Episode one of the new Fremantle Press podcast for writers tackles the tricky business of how to make a book cover that sells
Welcome to our new podcast, How to Be an Author in Australia, co-hosted by marketing and communications manager Claire Miller and publisher Georgia Richter. With regular guest appearances by editor Armelle Davies as the Comma Chameleon, the How to Be an Author podcast is an informal series of chats between publishing industry professionals. Like Georgia’s new book she co-wrote with Deborah Hunn, How to Be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia, it’s all about giving writers tips and tools of the trade as they start their writing career.
In the first episode, Georgia and Claire share the details of a new How to Be an Author in Australia Facebook group and talk to designer Nada Backovic about her tips on how to get the best cover for your book. Writer Meg McKinlay tells authors to have a ‘frank conversation with themselves’ and the Comma Chameleon has a quiz that gets to the roots of obsolescence.
Writers, before you listen, ponder these questions – is there ever a time when you might use an obsolete word in your work on purpose? Do you know the reasons why you write? And how much input would you, should you or could you have into your book’s cover design?
Show notes
Extend your podcast
How to Be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia by Georgia Richter and Deborah Hunn is available in all good bookstores and online. Between its pages you’ll find everything you need to know about the business of being a writer from people who live and breathe books.
Connect with Georgia Richter and many of the contributors to the book and podcast in the Facebook group. [link – https://www.facebook.com/groups/howtobeanauthorinaustralia]
Guests
Nada Backovic is a book designer, graphic designer and illustrator with over 20 years experience working in publishing in Australia and the UK. Since graduating from the University of the Arts London, Nada has focused on book design. She has extensive in-house experience, having worked at Random House in the UK, and was the design manager at Allen & Unwin for many years. She now runs her own freelance design business in Sydney.
Meg McKinlay is a children’s writer and poet whose work ranges from picture books through to young adult fiction. Her publications include the Prime Minister’s Literary Award winning A Single Stone, and CBCA Book of the Year Awards shortlisted No Bears and Duck for a Day, among many others. Meg grew up in central Victoria, and spent her childhood roaming through the bush, striking it rich at least once a week on a vein of fool’s gold. Raised in a TV-free household, she was a bookish kid, in love with words, excited by dictionaries and spelling bees. These days she lives near the ocean in Fremantle and spends her days writing, reading and rambling. She is always busy cooking up more books. Connect with Meg on Facebook @MegMcKinlayAuthor or Twitter @MegMcKinlay.
Books discussed
A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald by Natasha Lester
Backyard Birds and Backyard Bugs by Helen Milroy
Bella and the Voyaging House by Meg McKinlay
Kokoda by Peter FitzSimons
Red Can Origami by Madelaine Dickie
Small Steps: A Physio in Ethiopia by Julie Sprigg
Beautiful Unique Faces by Anita East
Women of a Certain Rage edited by Liz Byrski
Editing tools discussed
Google Ngram Viewer https://books.google.com/ngrams
Original music
Title Music and Comma Chameleon Theme by Mo Wilson (Ó 2021)
Sound engineering
Aidan D’Adhemar, Fremantle PA Hire
Production
Tiffany Ko, Claire Miller and Chloe Walton, Fremantle Press Marketing and Communications
This podcast was produced in Walyalup in Whadjuk Boodja, on the lands of the Noongar people.