Resources
From Category:
BBC - Remembrance - Poetry and Art
Includes classic poems of World War I by Owen, Sassoon and others.
Bean Sí
By Michael McKeown Bondhus
The first time I heard her keening,
I was lying under dark covers,
aching with dysphoria, but
the next morning everyone
was still alive, so I went back
to obsessing about
the body parts
that made me suffer but which I kept
because my lover said he loved them.
The bean sí wailed nightly,
and after two weeks I stopped
expecting death and started having dreams
about a mummy beneath a bog,
its preserved body perfect and just
the way I wanted mine to be.
My lover said I looked tired, so
I took medicine to stop dreaming,
moaned pleasure when he touched me
where I hated being touched.
I tried to love those places, I really did.
Ask my therapist and she'll tell you
how the bean sí's wails found their way
through the prerecorded thunderstorms
I used to help me sleep,
how the dreams turned into
visions, my friends and coworkers
transformed into beautiful mummies
with mouths full of grinding teeth.
My lover took off before the surgery.
The bean sí finally left after my unwanted
parts were given Christian burial
in a landfill for medical waste.
In Irish folklore, the bean sí (banshee) is the spirit of a woman whose wailing signals impending death, either of the hearer or a member of their family.
Beauty
By Hubert & Kerascoët. This memorable graphic novel is a tragicomic feminist fairy tale for adults, sketched in an effortless retro style with an earthy color palette suggestive of old storybooks. A troublemaking fairy grants a homely peasant girl's wish for supreme beauty, but the maiden soon finds that being a maddening object of desire is no safer than her old life of humiliation. Her reversals of fortune add up to a profound fable about power, illusion, and sexism.
Because Everything Here is a Brightness
By John Sibley Williams
In this version, the sky smuggles stars
over a horizon's barbed border without
a single shot fired. & someone is always
emptying our cages of their children.
Another folds into pollen into comb
into a sweetness that carries no sting.
& because we were given so much at first,
it's okay when a little is taken back.
When running half-naked in the backyard,
my daughters don't ask why the world
will soon shield its eyes from their bodies.
Or stare, longingly. Or touch. Or worse.
The country their great-grandparents fled
& the country that interned them & today
the way our neighbors spit their venom
cannot, in this lullabied version, take root
under our skin. Swell. Redden. No, this
vibrant sidewalk chalk doesn't mean someone's fallen.
Yes, our fields will forever refuse to age into cemeteries. I
promise these doors we're drawing on your bedroom wall
will swing & stay open. Widely. Wildly. & my
hesitant, half-broken hands will always ache toward light.
Because of your light. Because this sky. Because
everything here is a brightness. & the stars singeing your palms,
I pray will never heal.
Becoming the Villainess
Coherent, engaging first collection reads like a single long poem in the voices of fairy-tale ingenues and villainesses, B-movie femmes fatales, superheroines, and mythological women. Moving easily between colloquial humor and poignant lyricism, Gailey summons up a feminist pantheon. The recurring figure of Philomel, whom the gods turned into a nightingale after her brother-in-law raped her and cut her tongue out, epitomizes the mixed blessing of art that is brought into being by tragedy. Were women not silenced, this collection seems to say, we would not have the dazzling indirections of myth and fairy tale, the coded language of comic-book symbolism. "Everybody loves the dead girl after she's dead."
Beijing and I Meet for the First Time
By Meg Eden
When I first met Beijing, she said,
What're you doing here?
It's not the Olympics yet.
I tried to tell her I was here
to see her country, to get away
from my home, but she tried
to sell me bootleg plushes
of pandas, and I caved in.
When I first met Beijing,
the street was cold
and there was a boy
who had a hole in his pants
where his penis stuck out,
purple and small.
I asked her about that boy
but she said, I hear
our mall is the largest in the world—
She gave me a five star hotel room
with a waterfall in the lobby.
Every time I passed through
that lobby, I thought about the boy.
When I first met Beijing,
all she wanted to do
was practice her English.
I told her I was interested
in writing poems, but
she didn't know
what that was.
I said I wanted to hear
all about her—what she believes
in, where she goes for daily
fun, the names of her friends
and what they hope to become—
but she said there are some things
that shouldn't be talked about.
Being Frank with Anne
This poetry book for young adults fleshes out the emotions and events narrated in the classic Holocaust memoir The Diary of Anne Frank. Read sample poems on her website.
Bells of Kyiv
By Gloria Mindock
The churches are empty,
half standing,
no bells to ring.
In the wreckage,
lays a cross no one
has touched.
Jesus lays there.
Broken.
Is there a meaning to this?
Will he rise again
in this country?
Someone will pick him up,
carry him in their arms,
kiss the cross he is on.
Everyone needs to be protected,
to be loved.
Someone else will find his hand.
No nails binding the freedom
we all need.
First published in The International Poetry Anthology; reprinted from Mindock's collection Grief Touched the Sky at Night (Glass Lyre Press, 2023)
Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness
By Da'Shaun Harrison. This concise book combines groundbreaking theory with clear and accessible writing. Harrison surveys and ties together the myriad ways that beauty, health, and human-ness itself have been defined to exclude and shrink the Black body, with special attention to the experiences of fat Black men and trans masculine people.
