eBook Covers, Layout and Design

[Noir Nation]

Hello everyone,

 

I wanted to pass this on to those who are putting out their own eBooks:

Noir Nation and its sister presses Bare Knuckles Press and Heart's Diary Press has developed a very good relationship with Butterflies and Hurricanes, a design team in Prague, Czech Republic that has raised the bar several notches for eBook layout and design.  They have made paper and eBook covers and done all the internal work, even the deep code corrections (the Amazon software doesn't work that well and introduces errors). They make a Kindle eBook something special for affordable prices, and are very professional.  They've also done our corporate brand logos.

 

Some of the covers they've made for us:

Two examples of internal design:

Corporate Logos:

Contact for Butterflies & Hurricanes: 

[e-mail]

www.butterflies-hurricanes.cz

Note: as these books haven't been released yet, they do not yet appear on the B&H website.  The books will be released the first week in December.

[I. J. Parker]

That looks pretty good.  I especially like the internal stuff.  How much?

[Noir Nation]

Yeah, they do good work.  As far as price you'll have to ask them, as I'm an editor I don't deal with the business side of things, think goodness.  I think however it depends a lot on how well you know what you want.  If you don't know they work with you on the concept and revisions take more time so it costs more.  I think, though I'm not sure, the first few were around $2000 for the full on service with changes and revisions, which was the cover and the internal design and type setting and all the coding and stuff.  Some were more some were less.  Maybe that seems like a lot, but it's not that bad if you consider they've got some of the top designers in Europe who've also worked in advertising and marketing, and who really know what they are doing and how people respond to certain images and colors and minute changes.

Best thing is just send them an e-mail, their English is excellent and they can give you an estimate and a breakdown of what that includes. 

 

I'm sure you could get them to do just the internal stuff if you wanted.  But it's a nice feeling to know you've got a team working for you that believe every bit of their work affect their professional reputation. 

 

Alan

[I. J. Parker]

Thanks.  It does seem hard to imagine their doing anything beyond cover design. I'd think language problems might get in the way.

[I. J. Parker]

Also, if this money is for e-book pubs, it seems high.  The only thing involved here is the cover (no back or spine) and the formatting. Formatting is relatively simple and cheap.

[Noir Nation]

It was worth it for us.  The cover alone can make for a lot of sales and they did a whole lot more than just the cover.  The insides look better than any eBooks I've seen and have less mistakes than any eBooks I've read even from the big publishers, which is a lot.  The language doesn't seem to get in the way at all, they do designs for companies all over the world. They saved us many many many hours of formatting that let us work on getting more books ready for publication, and made a lot of great suggestions.  I guess for individuals who aren't trying to get a bunch of books out at the same time the price might be high, and maybe I'm wrong about the price. Best is just to ask them. 

[I. J. Parker]

Thanks.  Yes, I think this is a business decision.

[Noir Nation]

If you compare the design of Bare Knuckles Press' book Blue Bloodbath with the new sci-fi crime novel Rule 34, there is absolutely no comparison design wise. See Blue Bloodbath here (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006ODLVAK/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img)

Rule 34 has no eBook cover (only a thumbnail on Amazon), no internal design at all, and code errors.  Butterflies & Hurricanes takes care of all that.

It may appear at first that what Butterflies & Hurricanes does is expensive, but actually it is not.  You can publish your own eBook fairly easily, but KDP will introduce code errors and it never looks that great. Never underestimate the sales boost a flashy and professional design can give a book, even an eBook.