Kindle and Creativity

Kindle book cover in the style of
the pulp covers of the 1930's.

I am a fiction writer! There I’ve said it. I’m out of the closet at long last. *phew* Now we can move on to other things…

I have been writing and publishing non-fiction for many years. I have been writing fiction for easily as long. But to me, fiction is very personal and written as part of my own process of play. I have been asked many times to share my stories (sometimes for group critique) but I rarely agree to do so. There are some pieces you do just for yourself.

My sister gave me a Kindle for my birthday this year. I had been wanting one to skinny down my book collection (especially future purchases) as I am an avid reader. Once I got it I realized that I could upload my own stories to read whenever and wherever I wanted. *Squeee!* So that first night I couldn’t resist enlisting Matt’s assistance in reformatting my stories into Kindle-friendly documents and uploading them. The first one was one I had recently finished called, “The Witch Queen of Algiers.” It takes place in the world of our web comic “Privateer Princess” and even has cameos by several of the PP cast. I uploaded it and then thought…it doesn’t have a cover!

At that moment I decided to put together covers for the four volumes I have added thus far. All are different genre covers and Matt and I had a great time designing them. We laughed and laughed and laughed! It was great! We have two more to do, another shared story collection and a novel of Matt’s. Great fun!

All of the covers have been created to be best viewed in black and white, as the color Kindle isn't out yet. Good black and white design presents it's own delights, like black and white photography. One of the tricks is to make the viewer see the fullness of the "color" in the black and white contrast alone.

In the style of a "University Press" book cover.

In the genre of humorous history a la
the "Uppity Women" series by Vicky Leon.

The least genre specific cover, I just
thought the design fit the book.

On Amazon I have seen some of the slapdash and poorly designed Kindle covers that are available for some very noble books. That makes me sad. A good book should have a good cover. That’s just right and proper!