Belmont Story Review
Belmont Story Review, the literary journal of Belmont University in Nashville, TN, publishes emerging and established writers of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and narrative journalism in the areas of music, publishing, creativity and collaboration, and faith and culture. Payment for accepted work is $25 per poem or flash fiction, $50 per prose piece. (Note to international contributors: the journal can only pay with a check in US dollars.)
Ben Leib
The blog of this innovative short fiction writer features links to numerous online journals where his work can be found.
Beneath the Soil: Queer Survivors’ e-Zine
A project of the survivor advocacy group Time to Tell, Beneath the Soil: Queer Survivors' e-Zine is an online anthology of writing and art by LGBTQ survivors of sexual abuse and assault. It was edited by Beth Siegling, Maggie Donovan, and Karo Ska.
Best and Worst Self-Publishing Services Rated by the Alliance of Independent Authors
The Alliance of Independent Authors maintains this Watchdog service that rates dozens of self-publishing services based on price, distribution channels, book design quality, and ethics.
Best Fonts for Books
IngramSpark is a leading distributor of self-published, small press, and print-on-demand books. In this 2019 article from their website, book designer Michele DeFilippo gives advice on choosing the best fonts for your book. Primary considerations are readability and harmony with the content.
Best Podcasts About the English Language
Educator and translator Heddwen Newton, author of the Substack newsletter English in Progress, curated this list of 55 best podcasts about the history, development, and politics of the English language.
Best Websites to Download Free Audiobooks
This list of the eight best sources for free audiobooks was posted in 2021 by the tech review magazine Make Use Of. Their recommendations include StoryNory, which specializes in kids' books, and Lit2Go, which offers public-domain books in text and audio versions.
BetaBooks
BetaBooks is an app for sharing your manuscript with beta readers and keeping track of their feedback. It takes over the task of document conversion when recipients are using different software and e-readers. Writers can also track incoming comments by manuscript version, chapter, character, or person giving feedback.
Between the Lines
Webzine associated with The Editorial Department, a well-established manuscript-editing service, offers original interviews, craft articles, essays, forums and blogs to keep writers and publishing professionals informed about today's book publishing market. The Editorial Department offers a range of editing and marketing services for your prose manuscript or screenplay. We like their transparency with respect to price, which is not always the case with their competitors.
Bianca Stone’s Poetry Comics
Writer and artist Bianca Stone's poetry comics, published by Factory Hollow Press, are free to read on her website. These surreal assemblages of ink drawings and collage art incorporate and enhance her evocative lyrics.
Bibliomania - Free Online Literature and Study Guides
Searchable full text of over 2,000 books, including literary classics (Victorians predominate), study guides and reference works.
Big Fiction
Big Fiction is a twice-yearly journal specializing in long-form literary fiction: novelettes (7,500-15,000 words) and novellas (15,000-30,000 words). This is a paying market. Submissions must be previously unpublished. No genre fiction (sci-fi, horror, fantasy, romance) or works for children. See website for reading periods and contests.
Billy Collins Action Poetry
Delightful short animated films in which former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins reads his poems out loud as accompanying images illustrate his words.
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
A witty look at the secret pleasures of writing, with wise advice for a writer's hardest tasks.
Black and White Gets Read
Kind of a Hurricane Press publishes this webzine devoted to reviews of poetry books and chapbooks.
Black History Month Collection at Copper Canyon Press
Copper Canyon Press, one of the most prestigious American poetry publishers, has compiled this list of recommended Black poets from its catalog. Authors include Pulitzer Prize winners Gregory Pardlo and Jericho Brown and activist June Jordan.
Black Lawrence Press
This well-regarded independent small press offers several annual contests for chapbooks and full-length collections of poetry and literary fiction. Order one book from the BLP catalog and receive a free subscription to editor Diane Goettel's weekly e-newsletter with tips for getting published by a small press.
Black Poets Speak Out
Black Poets Speak Out is a video series launched in November 2014 to protest police violence against people of color. In these videos, contemporary black poets read their own writing or that of their predecessors who have written about blackness and police brutality. Featured work includes poetry by Amiri Baraka, Lucille Clifton, Toi Derricotte, Cornelius Eady, Langston Hughes, and Audre Lorde. Follow them on Twitter at #BlackPoetsSpeakOut or subscribe to this Tumblr blog to be notified of new videos.
Blackened
Dress the child in black all his life
feed him licorice
sew him black, stitch, stitch.
Run the child in fields wild over
stumps and streams
train him to climb.
No one will follow.
Cry softly under Baby's cries
when he reaches for a stronger arm
and clutches only a withered breast.
When the milk runs dry, feed him
licorice and chase him, racing
the river.
Mirrored between lilies
he'll see a deep fish.
He will ask for sugar, but you'll have
only a black spiral
strangely sweet.
