I believe this is true from my experience of writing and publishing four titles. The cover of your book is a sales tool, just as much as its function is to protect the book. According to the Wall Street Journal, the average bookstore browser who picks up a book, spends eight seconds reading the front cover and 15 seconds reading the back cover. Of course, at first, the spine with the book’s title catches the browser’s eye, otherwise he wouldn’t have pulled the book off the shelf. The front cover with the title, perhaps a subtitle that further identifies the subject, and the author’s name, should have an illustration or photograph with appeal and impact.

It’s important for you as a writer to visit bookstores and look at the covers of similar books on the shelf. Your cover must intrigue in some way. The spine of the book has the title, author’s name, and can even have some symbol that relates to the subject matter of the book. If your book is about love, you could have a heart-shaped symbol on the spine. The spine is your first sales tool.

As for the back cover, it should not only contain information about what the book is about, but it should also have comments written by others about your book, such as pre-publication reviews of it, or testimonials from colleagues about your expertise. The back cover can include your photo, too. If you include a photo, it must, of course, be a good one. If you’ve written a book on a serious professional topic such as death and dying, chances are, a photo with a great big smile on your face may be inappropriate.

Study book covers–spine, front, and back– to get a feel for what they are all about, and how you can attract the browser’s attention. You don’t have much space on the back cover so make each word count.

As an example of how book covers are important, I’ll tell you about an experience I once had. I’ve never written a gothic novel, but I bought one for a friend who loved reading them. I remember buying one with a front cover that contained a woman fleeing from a strange- looking man. I don’t remember the title or author of the book, but I do remember the artwork on the cover. The cover attracts the reader. Its art must reflect the mood or tone of the book. As for color, to take an obvious example, you wouldn’t want to have a cheerful bright yellow cover, if you wrote a book on death and dying.

Below, I’ve reprinted my comment to William Sheehan about book covers, and I’ve also reprinted Merrill Gonzales’ comment on color. I interviewed Merrill for one of my previous posts, as she is a talented haiku poet and artist.

William, I only briefly referred to book covers in my blog. So, thanks for asking. As for the cover, bright colors stand out. Red is always a nice color for a book cover. It calls attention to the reader, particularly if it’s a non-fiction book that deals with an issue or problem. For example, my book “Everything You need to Know About Nursing Homes,” has a red cover because I want the subject matter to stand out and alert people to a problem. I also have a red book cover on my book “You Can Be A Columnist” because it can, in certain cases, also convey something upbeat. It just depends on the subject matter.

In summary, just be sure your book cover “sings” out to readers from the bookshelf.

Artist Merrill Gonzales says:

Color has a great literature of psychological influences on us… red tends to energize, pink tends to calm; blue and green tend to relax; orange is a color of gregariousness, yellow is often forward looking…. and so on. You learn that blue gives distance to a painting, whereas yellow brings it forward. It’s a very interesting science and one worth studying.

If you learned one thing from this post, it’s that once you’ve written a book, you, as the author, will need to be involved at least to some extent in the production of it. Always be helpful, and offer your publisher and the graphic artist suggestions on any concepts you may have in mind for cover art.

Copyright 2012 by Charlotte Digregorio.

Through the decades, I’ve seen some really great titles on bookstore shelves. If your writing a book, investigate the titles of similar books, and strive to do better with your title. Remember, too, that a title must be understandable, particularly with non-fiction. If one doesn’t understand a non-fiction title, one may not always investigate the book’s back cover that tells what it’s about.

Make your title engaging. If it’s non-fiction, you can include a sub-title to clarify the title. With non-fiction, often a title that is effective includes an action-packed verb. Or, an effective title is one that piques your curiosity with its cleverness, while at the same time being comprehensible.

I’ve listed some books below with good titles, some of which I’ve read, others that I intend to read once I have some time:

Non-Fiction:

1) The Unabashed Self-Promoter’s Guide by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

2) From Victim to Victor: A Step-by-Step Guide for Ending the Nightmare of Identity Theft, By Mari J. Frank, Esq.

3) Live Your Road Trip Dream, by Phil and Carol White.

4) Time Outs for Grown-ups: 5-Minute Smile Breaks, by Sheila Buska.

