PROJECT: 'THE OLD ORCHARD' BOOK COVER DESIGN
CLIENT: THE AUTHOR, TONY SALTER

Tony Salter approached me to design this book cover for him, having been referred by a previous client of mine. I hadn't designed a cover for a novel before, so it was a new and exciting challenge.

OBJECTIVE

To design a cover for Tony Salter's second novel, a pacy, domestic thriller based around a small group of characters over an extended time time frame...

"Finance Director, Alastair Johnson, is in trouble. He needs a lot of money, and he needs it soon.

His solution is not only unorthodox, but completely out of character, and leaves his family torn in two.

But everything is not what it seems ..."

The Old Orchard is available in paperback or eBook formats from Amazon or from most bookshops.

CLIENT PERSPECTIVE

Once the project was finished, I got back in touch with Tony to ask him for some feedback. I try to do this after every project, and have found it useful in ensuring firstly that my clients are happy with the work I do for them and if there are any areas I can improve on, but also to share these comments as reference for potential future clients.

Tony kindly answered these two questions, and I was pretty pleased with his responses!

1.How did you find the process of working with Carys… from the initial briefing through to the completion of your project?

Carys was very engaged from the outset. She wanted to understand what the book was about and to get to the heart of it. She took on board my thoughts and then came up with some ideas and positioning in a mood board which were completely original and fascinating. We then went into a little more nuanced detail about certain characters, the overall plot and the market positioning. Carys then went off and came back with the finished draft of the cover. She was prompt, polite and clear about deadlines and timing throughout the process. Developing a book cover is a nerve-wracking process for an author and, when I started talking with Carys, all I had was a recommendation from a friend. She hadn't designed a book cover before and I was very worried that I should have been looking for a specialist book designer.

I am so pleased that I didn't! Carys has (in my view) combined every element I could ask for:

• striking original art
• a clear title and author name which stand out even at small format
• a design which tells the story of the book (somewhat amazingly)
• a design which communicates the book genre immediately

2. If you had to describe Carys to another author looking for a book cover design, what would you say?

Use her, but not if she's busy working on my next cover!

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A non-fiction book for children - A Drop of Rain for Cambridge University Press

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