He'll learn to like it.
irises dawn misted, listless in
crooked paths
before the toweling sun rises.
Work your work, your life;
wear a dress, bare your breasts,
he'll call you mama—
cover them, hide
the scent of milk
wear jeans and heavy shoes
play ball, build a treehouse
he'll call you daddy.
And when the other men strip
their shirts from the sweat of mowing,
run away to the house where window breezes
cool your blasphemy.
Speak softly when he finds
you in the mourning, cotton wet
against your cheeks, breasts buried
in the cool touch of the sheet.
Sit up, take him to you.
He is an only child
and you are his mother.
Die, dressed in his black birthrobe.
He will turn white with your name
watch you raised higher than tips of roots.
He will know he is your only man.
Copyright 2003 by Laurie J. Ward
Critique by Jendi Reiter
I chose Laurie Ward's deeply affecting poem "Blackened" for this month's critique because of its subtlety of thought and expression.
I knew I was in good hands from the very first lines: "Dress the child in black all his life/feed him licorice/sew him black, stitch, stitch." What a complex relationship is revealed in those few words: tender care inextricably entwined with mourning, even ambivalence about the child, as the mother binds him tight, feeds him with her own sadness. Is she immunizing him against a harsh world, or forcing him to lose his illusions too soon? Ward is unafraid to acknowledge the dark side of intimacy.
The title, "Blackened", suggests that both characters in the poem are scarred but still standing, like a lightning-struck tree. No matter how much the single mother and her son love each other, their relationship is overshadowed by the burden of having to be everything to one another. He is her "only man", while she must be both mother and father to him.
In passages such as the stanza beginning "Speak softly when he finds/you in the mourning," Ward frankly portrays the Oedipal tension that their closeness generates, without degenerating into prurience. The recurring image of the mother's breasts takes on multiple meanings, from breastfeeding to the "blasphemy" of her suppressed sexuality and her inability to fill the father's role. It's almost as if, by concealing her breasts, she is holding back some love from the growing child for his own good.
One feels secure, because of the strength of the mother's love and her clear insight into her own feelings, that this is a fundamentally healthy relationship despite the sensual undercurrent. This impression is confirmed by the last stanza, in which she imagines her own death (real or symbolic) and thereby faces the fact that he will grow away from her. He is her only man, but she is not meant to be his only woman.
What makes "Blackened" so successful is that it does not lay out this storyline in a literal way. T.S. Eliot wrote that poetry best conveys emotion by means of "objective correlatives", namely objects and events that, when described, will naturally produce a certain emotion in the reader, without the need to spell out what she should feel.
Unconstrained by realism, poetry can compress a whole relationship into a few strange but apt phrases. "Die, dressed in his black birthrobe," could not be literally true (babies are rarely dressed in black, and it wouldn't fit her anyway) but conveys a wealth of psychological information in a more immediate way than any prose paragraph: one generation making way for the next, the sadness attendant on his birth, the centrality of motherhood to her identity even when he is grown, etcetera. You can see how the poetic version delivers more impact with fewer words.
Another interesting difference between poetry and prose is that images can have emotional resonance in poetry even if their "meaning" (in the sense of something you could paraphrase) is unclear. I had trouble visualizing what Ward meant by "He will turn white with your name/watch you raised higher than tips of roots." In the context, I felt some kind of liberation was at work here, but not sure how the pieces fit together. The son has been freed from the blackness at last, but how does "with your name" come into it? "Higher than tips of roots" is also puzzling, since roots point down, while "higher" in this context suggests ascension into heaven. Tips of trees would make more sense, though it would also be less original. But on another level I still like the images, perhaps for their refreshing oddness, as well as the stately sound of the lines. Both "name" and "roots" suggest the continuity of generations, a fitting way to end the poem.
Where could "Blackened" be submitted? The poem's free-verse narrative style and intimate subject matter would probably be a good fit for many journals. Based on what I've seen of their recently published authors, I recommend submitting to the following:
Main Street Rag (submit to magazine, also see their chapbook and full-length book contests)
The Marlboro Review
Postmark Deadline: March 31 (changed to April 30 as of 2006)
This poem and critique appeared in the November 2003 issue of Winning Writers Newsletter (subscribe free).
BlackFacts
BlackFacts is an online portal for Black history and culture, offering a searchable historical database, video profiles of important figures and events, and a current events newsfeed drawn from over 160 news sources in the UK, US, Africa, and the Caribbean.
Blacklist Lit
Launched in 2024, Blacklist Lit seeks to be a clearinghouse of information about literary journals and markets that treat writers poorly. Send them your experiences of publishers who are unresponsive to queries, fail to honor publication promises, or misuse personal information.
Blanket Sea
Blanket Sea is an online arts and literary journal that showcases creators with mental illness, chronic illness, and disability. The journal is free to read and submit. The editors accept prose submissions up to 2,000 words, but prefer pieces between 500-1,000 words. Creative nonfiction writers may send essays, memoirs, and book reviews in keeping with the themes of chronic physical and mental illness and disability. For fiction submissions, editors gravitate toward contemporary realistic stories about living with illness or disability. The poetry editors look for short, non-rhyming poems with either a narrative angle or a strong message. All submissions must include positive, respectful syntax (see their guide to avoiding ableism and other prejudices). Blanket Sea was the subject of an August 2018 Literary Spotlight feature in The Writer magazine.