5) Too Smart To Be Rich: On Being A Yuffie* Young Urban Failure, by Patty Friedmann

6) Winning the Pain Game, by Bill Code, M.D.

7) The Absolute Beginner’s Cookbook Or How Long Do I Cook a 3-Minute Egg?, by Jackie Eddy and Eleanor Clark

8) Body Esteem: Weight Loss Through Self-Discovery, by Sherri Dawson

Fiction:

1) Disposable Girl, by Kate Moulton

2) Wearing the Spider, by Susan E. Schaab

3) The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

4) Rage of Angels, by Sidney Sheldon

5) The Devil’s Alternative, by Frederick Forsyth

6) Looking for Mr. Goodbar, by Judith Rossner

7) The Street Life Series: Is It Suicide or Murder?, by Kevin M. Weeks

Children’s:

1) Sad Sam, Glad Sam, by L.E. Rainey

2) I Can Be Anything Creative Activity Book, by Betsy Chasse and Gary Craig

3) Hunting for Hidden Gold, by Franklin Dixon

4) If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff

5) The Littlest Angel, by Charles Tazewell

6) The Tale of Jemina Puddle-Duck, by Beatrix Potter

7) The Silver Slippers, by Elizabeth Koda-Callan

It’s always helpful to brainstorm for titles, and then try them out on friends or fellow writers. Their first reaction may be telling!

Copyright 2012 by Charlotte Digregorio.

Terri began writing poetry as a child and took a serious interest in haiku about five years ago. Her book of haiku, A Ladybug on My Words, illustrated by Logan, her son, was self-published in 2011. Born and raised in Michigan, she and her husband make their home in Huntsville, Alabama. They have four children and three cats.

Terri, her husband Ray, and Poets Curtis Dunlap and Susan Nelson Myers recently penned the first renray (a linked collaborative poem), that appeared in the September 2011 edition of Notes from the Gean.

Her haiku, senryu (humorous haiku), haibun (prose and haiku), haiga (art and haiku), and tanka (five-line lyrical Japanese-style poetry), have appeared in various journals, including Frogpond, Daily Haiku, A Hundred Gourds, Prune Juice, Paper Wasp, Moonbathing, South by Southeast, and Modern Haiku.

I recently interviewed Terri about her love for Japanese-style poetry.

Tell us about your journalistic and professional background, and how you discovered haiku?

I received my BA in Journalism in 1981, but was never much of a cutthroat news reporter. I’ve written for several small papers throughout the years, preferring feature pieces about people doing interesting things in their personal lives and for their communities.

I must be honest, I don’t remember how I became exposed to haiku. I don’t recall writing it in school. I think I wrote my first “haiku” in the five-seven-five syllable format about thirty years ago, then put them aside and went on to other things. I rediscovered these haiku years later, started researching haiku, and decided to write a journalistic article about the form. I interviewed several people for the article, including longtime Haikuist Michael Dylan Welch. I was bold (or silly) enough to share my own poor attempts at haiku with him, and he became a very patient and instructive mentor.

Do you find haiku easy to write or hard to write?

I don’t necessarily think haiku is hard to write, though at times it is difficult to get into the right frame of mind to write it. I write better haiku when I have my “me time”–time to read, rest, walk in the woods and reflect. Sometimes my first drafts are the best, other times I edit–that’s where the journalism background comes in handy.

Have you written any haiku that express happiness?

I have a witty and dry sense of humor so “i” love to write whimsical haiku and silly tongue-in-cheek senryu. Here are a couple:

even my old Slinky rests
after
three
steps

Prune Juice, Issue 6, Summer, 2011

autumn winds
campaign signs
shifting positions

Daily Haiku, Cycle 10, February 15, 2011

Have you written any haiku that express sadness?

I do write sad haiku as well. In nature and in life there is sadness as well as happiness, but I usually try to add humor and hopefulness in my sadder haiku.

after chemo–
finding more beauty
in the petal bare bloom

Second Place “With Words” International Online Haiku Competition, 2010.

lighting the tiki torches
he thinks of
an old flame

From Terri’s book, “A Ladybug on My Words”

What are some samples of your other work?

If I may, I’d like to share a short haibun, which is my favorite form to write because it combines concise, almost journalistic prose with haiku.

