C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

03/19/2013 • 10:23 PM 6

Ebooks: What makes a great cover? What makes a bad one?

Click it to grab it. Just 99 cents!

It’s very instructive to read the analysis of what makes covers better or worse. What makes a great ebook cover? It’s often easier to learn what makes a poor one. Art is subjective. We often don’t know what components go into making art “good”. We just know what we like. However, there are graphic designers who, with skill and experience, inject more objective analysis into art than we ordinary mortals. Joel Friedlander, at The Book Designer, is one of those magicians who can break down why a cover works, or, at the very least, he knows why it doesn’t work.

This week, Six Seconds won February’s ebook cover design award on Joel’s website. Check it out, but have a look at all the books. Once you see the covers through Mr. Friedlander’s eyes, you’ll begin to reevaluate all the covers you see. You’ll look for what’s missing as well as what design elements hit the mark.

Kit Foster: The Dude Came Through

My graphic designer is Kit Foster of KitFosterDesign.com and he gets all the credit for the win. Sometimes we have long discussions about what the covers of my books should look like. For instance, our back and forth over Higher Than Jesus was exhaustive.

For Six Seconds, I was in a hurry to get the instant guide out because it’s the first book about the Vine app. All I told Kit was: “Gimme a stopwatch wrapped in vines, please. Here’s the title. Do your thing and I won’t ask for any tweaks, I swear to God.” Kit’s solid and, as usual, he delivered excellent art. (He also won for his cover of Higher Than Jesus in the hardboiled mystery category of the Venture Galleries Award recently.)

Cool guy talk

I’ve plugged Kit plenty over time because I think authors need him and skilled designers like him. If you’re still shy, then you’ll love to eavesdrop on a conversation I had with Kit recently. I just interviewed Kit on the Cool People Podcast. You’ll find him sweet, friendly and Scottish. We talk a little about a lot of things: bad drugs, bad drug laws, good drugs, Breaking Bad, what inspires us and, of course, what goes into making a book cover work or fail.

Step 1. Have a listen to the Cool People Podcast. (Subscribe, donate, apply to be a guest @rchazzchute on Twitter, do jumping jacks etc.,…) Enjoy.

Step 2. Go to KitFosterDesign.com and start up your conversation with Kit about your next book cover.

~ If you like the Cool People Podcast, you may also enjoy my other podcast, All That Chazz, wherein I monologue, do readings from my crime novels and goof around. Find those podcasts and links to all books by Robert Chazz Chute at AllThatChazz.com. For highlights from all my various feeds and content, check out my Rebelmouse page here.

Podcast: Furious! (allthatchazz.com)
More Fury: The Hollow Man Edition (allthatchazz.com)
The Unknown Man Edition (allthatchazz.com)
Throttling You: And some of this isn’t very nice (allthatchazz.com)
Author Platform: Problems, Solutions & Stuffed Speedos (chazzwrites.com)
The Grinding Gears Edition (allthatchazz.com)
Rebelmouse Review: How to Gain Readers and Listeners with a Collage of You (chazzwrites.com)

Filed under: awards, book marketing, Books, podcasts, publishing, What about you?, allthatchazz.com, Awards, book covers, book design, Cool People Podcast, ebook cover design award, ebook covers, higher than jesus, joel friedlander, Kit Foster, kitfosterdesign.com, Podcast, Robert Chazz Chute, Six Seconds, Twitter, Venture Galleries Award, Vine, what makes a bad book cover?, what makes a good book cover

02/22/2013 • 10:00 AM 4

Venture Galleries cover design award: Higher Than Jesus wins best hardboiled mystery

COVERCONTEST-BESTCOVER

Kit Foster of KitFosterDesign.com

makes great book covers.

Hire him to make your next book cover.

Filed under: awards, book marketing, Books, Awards, best cover, best cover design. venture galleries award, hardboiled, mystery novels

11/27/2012 • 8:25 PM 25

The New Seven Words or Less Contest

A quick-moving plot with lots of surprises and a clear-eyed examination of addiction.

As I wrote Higher Than Jesus, the second in my crime novel series, I held the Six Words or Less Contest. It was so much fun, I’m doing it again, but with an extra word to give you the flexibility you need for a great entry.

Here’s the deal:

You can have a character running around in a crime novel with your name on him or her. All you have to do to win is come up with the funniest slogan for the side of a bakery delivery truck you can imagine. The catch? It has to be seven words or less and it has to be original, funny, memorable and somewhat plausible (so swearing is out for this one.) The contest ends December 7. Enter as many times as you like in the comments section below.

The winning entry will be used in my next crime novel, Hollywood Jesus. (You guessed it. It takes place in California.) The winner will be chosen by a vote held from Dec. 7 to Dec. 10, 2012. The top three entries get a digital copy. The grand prize winner will get a free copy of the book in digital and paperback. Have fun with it!