Blogger
Create your own weblog with this free, user-friendly service that offers a variety of templates. One of the more popular blog hosting services.
Blood Flower
By Pamela Uschuk. Uschuk is a shamanic poet, invoking the spirits of animals, mountains, and forests, to heal a world that humans have spoiled with war and greed. This poetry collection from Wings Press also gives a voice to her family's ghosts, starting with her Russian immigrant ancestors, and moving on to her late brother and first husband, who were permanently scarred by their service in Vietnam. Nature imagery is a great strength of Uschuk's writing. These are not stylized, sentimental birds and flowers. They are "cliff swallows taking needles of twilight/into their open beaks, stitching/sky's ripped hem." They are the "red velvet vulva of roses" and "yellow ginkgo leaves/waxy as embalmed fans warm[ing] grave stones". Their specificity helps the reader believe that these sparks of life are just as real as the scenes of atrocities that surround us in the news media. Their beauty pulls a bright thread through the darkest stories she tells.
Bloody Mary
By Charlie Bondhus
light a candle, chant
at the mirror, and you'll see
her in you: the old murderess,
the bloodthirsty abortionist.
After the twentieth incantation it began
at my chin and spread
across mouth, jaw, and cheeks,
until my lower face was hers.
11 years old I already knew
the joys of being home alone; of leaving
my bedroom door open as I pushed my pubescent cock
and balls up inside, imagining myself
as something else.
When I touched my new hard
lips I thought about Mom,
whose disapproval was stronger than any witchcraft.
But it was already too late.
When I turned on the light
my face had become
sexless as an egg.
Bloom
Bloom is a website that showcases authors whose first book was published at age 40 or older. Contemporary authors can contact the site to request a feature. There are also articles on late-blooming greats of the past. Editors say, "Bloom's mission and intention are not to critique or detract from the success of young writers; our interest is in contributing to the conversation about literary life and creative process, offering up a diverse range of paths as models. Our hope is to present some counter-balance to the disproportionate attention paid to precocity by exploring and presenting stories of slower, zig-zag, later-life, development...Bloom seeks to challenge any narrow or uniform ideas about what constitutes literary success or authenticity."
Bloomsbury’s Writer’s Almanac
Bloomsbury's free online guide for unpublished writers gives wise advice: "An enquiry letter should be business-like. Don't grovel ('it would be an honour to be published by so distinguished a firm'), don't make jokes ('my Mum says it's smashing, but maybe you'll think she's prejudiced'), don't be aggressive ('I have chosen you to publish my book, kindly send me your terms by return')." Also free on the site, links to UK and Irish agents, US agents, and a searchable online database of cultural reference books.
Blue Collar Review
Published by Partisan Press, Blue Collar Review is a quarterly journal of poetry and prose whose mission is "to expand and promote a progressive working class vision of culture that inspires us and that moves us forward as a class." Read sample poems on their website. There is an annual poetry contest with a $100 prize.
Blue Heron Book Works
Blue Heron Book Works is an independent small press founded by novelist Bathsheba Monk. Their main focus is literary memoirs, but they will also consider fiction if it is in a series. Books are published as e-books and print-on-demand editions. The press bears the up-front costs of editing, formatting, copyrights, and ISBN numbers, and they work with the author to create a marketing plan. Monk says they are looking for "unusual stories, or ordinary stories unusually well-told...Great story trumps stylistic virtuosity. No recovering addict stories unless the author joined the circus to recover...so to speak. No cured from cancer stories unless author went on to join a convent and feed the poor...ditto." Their catalog includes Paul Heller's Last Call, a #1 Kindle bestselling memoir about caring for a parent with dementia.
Blue Marble Review
Blue Marble Review is a quarterly online journal that publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, essays, opinion pieces, travel writing, photography, and art by students aged 13-22. Accepted authors receive $30, cover artists $75.
Bluebeard’s Closet
I went to Bluebeard's closet
Because he left the key
And there were five little doll heads
Staring dead at me.
Five nameless, sparkless ladies
Cracked face and broken limb
All meanly slashed to pieces
Washed sick with pea green skin.
Now I know it was a ruse,
and he will be back soon.
So I closed shut Bluebeard's closet
Stuffed full of tattered dolls
Cold, cruel, cramped and ugly
Splashed blood-brown on the walls.
And crouched among the women
My face bleached white as chalk
Waiting for the terminus:
Keys turning in a lock.
Copyright 2004 by Monica Jenny Sharma
Critique by Jendi Reiter
This month's critique poem, "Bluebeard's Closet" by Monica Jenny Sharma, is a descendant of the 19th-century Romantic tradition. Both the Gothic subject matter and the tight formal structure, broken only by a misfit central couplet, echo the haunting poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and George Gordon, Lord Byron. In its creepy melange of murder, sexuality, and lost innocence, one can hear the voices of Victorian writers who used the horror genre for coded exposés of their culture's repressed emotions and unacknowledged injustices. (For an example, read the classic 1899 feminist horror story "The Yellow Wallpaper".)
