more, and I'd love for you to head on over to the indieBRAG blog and check it out!
How did you get into Graphic Design?
I’ve always been an extremely visual person. Even as a child I was tearing pages out of magazines to hang on my walls and making collages out of pictures. My love for design began about eighteen years ago when I started scrapbooking. That was back when we worked with actual printed photos and paper, scissors, glue, etc. A few years later, I started working in the advertising department of my hometown daily newspaper. As an outside sales rep, I met with local and regional business owners and helped them create print and online advertising campaigns, and I worked with our team of graphic designers to bring the ads to life. I learned more about the process then and the collaborative relationship designers have with their clients. Then I moved into real estate and began designing marketing materials for my brokerage. When the economy collapsed and advertising and real estate both collapsed along with it, I turned my attention and my skills to self-publishing.
What are your goals as a graphic designer?
My goal is first and foremost to design a cover that sells books. That sometimes means that I need to coax an author into considering another approach to what they envision on their cover. My years in marketing and advertising and my in-depth knowledge of the genres I work with have given me a pretty good eye when it comes to figuring out which elements will work best. I also have a huge competitive streak, and it’s really important to me that my covers are able to hold their own standing alongside those coming out of the Big Five houses.
What covers have you designed that are B.R.A.G. Medallion Honorees?Sebastian’s Way by George Steger, Tales of Byzantium by Eileen Stephenson, Murder by Misrule, Death by Disputation, and The Widow’s Guild by Anna Castle, (all of which I also edited), and Reconstructing Jackson, Red, White & Screwed, and Romancing Olive by Holly Bush.
Click here to read the full interview!