Expectancy

My cheeks burn and the salt of my sweat stings my eyes. The soil is still damp from yesterday’s downpour. Turning it exposes a half dozen ecstatic earthworms. I work a week’s worth of coffee grounds around plants heavy with ripening fruit and urge Mother Earth to hasten her delivery.

barely blushing
I ask if you’re ready
tomato season

Contemporary Haibun Online, Oct. 1, 2011, Vol. 7, No. 3

Terri’s poetry is lovely, and her writing credits are numerous, as listed below.

• Selected as A Daily Contributor for Daily Haiku, Cycle 10 – 2010-2011.

• Selected, with her husband, Ray, in the haigaonline Collaborative Haiga Family Challenge, December, 2010.

• Poetry selected for Limestone Dust Poetry Anthology, 2010 and 2011.

• Second Place “With Words” International Online Haiku Competition, 2010.

• Alabama Writer’s Conclave, Second Place Non-Fiction Category, 2011.

• Top Ten Writer’s Digest Poetic Asides Haiku Contest, 2011.

• Work to be included in Carving Darkness, Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku, 2012.

• Work selected for the Snapshot Press Anthology, 2012.

If you’d like to purchase Terri’s book, A Ladybug on My Words, which will inspire you to write, you may either log onto Amazon or contact Terri directly by email to receive an autographed copy. Her email address is: terri.l.french@gmail.com.

Copyright 2012 by Charlotte Digregorio.

Muirhead’s popular book, Key West Explained—A Guide for The Traveler, is a concise, lavishly illustrated book that is entertaining. The book offers his personal insights on traditions in Key West, lodging, dining, and fun activities. Further, he covers love, sex, romance, drinking, biking, and keeping the kids busy.

When he’s not working as a dentist or flight instructor, he’s advancing his writing abilities and getting published in a variety of journals.
His Key West guide is the result of about 50 trips there since 1986, “in all seasons for all reasons.” He goes there to write and do photography, to attend literary events and workshops, to enjoy the sun, “the stories and the rum.” His book has sold more than a thousand copies on Amazon alone.

Muirhead is not only a savvy writer, he is a savvy marketer of his work. He researched how to sell a book on Amazon and read all the other guidebooks on the Keys. “Having a very narrow topic and book title helped in attracting attention, as did chapters on love, sex, romance and drinking—something most guidebooks do not address.” Muirhead describes Key West as “tropical, literary, bizarre—a garden of delights for any writer.”

Below, is a recent interview with Muirhead:

1) Tell us about your professional background.

I am, by day, a dentist and a part-time flight instructor and commercial pilot. I received an MA in English from Bemidji State University in 1990 after practicing dentistry for several years, finally understanding that I was a writer, or maybe more to the point, an observer, more than anything else. The degree was a way to formalize my efforts, broaden my reading base, review the nuances of grammar and syntax.

2) When did you start getting published?

I have been writing non-fiction (magazine stuff—aviation, auto racing, commentaries for the local public radio station) for twenty-five years or so. I was also writing short stories, and short shorts, publishing some of both here and there. I liked writing short and shorter, the 500-word limit on some of the micro fiction contests I was entering. I like the task of seeing how much can be said in the fewest number of words. I took workshops from Billy Collins and Charlie Trumbull in 2007, and have been writing poetry and haiku ever since.

3) Why do you enjoy writing poetry?

I love the idea of taking the germ of an idea—an observation, an overheard conversation—for a walk so to speak, a line at a time, seeing where you end up. And sometimes, mulling this observation around in your head, on the page, a little miracle happens—a line drops out of your subconscious onto the page. Some of my best haiku just sort of appeared suddenly, with little effort of cogitation as I recall, although in truth what happens is that all your previous reading and experience gets perfectly connected as a result of both chance and readiness.

4) What poetic forms do you enjoy the most?

I enjoy free verse and formally structured poetry, the way form and idea seem to find each other. I was on a villanelle kick for a while and I’ve tried to write sonnets—not very successfully. But in working within a given form, new relationships and some surprises occur. Some of my free verse poems and haiku started as formal poems. The form found the treasure, but then the treasure, in revision, was better stated otherwise—if that makes sense.