The pattern of rhyme and meter that Sharma has chosen for this poem would have been familiar to Byron and Emily Dickinson. The regular marching beat, reminiscent of hymn tunes, takes on a sinister urgency in "Bluebeard's Closet", like footsteps that rush forward, hesitate, then scurry ahead again. This is accomplished by having the first and third lines of each stanza end on an unstressed syllable, while the second and fourth end on a stressed syllable.
The middle stanza's departure from this pattern feels like a jarring intrusion. While the author may have intended an unsettling mood shift for plot reasons, the effect is not successful because the lines themselves lack a compelling rhythm or interesting images. Their everyday sound breaks the illusion of the finely crafted verses that preceded them. It's like hearing, in the middle of a gripping horror movie, a director's shouted instructions that someone forgot to edit out. Since the information in the stanza is necessary as a plot transition, Sharma should not simply cut it, but replace it with a four-line stanza in the same pattern as the others.
Though the Bluebeard story is familiar, this retelling is powerful because it never wavers from the perspective of the victim-protagonist. We are trapped with her in the closet, making the dreadful discoveries as she witnesses them. Sharma resists the temptation to embellish the tale by making its complex psychological meanings explicit; far better to let the reader experience them firsthand.
I felt a chill as soon as I read the words "five little doll heads/staring dead at me." Sharma accomplishes several things with the little phrase "staring dead": the double meaning of literal death and "dead ahead" (the woman is transfixed by the dolls' direct gaze), plus a jolt to the reader who was expecting "staring back."
The author also makes good use of alliteration and assonance to add texture to the poem. Examples include the recurring hard "K" and hissing "S" sounds in the second stanza, the "L" sounds in the fourth stanza, and the similar sounds of "terminus" and "turning" in the final stanza. "Sparkless" is a wonderful word, suggesting "sparkles" to the careless eye while meaning its opposite.
Where could a poem like "Bluebeard's Closet" be submitted? Most mainstream US literary journals, unfortunately, would probably consider its theme and style too old-school for their modernist sensibilities. Such is literary fashion! Here are some journals and contests that might appreciate it:
Keats-Shelley Prize
Entries must be received by June 15
For a poem in the Romantic tradition; see website for annual themes
New England Poetry Club Contests
Postmark Deadline: June 30
See website for categories and eligibility
Society of Classical Poets Contest
Entries must be received by December 31 (don't enter before September 1)
For a poem in meter and rhyme
This poem and critique appeared in the June 2004 issue of Winning Writers Newsletter (subscribe free).
BlueToad
BlueToad helps you publish your content on the web, tablets and mobile devices at a resonable price. A "Hands Free Package" is available if you need maximum support.
Bob Newman: “An Irish Lament”
Reflections on the conflict in Northern Ireland. This poem won Manifold's Ireland Competition in 2001. Visit Mr. Newman's website for more poems and an excellent glossary of poetic forms from the common to the obscure.
Body Without Organs
Launched in 2017, Body Without Organs is an international English-language online literary journal for teen writers. They publish poetry, literary fiction, essays, and artwork, and are also looking for teen editors. "Pieces that are character-driven and/or emotion-focused have a higher chance of acceptance. Genre fiction including science fiction, fantasy, and romance is almost never accepted, and we strongly prefer free verse poems over those that rhyme, but feel free to challenge or change this." The journal's name comes from a term coined by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, and he used it to reference this essential question: if you stripped an object of every physical trait it uses to define and communicate itself, what would be left? What is the "real" truth at the object’s core?
BOMB Magazine
Launched in 1981, BOMB Magazine is a NYC-based print and online journal that curates interdisciplinary conversations among artists. On their website, they publish a quarterly list of fellowships and residencies. Sign up for their e-newsletter to be notified of their open submission periods for poetry and short fiction.
Book Brush
Book Brush offers templates to create professional-looking ads and social media images for your books. Create three free images per month with the free membership, or unlimited images with the paid plan, which also includes more design options.
Book Cover Templates at PosterMyWall
PosterMyWall is a graphic design vendor offering templates and stock images for email marketing, promotional videos, social media posts, and self-published book design. A monthly subscription gives you unlimited templates and various credits toward buying photos, or you can pay for individual images and videos as needed. Their sample book covers on their website are professional-looking and clearly indicate the book's genre.
Book Covers, Marketing, and Authenticity: An Interview with Laura Duffy of Laura Duffy Design
A handsome book cover that's right for your genre can increase sales by a factor of two or more. But does working with a professional have to feel like a trust fall? Designer Laura Duffy doesn't think so.
Annie Mydla, Managing Editor
This year, Laura Duffy Design is providing free benefits to all entrants and winners of the North Street Book Prize. All entrants receive a detailed PDF about book cover design, and winners receive customized book design and marketing services.
