The cover graphic that I released into the publishing system has turned up on Amazon and … is terrible. That settles it. I have written to the logo designer I used earlier this year and asked him to quote to work over the cover graphics — i.e. the text — and turn it into something professional. I’m afraid that, good as he was on image selection, the designer I was using does not have the skills necessary to finish the job. I may still pay him to select a cover image, for the Origen book, tho.
Meanwhile Lightning Source have advised me that the proof copy has been produced and is on its way. It will be interesting to see what the hardback quality is like. That ought to arrive this week, I would guess.
And Amazon are saying that the book is available for pre-order. Curious — I think differently!
Sorry to hear you’re having trouble with the cover design. Perhaps instead of paying a company to track down the image for you next time, you could try istockphoto.com. I’ve had great results with them in the past with some of my books. Not only are the images high quality – but they’re incredibly cheap, too.
So, I am sorry to hear about all your woes getting a competent graphic designer. I grabbed the image you posted earlier, and gave it a go. I am by no means a professional, but I did convert the image color to CYMK, which is, as I understand, the color mode needed for print.
Anyway, I can make other minor changes if you need, to help you get this book published.
http://brmullikin.com/assets/images/Eusebius_cover.jpg
The image at Amazon is simply oversharpened. This can be seen by the white borders around the letters. Probably this is done by the Amazon software after uploading? ebay does the same.
Wieland, that’s interesting. The image is being passed down the publishing chain, you see. So possibly this is happening at some point, in which case the answer would be to upload the image myself and make sure it’s OK.
B.R., thank you for your interest. But the link did not work?
H.J. — I am indeed using material from istockphoto. The problem is rather that, after a while, you start to distrust your eyes! It all blurs together. But the cost of this chap is not high.