5) Who are your favorite poets?

Billy Collins, Jane Hirshfield, Charles Simic, Kay Ryan, James Tate, Stephen Dunn, and Todd Boss, but the list is always changing. I’ve taken workshops from five of these because I loved their work, compared my own with theirs, thought they offered work that I could grow from and try, and, in my own way, to imitate. I have several “favorite” haiku poets, but I always perk up when I see the work of Barry George and Janelle Barrera. Perhaps because I know them, can hear their voice in the poem, and have a sense of how they observe the world, their haiku feel so “spot on,” funny, and clever.

6) Below are a few of Muirhead’s favorite published poems:

Public Radio

When feeling too much of
Public Radio and progress,
charity and hopefulness,
living well and healthfully,
I switch to Country and Western,
long dark cigars and Jack Daniels.
I speed and hunt without a license,
flirt with check out girls
half my age, let the badger loose,
let the rain come in my window,
custom sills be damned.
I add more salt, eat toast
soggy with butter,
suck out all the flavor that toast
can have. Screw my annuity,
every drug my doctor might advise,
all the assurances of a life
everlasting, if everlasting
isn’t right for me.

–Finalist at the 2008 Robert Frost Poetry Festival contest, Key West

Thin Ice

The island, a quarter mile out in the river–
nine days frozen over, a dusting of snow,
the dilemma: is the ice thick enough?

The river runs beneath, left to right,
under a glass skin, the silent lifestream
sliding underfoot, under footprints in the snow as

south to north I leave the safety of one shore to another,
tapping with a heavy stick, walking slowly,
listening for any creak or snap or breach in the surface.

I reach the island, build a fire, eat my cold sandwich,
wait for the stingy November sun to set behind clouds
whose flakes have dusted over my tracks,

the path I try to remember, tapping back in the dark,
testing the distance, finding some way
from here to that other side.

–Fire Ring Voices, Bemidji State University, 2007

Releasing the Animals (the anti-haiku)

I am releasing
the animals
from their three-barred jails

the seventeen
shackles
of their confinement

the prohibition
keeping them from
seasons not their own

setting the frogs
free of the pond
that plop in water

cicadas
their
summer slavery

walking sticks
herons
beetles and geese

free to travel
any climate
any month

accepted in
comparison
not a cutting word in sight

crows allowed
a wedding in the tropics
the cemetery vacant

let the rabbit
in winter
reside in Palm Springs

let them all be
like something else
if they like

let seem
be the finale
of any line

–Modern Haiku, 41.1. Winner of the Robert Frost Poetry Festival Prize in 2009.

Above all, Muirhead proves that you can have a busy life and still be a successful writer. Those interested in getting a copy of Muirhead’s Key West guide can log onto Amazon. If you’d like an autographed copy, you can contact Muirhead by email, mgmuirhead@midco.net

Copyright 2012 by Charlotte Digregorio.

People often ask me if you have to be a Buddhist to write haiku. No, you don’t have to be a Buddhist. I am not one. But keep in mind that life is short. You don’t want to go through it without stopping to appreciate the little things around you while you are waiting at the red light or walking to the grocery store.

If you have had experience as a freelance writer of articles or as a staff journalist, you are used to writing with an economy of words. This will likely help you get used to writing haiku. Many haiku beginners find it especially difficult to be parsimonious with words.

Recognize these significant aspects of haiku:

1) It is insightful, dealing with human nature, your fellow man, nature, or anything around you. The fun is often in discovering the various levels of a haiku’s meaning.

2) Haiku helps us to share our emotions in a subtle way. In so doing, we dust ourselves off, and understand ourselves better. It is good therapy without seeking counseling.

3) Buddhist thought and sensibilities run through haiku, telling us that life is not always beautiful, but that we should appreciate the beautiful moments. Haiku, written in the present tense, allow us to capture these beautiful moments.

4) Use your observational skills to write haiku and develop a “camera eye.” Freeze an image in time by writing a haiku.

5) Consider yourself an artist. Paint a picture, only with words. Haiku is imagistic poetry.