Laura Duffy here joins Winning Writers managing editor Annie Mydla to talk about helping indie authors get the most out of her services, from the cover to essential marketing elements like metadata, Amazon keywords, and copy.
Watch the entire interview with Laura or read this lightly edited transcript.
Key moments (links lead to the YouTube video):
0:55 Why do authors settle for a subpar cover?
2:34 Why working with a professional can feel like a trust fall
3:54 Why self-publishing is even more crucial in today's world. "That's what I want to be part of."
5:33 "This cover is gonna be strong, because this is a badass book": Honoring authors' authenticity
6:21 Book cover design is not one-size-fits-all. It's personal
8:05 "We're all creatives, just in different lanes": Designers and authors working together
9:16 Why improving a book cover improves sales
10:03 Why a good cover increases marketing opportunities, like merchandise
10:30 How Laura raises sales with SEO, Amazon keywords, and more
11:43 Expressing our truth vs selling books? It's a balance
13:23 Laura's free customized services for North Street Book Prize winners
14:33 How merchandise increases authors' exposure
15:38 Considering a cover now? This message is for you
Introduction
ANNIE MYDLA: Hello, everybody, and thank you for tuning in. I'm Annie Mydla, managing editor of Winning Writers. Joining me today is Laura Duffy, former art director for Simon & Schuster and Random House, now independent book cover creator and North Street Book Prize co-sponsor. Laura, thank you so much for being our co-sponsor, and thank you for talking with me about all the ways that book cover design can be important for a book's success.
LAURA DUFFY: Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.
Before we begin, I'd just like to point out to everybody that Laura Duffy Design is providing a free detailed PDF guide about the book cover design process to all North Street entrants in 2025. She's also providing free merchandising and book cover design services for winners, as well as some other things which we'll talk about in a little bit. So let's just dive into the interview.
0:55 Why do authors settle for a subpar cover?
We receive many books in the North Street Book Prize each year. Now, of course, we don't judge a book solely by its cover, but it does make an impact on the book's competitiveness with other submissions. Why do you think authors settle? What are some of the mental stumbling blocks that keep authors from striving for better covers?
Perhaps it's just that they don't know how to find a designer, or they don't know they need a designer. Perhaps they've designed their own cover, and they don't want to be told that it's not good enough.
But I think that they also need to be shown. They have their ideas. And I say, "Yeah, I'm going to do your idea. But then I'm going to show you my idea, because that's what you're hiring me for." And then they have that, "Ohhh, okay, I get it," whether it's a really impactful design, or it's the details on the back, or on the spine, or in the interior. It becomes this, like, "Okay."
And perhaps it's budget, finances, and stuff like that. In that case, they could maybe try to learn from other designs, or designers, or what they see. But I think that, like any other trade or business when somebody's been doing it for a long time, you want to really rely on their expertise. Especially with a book cover. You know, it's interesting, because it's artistic, it's art, it's creativity, and we've got artists here, but it's also a business thing, a marketing tool. There's a lot of technical things going on. You have to find the right combination.
2:34 Why working with a professional can feel like a trust fall
Sometimes I get the impression while working with people who are self-publishing, they have to do so much of it by themselves. When they meet a professional, especially a relatively affordable professional like yourself who does such a good job and has so much background and experience, it can almost feel like doing a trust fall. It's the first time that they've been able to put their work in the hands of another person. And they don't really know how it's going to come out. They've had experiences that burned them in the past, maybe.
Well, that's a good point, too. I do get a lot of clients who've come to me after working with an agency. I don't want to badmouth anybody, but there are lots of places out there that, for instance, don't read the book, don't really want it. They just want to produce a cover. And that's not how I work. I don't know how I'd get my ideas if I didn't read as much as I could of an author's work. So yeah, it's all about trust.
I know that you probably don't feel comfortable saying this about yourself, but it's not just your expertise and your experience and your skill. It's also that you're a very warm and lovely person. So I think if somebody needs to learn to trust, you're probably a good place to go.
I know what you mean, because there are a lot of companies that are very slick. You don't know who's behind it. Is this one person? Is this a team? Is this a group? And I'm one person, although I'm branching out, and I've got people who are helping me out. But people are reacting to my site because it looks like I'm a human being.
Because this is such an incredibly personal thing that these people are doing. Maybe they're sharing in a memoir some of their most personal details. For them, it's a huge thing, finally publishing this book. It's just really intimidating in a lot of ways. And I think what I'm realizing is that they appreciate my patience.
3:54 Why self-publishing is even more crucial in today's world. "That's what I want to be part of."
And I feel personally, with the way the world is, especially in the United States, I'm starting to really appreciate the role I'm playing, the role we're playing, in helping people get their stories out. Because I know that there's a lot of fear everywhere. So that leads to even more gatekeepers, more people saying, "I don't want to publish this book. We're not talking about this anymore." But you can do it. Yes, you can talk about it. And how incredibly important that is. I'm working on several books right now that I know are topics that are just really, it's really important for people to get their voices out.
