Test Cover for "La Bruja del Barrio Loco"

10/5/2018

How is this for a book cover? I took Eric Yankee's advice and I used Canva to design this piece. I like that image a lot; the image I got from pexels by samer daboul. I still want to use my sister's painting, but I have to reduce the glare.

I actually don't know where it went, so it may be forever immortalized as part of my blog.

Anyway, I will see what Eric thinks. He's the expert after all.

6 Comments

Elizabeth Marino link

11/5/2018 06:47:36 am

Maria Jesu -- I think that at this point, your publisher should be hooking you up with an actual professional designer, for a professional product. This is not a self-published giveaway. A design professional could take this lovely design and make it work technically, so that it is printer and/or e-book ready, as a job and not a favor, and in a timely way.

They might want to use your sister's painting as an end cover or end of text image.

Jesu Estrada

11/5/2018 10:51:51 am

Hey GF, I am the publisher! Plus, have you seen the shit covers, presses put out? They are ugly as fuck and hard to read online. Anyway, if I ever get a publisher, then yeah, a professional can design the cover. But I am adamant that students be able to download the *.pdf version. You know this is a labor of love for me, unless I lose my job, which is highly unlikely, but not impossible.

Elizabeth Marino

11/5/2018 12:10:44 pm

No, I did not entirely know this. Thought the manuscript was being prepared for submission to small presses AND to be available in PDF to your own students. My own experience had been with small press publishers/editors (dancing girl press, Puddin'head Press, Moon Journal). Josephine LiPuma was brought in to the Debris project to design the cover art, then worked with the publisher/editor on layout adjustments.

This was speaking from my own experience. I also have seen projects which screamed intellectual author, with no design judgemental or proofreading skills. At a book table, which will be picked up and purchased?

With more automation, these editorial expectations as becoming less in use -- but they are still useful.

Jesu

12/5/2018 04:45:38 am

I know. Automation sucks, and should liberate workers instead of replace them, and I wish I had a small press to work with. But, I figured the short works could be my own, and get a better writing rhythm going so I could submit stories. I plan on doing that this summer. To my joy, I am hitting my writing stride daily, religiously, and producing quality and quantity. The novel, The Harvest, however, I am definitely going to try to send out to presses. I don't care if they are small or large. The other problem is that unless you are know or agented, I doubt anyone will take my story collections. I have two done, but I am taking Yankee's advice and self-publishing one a day. See, your role is super important in all of this work. LOL.

Fabio

11/5/2018 07:59:06 am

Hey Professor:

I like this cover a lot. The painting looks a little too dark. Maybe because you're not giving it enough space on the cover. Maybe move Laura's comment down a bit and extend the painting.

Jwsu

11/5/2018 10:47:23 am

Hey Fabio! Thanks for the design feedback. I will take that into account. I need to try that graphic design sight and see if I can lighten it.

Dr. Jesú Estrada,
Pen Name: María J. Estrada
Chicago, IL

MARIA J. ESTRADA is an English college professor of Composition, Literature, and her favorite, Creative Writing. She grew up in the desert outside of Yuma, Arizona in the real Barrio de Los Locos, a barrio comprised of new Mexican immigrants and first-generation Chicanos. Drawing from this setting and experiences, she writes like a loca every minute she can—all while magically balancing her work and family obligations. She lives in Chicago’s south side with her wonderfully supportive husband, two remarkable children, and two mischievous cats.

My next book coming out is Not Your Abuelita's Folktales, a Magical Realism collection of short stories for Young Adults.