6) Indulge yourself with the free things in life– the scenes around you. Appreciate nature, the seasons, and human scenes through your five senses. You can discover correspondences between nature and yourself–how you are feeling, how you experience life. We are one with nature.

walking by sun
along the frozen lake
i melt into winter

–Charlotte Digregorio
Haiku Society of America Anthology 2009

after reading
the morning newspaper
i step out into gray

–Charlotte Digregorio
bottle rockets #21, Aug. 2009

If you don’t know much about haiku, read the many posts on this blog that deal with it. You’ll begin to develop an idea of what it’s all about. My blogs feature a lot of haiku written by others, and even interviews with haiku poets. You can also read about related Japanese forms like tanka.

Copyright 2012 by Charlotte Digregorio.

1) My greatest piece is yet to come.
2) I can write. I have knowledge, wisdom, and discernment.
3) I have a “camera eye” for ideas.
4) I will write at least one page today.
5) I will write beautifully like an impressionist painter who does art.
6) I have a way with words.
7) My mind absorbs everything around me.
8) I will submit at least one piece for publication this month.
9) I have the courage to talk to anyone about achieving my writing goals.
10) I will get one piece accepted for publication this month.

Further, read an inspiring story or book about someone who did something courageous. Then, writing won’t seem so daunting. For example, I suggest the book, “Across African Sand,” by Phil Deutschle. He was stalked by lions, charged by a herd of enraged elephants, and he encountered poisonous snakes in his travels. Is writing that scary?

Finally, just tell yourself that Writer’s Block is for blockheads and that you are intelligent. You are an intelligent person because you choose to write and keep learning about things.

Write, simply write!

Copyright 2012 by Charlotte Digregorio.

1) If you don’t know what to write about, look around you, go out and do something, and observe. Drive past something–a business or an organization, and write about it.

2) Always have an inquiring mind before and during the time you’re writing.

3) Make sure your statements aren’t ambiguous or need clarification. Get your facts right.

4) Make your writing not only clear and effective, but graceful–not long and choppy.

5) Anything that gets between you and your readers, such as misspellings, sloppy punctuation, or bad word choice is a barrier to communication.

6) Don’t insult or offend anyone.

7) Practice, practice, practice. The more you write, the easier it gets.

8) Be committed to revising everything you write.

9) Once you’ve gotten published in a particular publication, don’t wait for the editor to assign you something else. Query the editor and follow up by phone.

10) Be reliable with editors. Meet your deadlines.

Remember that writing liberates you. You are free to be creative in your work. If you need more ideas, read my books that have been Featured Selections of Writer’s Digest Book Club. They are “Beginners’ Guide to Writing & Selling Quality Features” and “You Can Be A Columnist.”

Copyright 2012 by Charlotte Digregorio.

Incidentally, the word haiku is both singular and plural, and the Japanese pronounce it with the accent on the first syllable, HIGH-koo. Americans, of course, tend to pronounce it with the accent on the second syllable. I know that Jack Kerouac referred to haiku in the plural as “haikus.” While dictionaries say that is acceptable, we of HSA use the singular like the Japanese. Besides, “haiku” sounds more pleasing to the ear than “haikus.”

If you don’t live in the Midwest area, consult the Haiku Society of America website, www.hsa-haiku.org, that will give you information about haiku in your region. Contact its regional coordinator.

Haiku Society of America members will meet to share and critique participants’ poems, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 11 at Winnetka Public Library, 768 Oak St., Winnetka, IL. Free and open to the public, pre-registration is required.

To pre-register for the February meeting, contact Charlotte Digregorio, midwest regional coordinator, c-books@hotmail.com.

For more information on haiku and tanka, the latter another Japanese-style poetic form, search other posts of this blog. It’s been my experience, that people who learn haiku, learn it from reading a lot of it on a regular basis. However, as a beginner, it is helpful to attend critique sessions, too. Since other beginners attend, too, all are in good company.

Copyright 2012 by Charlotte Digregorio.

1) The “head,” the title of the article, is important. Does the head have an interesting or picturesque verb that leads people to read the article? Avoid the verb “is.” Further, avoid long, complicated words. If appropriate to the subject and tone, make the head playful with a play-on-words, for example.

2) Don’t write for yourself–only for readers. Don’t write to show off your vocabulary. Focus on your subject matter.