People have been telling them all their lives, you can't do this, you can't do that. And now it seems like society is telling people more and more, you can't do this, you can't do that.
I feel like people are being a lot more authentic, whether it's because we came through a pandemic…People are looking for places to rest, be creative, or have support. You know, we've just got so much coming at us.
5:33 "This cover is gonna be strong, because this is a badass book": Honoring authors' authenticity
And I mean, I think that's the positive thing about nowadays: that people are talking about things. We're seeing the underbelly of a lot of things, but those things were always there. They were just hidden. You know, the Me Too movement and all these things. And now it's like, "Okay, I can talk about my family trauma," that before was—you just didn't bring it up.
And so that's another thing. I'm like, "This cover is going to be strong, because this is a badass book." And that's what I want to be part of.
6:21 Book cover design is not one-size-fits-all. It's personal
This is just another reason why you as a book cover designer are, in my opinion, preferable to organizations that are bigger, slicker. Because the bigger the company is, the more standardized things have to be. Somebody who's got so many clients, they don't really necessarily have the time or the emotional bandwidth to engage with people on that level.
There are so many different kinds of self-published authors. They have different needs, different comfort levels, different expectations. It's not a one-size-fits all situation.
How do you think we can get authors to appreciate the value of a good cover and evaluate their cover designs more critically?
I think that, again, it's that seeing is believing. I think that once you show them what can be done, and how others react to their books—you know, once they put it out there on social media and there's oohing and aahing—yeah, you know. That's the fun part.
I think that's also a step towards, "Oh, this is going to be a good experience." I think that fear, that terror of, "Oh my goodness, I'm putting my baby out into the world for the first time," and then it's like, "Oh, no, this is a party." Everybody's chiming in. I think that's when they realize, if they're working with somebody like me, or another professional with a lot of experience, "Okay, we're running with the big guys now. We can hang with the big guys and gals." And it feels good.
8:05 "We're all creatives, just in different lanes": Designers and authors working together
Book covers are one of the most accessible parts of books. People look at that image, and they just get an immediate sense of something about your book, something about you.
Everybody now is exposed to design. Good design, bad design. More and more people, I would say, maybe think they can be designers, and they can be. There are tools, and they might find out that they're very good. It's worth educating yourself and looking around.
But you do want to do something that's really good, whether you're doing it yourself—there are people, there are authors, who've done good stuff, and they've used Canva. It's pretty impressive. They've taught themselves InDesign. And I like that too. I love seeing people expand and discover things about themselves.
Maybe they try it and they find an amazing talent. But do they have the time? Do they have the bandwidth? Do they have the resources? I could make a book cover, but would it have all those really subtle little touches that subconsciously communicate to viewers of that cover, "This is the real thing"?
I think that another thing is, that what an author is doing is very creative, and what I'm doing is very creative. Yeah, we're all working with creatives, but in different ways and different lanes.
9:16 Why improving a book cover improves sales
Can you tell us a little bit about how improving a book cover can improve sales?
Well, that's a good question, because I think that there's a lot that goes into improving sales. The book cover, of course, is important. When you're writing a book, and you're considering the cover, you're stepping into the world of marketing. It's just like any other aspect of the world. If you're looking for a job, and you want to stand out, how do you present yourself? Regardless of how you get to a book, what's going to make you stop, pause, and look at that book and pick it up? On some level, if a book cover is doing its job, especially with a lot of competition, a well-put-together cover represents and indicates a well-written book.
10:03 Why a good cover increases marketing opportunities like merchandise
How can a good cover contribute to marketing opportunities like selling book merch or building an author's web presence?
I think that people like to see good-looking things, right? What's really fun is when you start integrating other elements from the cover onto the website or onto the bookmarks, and it kind of pulls it out—you know, it's all of a piece. And I think people really appreciate that.
10:30 How Laura raises sales with SEO, Amazon keywords, and more
I have a very entrepreneurial mindset, and I love thinking about how to grow a business, how to market. I get very excited about that. And I try to convey that to authors. "Okay, we're going to do this, let's do this." Like, "Who's your target market? Who's your audience?"
What should be done early on is, keep your audience in mind. You know, SEO, search engine optimization, these keywords that help the cream rise to the top are important. The algorithms. It's the game we're playing. And so even early on, making sure that you're using words, whether it's in your book description, whether it's on the back of your book, or that's even in your book, or anywhere, that you're using words that will attract your audience. You know, "You're not using your title enough," or "Let's get these words into the subtitle," or "Let's get these words into a blurb." We've got to do it. We've got to do it if you want to really stand out.
I think that is a little bit of something, like, you know, that's hard for authors to adjust to. That's where I come in, like, "Okay, no, we're going to do this. You just relax. You wrote your book."
11:43 Expressing our truth vs selling books? It's a balance
We're getting into some core human issues here, with this balance of, "We want to be ourselves. We want to express ourselves. But we also want to get these certain benefits from what we're producing." Sometimes I wonder whether this is one of the things that makes self-publishing difficult for people. This conflict, this tension, between expressing yourself, and getting what you want from other people in terms of their response, in terms of their money, their time, their attention.
