Dan Fitzgerald – On the Making of a Hardcover

Welcome to the 100th post in The Creator’s Roulette!!! The first post of this series launched on January 8th 2020 and it has been an immense pleasure of mine to work with numerous authors and creators around the world and learn from them. I have built lasting relationships with many of these folks and today, I am thrilled to host Dan Fitzgerald again. I just did a cover and art reveal for his upcoming book, The Isle of a Thousand Worlds and have worked with him on art for the series. I wanted to know the process of creating a hardcover for a book, especially a naked hardcover that Dan did for The Living Waters and the kind of support he had from his publisher, Shadow Spark Publishing. While I usually have some commentary in guest posts at the end, this time, there is a little section from my side as there were some substantial things to note. Let’s welcome Dan and see what he has to say and then keep reading for my thoughts.

On the Making of a Hardcover

by Dan Fitzgerald

When my Maer Cycle trilogy came out, Shadow Spark was a new bootstrap indie press, and the books were printed with Amazon, which is the easiest, most economical way to print books. But there are downsides. The print quality was unpredictable, especially the covers, which sometimes came out perfect and other times the colors were faded and unimpressive. Author copies could take three weeks to be delivered, and several times entire shipments simply never arrived, and had to be reordered, forcing another three weeks wait. Not ideal for signed copies, to be sure. Another side effect of printing with Amazon is that many bookstores won’t carry your books except through commissions programs, which are a pain in the ass and not always worth the time and effort. When Shadow Spark decided to switch to Ingram Spark for printing, it not only allowed customers to order the books from their local bookstore, it also came with an option for hardcovers. HARDCOVERS. Every author’s dream, right?

I approached Jessica Moon and Mandy Russell, the two mad geniuses behind Shadow Spark, about doing a hardcover for The Living Waters, and they were game to give it a go. I was especially intrigued by the case laminate option, which allows for one image on the dust jacket and a completely separate one on the naked hardback. Visions swam in my head of old books with swirling patterns on the covers, and I knew exactly what I wanted on the naked cover: one of my abstract water photos, which would capture a bit of that old-school vibe and be something completely different from the dust jacket. Jess got the idea of adding the gorgeous interior image made by a certain Kriti Khare, an ethereal circle of living things, to the naked cover, and she worked her magic with the photo and the art to create something truly unique. She also redesigned the dust jacket to better showcase the cover art by Karkki, both front and back, with minimal text, since the flaps could contain the blurb, and the result is something beyond what I ever imagined. It was also more work than any of us predicted.

Taking a step back, I have to ask, what is so special about a hardcover?

Paperbacks read just fine, and they’re much cheaper to produce. Hardbacks take a lot of work to design and upload, as Jess and Mandy will tell you, and they’re not free to produce either. You need a separate ISBN, and there’s a separate fee to upload different versions, not to mention the investment of time, energy, and frustration of learning a different system with its own quirks and unknowns. In order for it to be worth it monetarily, you have to sell a decent number of copies, which is by no means a guarantee for a little-known author like myself. It’s an uncertain investment for a publisher, not just of money but of time, especially when they just signed 9 new authors and have 20+ books coming out in the next two years. It is a gamble that is not sure to pay off. 

But what will a paperback look like in 20 years? 50? 100?

Making a hardback is saying, “This book means something beyond the short attention span of the average reader. This book will be worth reading decades from now.” It is a mini-moonshot, an attempt to plant a flag in new territory, to stretch beyond what you have tried before. It is also a collector’s item; people want hardbacks because they are pretty, because they are special, because they mean something. But as an author, how can you know if your book will mean something to someone until it’s out in the world? What hubris is this to think your words deserve to be displayed on someone’s shelf, an object to admire, a special copy not just to read, but to keep and cherish? 

For readers, only time will tell if this is just another book, or one for the shelf. For me, a relatively new author, holding that hardcover in my hands, feeling the heft, the sense of permanence, is a dream come true. It may be a while before we do another hardcover, given the uncertain business calculations they involve, but I’ll be forever grateful to all the people who helped bring this beauty into the world. 

To Jess, Mandy, Kriti, and Karkki: You made something special. Thank you.

And if you’re a reader looking to get your hands on one, you can order it at your local bookstore, or through Barnes and Noble or various other online vendors.

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On Collecting Physical Books

By Kriti

The Living Waters will always be a very special book to me, not just because my art graces its interior as well as the naked hardcover, but also because its existence has forever immortalized what I have built. It doesn’t matter how many people have it or know of it. What matters, to me at least, is that it is out there. Available.

Dan would not have found me if it wasn’t for WriteHive in 2020 and I wouldn’t have found WriteHive if I did not have a book blog. My relationship with this book is unique because I am an artist for it first, a curator next (of course I love collecting books and this is 100% a collectable for me!) and a reader after.

I have the seen the look of joy and wonder on Dan’s face (video above) when he first held The Living Waters. I have seen the same look on my family and friends when they have held the same book in their hands, knowing a part of me is in it. While words can only try to express what it means to be published, I would never have felt that without exploring digital art. Thank you, Dan, for letting me be published in my own way. Many thanks to Shadow Spark Publishing for letting my art have a home forever.

While Dan has explored hardcovers above, I want to be a bit broader for my section. Hardcovers are indeed very special but there is something to be said about physical books in general.

What do physical books mean to you?

Tell us in the comments. Are there books you have collected and will never read, or others you will read time and time again? A wise friend once told me that collecting books is a separate hobby from reading them. I believe her. I have that hobby though I have gotten pickier with time.

There is something about picking up a book that I haven’t touched for a while from my shelf. It brings back memories that a digital book never can. It has substance and weight, art and crevices that I can trace. It might even have my highlights and sticky notes from when I read it and anything else that happened while I was reading.

A book is more than a book. It holds unwritten memories. It is the key to time travel without going anywhere.

And sometimes, for me, I suspect always for the artists and publishers and authors and everyone who has contributed to that book, it is art. It is a piece of us that we are so proud of that we can’t express it. It is symbol of time well spent and labour of love.

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Thank you so much for joining me and Dan today! I hope you enjoyed our collaborative little post! You can connect with Dan on Twitter, Instagram and his website. I will be back with my review of The Living Waters on Saturday (switching to my other hat then) and Dan will be back because of course, I must quiz him about the book.

While 100 is a milestone, there are still thousands of creators out there who have a place on this series. So if you know someone whose craft I should highlight, send them my way! 🙂 I can be reached on WriteHive Discord, Twitter and Instagram.