3) Your “lead,” the first sentence, is very important. Let it capture the tone of the head. Make it short and snappy. There is nothing worse than a lead sentence that makes readers stumble because of its length or lack of clarity. Further, your lead should create curiosity in readers so they will continue.

4) Does your feature article contain description with clear images, so readers feel as if they are right on the scene observing what you’re writing about? Make the description detailed, but don’t overwrite.
You’re not writing a novel or a long poem.

5) Do you weave in answers to questions or data that readers wonder about, without throwing them at readers all at once? Too many facts and figures dumped on readers in a paragraph or two are burdensome and disrupt the article’s flow. Write with precise detail, and build anticipation with the facts. Readers should want to continue for more information that is evenly distributed throughout the piece.

6) Engage the reader by asking a striking question about the topic or the interviewee that you proceed to answer. (i.e. “Does this business owner have an uncanny ability for choosing the right methods to succeed?”)

7) Include an anecdote, if appropriate, to lend human interest to the piece, and to make it compelling. However, avoid long and winding anecdotes that lead readers to wonder where you are taking them.

8) Include direct quotes from the interviewee or other people connected to him or to the subject matter. Use quotes that are colorful, when the facts can’t be paraphrased, or when you don’t want to lose something in tone or meaning. For example, use a direct quote when you feel it necessary to use an authoritative statement by the interviewee.

9) Does every sentence of your piece advance to the next? If you need to cover a new detail, do so by creating a smooth transition. Words like “similarly” work well.

10) Try to end your piece with a “kicker.” This should be a significant sentence that reinforces the article’s tone or appeals to the readers’ emotions. Never write, “in conclusion,” or “to summarize.” The latter read like a high school composition.

On a daily basis, read features in newspapers and magazines. Look for features written by journalists that you’ve come to admire for tone, style, and form. Even pick up their style, if you choose. Further, read my book, “Beginners’ Guide to Writing & Selling Quality Features” that has been a Featured Selection of Writer’s Digest Book Club.

Copyright 2012 by Charlotte Digregorio.

Curtis exemplifies a poet who gets the general public interested in his art. All writers would do well to be this imaginative. So many writers tell me they have trouble getting their work noticed by the public. Curtis’ blog shows us that writers, especially poets, don’t live in a shell and can have a broad audience.

Curtis creates a couple of columns a week. He gets really creative with simple, inexpensive cooking ingredients. You’ll see that cooking is another one of his passions, if you follow his column, www.frugal poet.com

Below is one of his columns that he’s allowed me to reprint:

Comfort Food – Cornbread

There’s nothing like a bowl of soup or chili on a cold winter day to warm you from the inside out. I’m a chili fanatic. I like veggie chili, chicken chili, chili beans and just plain ordinary chili flavored with ground turkey, beef and/or pork.

I also enjoy a fresh out of the oven slice of cornbread to go with my chili. Requested by my good friend, Howard Lee Kilby, here’s a cornbread recipe that’s super easy to make.

Bacon Buttermilk Cornbread

Fry five or six pieces of bacon, reserve bacon fat.

Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients; add beaten egg and buttermilk, mixing well. Pour into greased (reserved bacon fat) heated 8-inch or 9-inch iron skillet. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

There should be nearly a quarter inch of bacon grease in the bottom of the heated skillet prior to adding the cornbread batter. You can also stir a few other ingredients into the batter. I added chopped bacon, a chopped jalapeno pepper, eight ounces of cream style corn, and a little shredded cheddar cheese to my batter yesterday.

To serve, flip the cornbread out onto a dinner plate, slice and slather with butter.

Here’s one of my poems that seems appropriate for this post:

Belle
I sat with Belle today,
on a blanket,
under a pine tree.
She told me about her new recipe
for cracklin’ cornbread.
My eye lids became heavy,
I could smell cornbread baking;
I grew warm inside.
I asked questions
to prolong her stay,
how much jalapeno did you say?
drunk again,
under a Virginia pine
on that sweet Georgia accent.

–Curtis Dunlap
The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature – October 2010 edition

I thank Curtis for allowing me to reprint his column. Those of you who want to get started in column writing, can read my book that has been a Writer’s Digest Book Club Featured Selection. It’s “You Can Be A Columnist.”