There’s nothing more exciting than artistic collaboration—free of the constraints of the traditional business models, and as authors get our backlist rights back, we’re free to let creativity run wild. In that spirit, I’m looking for a new cover design for my backlist collection, and I’ve set up this contest to give emerging artists the chance for some experience and publicity. The going rate for these covers is about $150, and that’s what I’m offering as a prize—along with image credits.
BRIEF: I’m re-releasing my backlist novels under the series name: BACKLIST: THE DIRTY LITERARY HISTORY OF DANIELLA BRODSKY. The story behind this is that in the old traditional publishing world, editors constantly say the readers of “serious” fiction are not the same readers as those who read lighter or genre books, which is ridiculous. This is how writers get branded and pigeon-holed into writing the same kind of book over and over. Meanwhile, I have never come into contact with any reader who doesn’t read all kinds of books. Between this dumb, frankly snooty, industry standard and the ridiculous way the media and publishing biz inflated the “uniqueness” and branding of “chick lit,” I thought it would be fun to show a novelist’s growth over a decade in this tongue-in-cheek way. Picture brown paper bag covers like my grandmother used to wrap around her romance novels and “top secret” stamps married to a Penguin Classics look and feel. The books are all re-edited and include bonus materials, and funny enough, as I went through to do the work, I was surprised that the darned media and publishers had me brainwashed, too: I was actually SHOCKED that the books were such page-turners, both enjoyable and well-done—after all, they were chick lit. The first eBook in the series, Princess of Park Avenue, will be released in September. Subsequent titles include: The Velvet Rope Diaries, Fear of Driving, and One Trick Pony. Look for behind-the-scenes details about the making and publishing history along with each volume, too.
TO ENTER: Email your design as a PDF or JPG to daniella@box2103.temp.domains along with a brief bio. Images should work as both eBook and print covers.
KEY DATES: Contest opens September 1, 2011 and closes September 15, 2011
QUESTIONS: Email daniella@box2103.temp.domains
Together, let’s wow ’em.
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