~ Robert Chazz Chute’s favorite bakery product is chocolate croissants with rich coffee. He’s also written two guides to writing, publishing and promotion. Crack the Indie Author Code is currently #1 in publishing and #4 in writing, and FREE this week on Amazon. Get your copy of Crack the Indie Author Code before Friday at midnight or before the sun explodes, whichever comes first. For more publishing and promotion tips, get Write Your Book: Aspire to Inspire. For more on books by Chazz and to hear the All That Chazz podcast, go to AllThatChazz.com.

Free to you Nov. 26 – 30, 2012. Click it to grab it now, please, or I shoot this puppy.

Take it! (allthatchazz.com)
#NaNoWriMo: And what if you don’t? (chazzwrites.com)
#NaNoWriMo: Evolving a series from one book (chazzwrites.com)
#NaNoWriMo: You can’t murder Miss Marple (chazzwrites.com)
Ta-da! Motivation, Inspiration & Information for Writers (chazzwrites.com)

Filed under: publishing, All That Chazz, allthatchazz, Awards, Contest, Crack the Indie Author Code, crime fiction, entertainment, funny, hardboiled, Hollywood, hollywood jesus, Literature, Podcast, Robert Chazz Chute, Seven words or less, suspense, thriller, writer, Writer Resources, writing, writing contest

07/19/2012 • 5:34 AM 12

UBC #23: Loves & hates & the Fab Blog Award

Future Pull awarded me a Fabulous Blog Award. Cool! Thanks so much! Part of the deal is I thank the blogger who gave me the award. (Ding! Done!) Then I a. name five fabulous moments; b. name five things I love; c. name five things I hate; d. pass the award on to five other deserving bloggers.

Fab moments. The first three, you’d expect:

Click for Self-help for Stoners.

1. Marrying She Who Must Be Obeyed AKA The High Queen.

2. The birth of The Princess.

3. The birth of the Prince.

4. Healing a woman confined to a wheelchair for 12 years. She’s still walking, driving, travelling and living independently.

5. Meeting director Kevin Smith and giving him an autographed copy of my first book, Self-help for Stoners.

Loves in no particular order:

1. Celebrating with chocolate croissants when I finished my first crime thriller, Bigger Than Jesus. It was an orgy.

2. A good book and me by the fireplace during a snowstorm.

3. Hot, sweet coffee.

4. My Mac.

5. See 1, 2 and 3 of Fab Moments above.

Click to get Bigger Than Jesus here

Hates:

1. Power-mad twits.

2. Hateful twits.

3. Bigoted twits.

4. Right-wing radio (That’s pretty much 1, 2, 3.)

5. I guess it really all comes down to twits.

Bloggers (tough one):

1. Writing is Hard Work Helped me in my struggles with Scrivener.

2. Let’s Get Digital David keeps me informed on the latest in digital publishing. Smart fellow.

3. Eden Baylee’s Blog She’s an erotic writer who writes erotica (and that was a really fun author interview).

4. Matthew Iden He’s been especially helpful on keeping me current on the new Kobo platform.

5. FUONLYKNEW Cool reviews. (Love the animated graphic on her blog, too.)

Ultimate Blog Challenge: Top 10 Things I know I don’t know (yet) (chazzwrites.com)
Yesterday, I got a nice little surprise… (cloakeynotes.wordpress.com)

Filed under: publishing, Awards, Blog, bloger, blogging, director kevin smith, Fabulous Blog Award, hates, Kevin Smith, loves, Ultimate Blog Challenge, writer, writing

07/28/2011 • 8:25 PM 2

Sparkfest: The Blogfest Opportunity

**Hello, ladies! How about some new spice in your life?**

Look at your man.

Now look at me.

Look at your man.

Now back to me.

Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!

**Aren’t you just sick of me?**

So here’s something cool that’s not me: Christine Tyler over at Writer Coaster is sponsoring a blogfest called Sparkfest.

Sparkfest sounds like a great way to express the Magic That is You and perhaps increase your blog following.

So let’s do it, shall we?

Have a great day. Or make it one.

Filed under: blogs & blogging, Publicity & Promotion, Writers, Awards, blogfest, blogging, blogs, Contests, Sparkfest

01/24/2011 • 1:13 PM 0

News Flash: Allan Stratton’s sales are about to go way up (even more)

Cover of Chanda's Secrets

This e-mail just in from my friend Peter:

The film Life Above All based on the lovely book Chanda’s Secrets by the
lovely Allan Stratton is on the Oscar nom short list. Fingers crossed!

Go see the movie and better yet go buy the book and see if you don’t blat before you finish!

I’ve met Allan Stratton and can confirm that he is indeed lovely. We had dinner at Garlic’s and then went to the Grand to see one of his plays. Lots of lovely all around. Yes, indeed, read the book! See the film!

For more information, follow the link from the press nugget below:

LIFE ABOVE ALL (CHANDA’S SECRETS) has made it into the Oscar finalist
pool of nine films from which the five nominees will be selected for
Best Foreign Film. Nominees announced tomorrow.
http://www.allanstratton.com
http://allanstratton.blogspot.com