It's awesome that you can help them with the covers, which is, in most cases, how people really meet the book, but also that you can work on these behind-the-scenes elements that have to do with marketing on Amazon, keywords, and all the things that we don't really think about.
When I have the discussions, whether I'm giving them my initial pitch or it's during the process, there's a lot more going on than just the talk about the design of the cover. Over and over again, I'm encouraging authors to get out there. I feel that feeling of, "I want everybody to be successful and confident." I think there's a lot of people starting out. I mean, 99% of the authors that I work with are newbies. And "I've never done this before, I don't know what…" "Okay, yeah, you're not alone." I hope that that comforts them, that they don't feel like they're the only author in the world that's starting out and never done this before. I feel like it's a cool place to be, the indie publishing world. It's really neat.
13:23 Laura's free customized services for North Street Book Prize winners
You're a North Street co-sponsor. You're actually working with last year's North Street Book Prize winners at this moment. Can you tell us a little bit about how it's going, the kind of things that you're working on together?
So I've been working with a lot of the first prize winners, right? And I've done work with Angelino Donnachaidh. He wrote Tamiu: A Cat's Tale. And when I spoke to him, you know, he didn't really know what he wanted, how he wanted to utilize my services. He just wanted it to sell more. So what I offered to do was work on his metadata, work on his copy: for his cover, on Amazon, and keywords. So that was an interesting project, and I'm interested in seeing how that does because that's what I've been doing for a lot of my clients nowadays.
And then for Stephen Pollock, I did a bookmark for [his poetry collection, Exits]. And that might also lead to a postcard. And then Bryan Wiggins, who I said, "I think your cover [for The Corpse Bloom] looks great," but he wanted to make some changes to the layout and add all of these wonderful awards he's gotten. So I'm doing that.
14:33 How merchandise increases authors' exposure
Actually, can you tell me some of the other kinds of merch that you provide? Because I'm not sure I know.
So, the bookmarks and the postcards. I've been asked to do tote bags, and t-shirts, and any kind of swag, toys, business cards that are just specifically for the author. More and more people are asking for those stand-up banners that they'll have at a reading, and they retract. I've got a picture of one woman on my website standing next to one, and it's got her cover on it, and it's got the quotes.
You know, a lot of media sheets. I try to encourage people. I say, "If you feel like you're going to go out in the world, and you're going to be hitting people up for podcasts and this and that, you want to put together a media sheet, or a white sheet." People call them all different things. But they don't know that that exists, so I show them examples.
Whatever anybody wants their book cover or anything on, I'll do it. It's just a matter of designing it. There are lots of printers, so it doesn't really cost that much money. And it’s fun.
15:38 Considering a cover now? This message is for you
I was wondering if you have any advice for authors who might be considering the cover for an upcoming book.
I would say, yeah, just write your book and let me read it. I think that if you're working with somebody who's going to read the book, which apparently I feel like I'm one of the few people that do, then you don't have to really do much regarding the cover. When I look through a story, a novel or something, I'm looking for maybe a specific moment. Some kind of tableau, something that might lend itself to color. But yeah, just focus on writing that great book. Hire that developmental editor and let them take their time doing it.
Sometimes I think that books, or the part of books that authors produce, is like the raw material. Like they are creating a raw diamond, or a lump of raw gold, or something like that. Alchemists are real if you're a self-published author. You do produce the gold. You do produce the diamonds. But then, you're the alchemist. You're not a blacksmith. You're not, like, a goldsmith, or a diamond cutter. There are other people who do that stuff to turn it from that really valuable, rare raw material to the finished product.
Let the creative people that you've hired do their job. Because they're coming at it from many different vantage points. I've rarely been able to say to an author, "You're just too close to this" and "Just back off." But, you know, sometimes, yeah, I'll be able to say that, and they'll get it, and they'll be like, "Okay, yeah, I'll talk to you when you're done. You just do your thing." And I'm like, "Yeah, I love you."
Laura Duffy, thank you so much for sharing your book cover and marketing insights with us today. And thank you so much for providing these excellent benefits for North Street Book Prize entrance and winners.
Well, it is my pleasure. I love working with you and this has been a really great experience. I hope that people find these helpful.
Book Editing Associates
Serving writers, literary agents, and publishers. Mainstream, genre, trade, and academic publishing specialists. Copyediting, developmental editing, proofreading, critiques, book proposals, query letters, book promotions, and creative writing instruction. Network coordinator Lynda Lotman takes extra care to screen her staff (read how).
Book Marketing and Book Promotion
Book marketing and selling advice from John Kremer, author of '1001 Ways to Market Your Books.' Informative website includes contact information for book buyers, publicity outlets and more.
Book Marketing Buzz Blog
Experienced editor and publicist Brian Feinblum shares tips about turning media exposure into sales, creating your author brand, using multimedia tools to market your book, and much more. See his Book PR & Marketing Toolkit page for a list of links to his top articles and favorite resources.
