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Snitch book cover: your input, please?

The “Preparedness Priorities” series will resume before Monday (already have two more in the works). But I’d like your opinion on something else, please.

ADDED: Wow. Got some really good reader submissions! So I’ve removed the original two covers and my own first revision (since all have been thoroughly trounced by the Commentariat). I think the mockup by Keith Perkins and the sketch by Travis (below) are better than the best I did.

The anti-snitch book is roaring along, thanks to Anonymous Layout Guy’s speedy work. These are the two potential cover designs (one inspired by a photo MJR sent, one from a photo ALG found).

Which do you think works best and why? (I like ’em both, for different reasons.)

4. Here’s my one design, based on your suggestions, that’s still alive.

This needs some cleanup and refinement (and as experienced ebook writer David points out, a border), but here it is for the concept …

5. A verrrry ratty sketch by Travis

6. A complete design by Keith Perkins

70 Comments

  1. Kent McManigal
    Kent McManigal October 20, 2012 8:28 am

    I like the rodents, but I think the color of the government edict octagon might be more attractive to most people.

  2. David
    David October 20, 2012 9:32 am

    Okay, this might make me unpopular. But I don’t really like either of ’em.

    I am a newbie to e-book covers. On websites, though, pictures of people are supposed to be very helpful. So I have this vision (which is drawn in a Doonesbury-ish fashion for some reason) of a woman with neat hair & high heels, in a ratty trenchcoat, going up to a group of guys standing around a chain-link fence who are holding signs with variants of “will work for food”…and she’s asking ’em: “Hey…any of you want to help me blow something up? I’ll pay!”

    Sadly I have little to no artistic ability, so I can’t draw it. :/

    But I haven’t read the book.

  3. Pat
    Pat October 20, 2012 9:34 am

    I agree with Kent; I like the rats better too, but the stop sign will be more generally agreeable to most people.

    Is there any way to put a rat on the Stop sign (to make it fit the “Rats” title)? Or any way to make the word “snitching” more prominent on the sign?

  4. David
    David October 20, 2012 9:37 am

    Which doesn’t answer your question. So…I’d go with #1 just because it’s easier to read. Or a variant of #2, with a drawn (rather than photographed) sign that’s legible and not overwritten by text. The color could be brighter & it’d look more professional. But…there I go again. I should probably stop typing.

  5. Pat
    Pat October 20, 2012 9:41 am

    Or just put a stop sign behind/in front of all the rats on the first cover.

  6. Child of the Trillion Dollar Wasteland
    Child of the Trillion Dollar Wasteland October 20, 2012 9:44 am

    I think the stop sign is more visually appealing, but the first one serves as kind of a reminder- there are rats everywhere.

  7. Water Lily
    Water Lily October 20, 2012 9:51 am

    I’d combine them. Rats in the background, stop sign in the foreground.

  8. David
    David October 20, 2012 9:56 am

    Water Lily: I like that idea too. In fact I like it a lot.

  9. Mac the Knkfe
    Mac the Knkfe October 20, 2012 10:11 am

    Me too.

  10. gooch
    gooch October 20, 2012 10:30 am

    I think [usually dangerous for me …] that Water Lily has hit a good compromise.
    Also I think that David’s idea of a drawn version of the #2 cover is also a good idea.
    Maybe a “combination of ingredients” version would be possible?

    I be quiet now ….

    stay safe,

    g

  11. Joel
    Joel October 20, 2012 10:41 am

    I like the idea of a composite, but I’d put the stop sign in the background. The color doesn’t work with the monochrome cover and rats, and the rats definitely work best with the title. If you go with only one image I’d pick the rats.

  12. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 11:00 am

    Well … that’s a lot to think about. Kudos to Pat and Water Lily for getting an idea so many seem to favor. Kudos, too, for drawing ideas — but those involve more WERK, and the longer I live the more opposed to WERK I become. 🙂

    Here’s where I’m coming from. I like the rats. Because yeah, they’re just such a good depiction of what snitches are & most readers will react with creepies and disgust, which is perfect. OTOH, I worry that people would think the book was about four-legged pests. The sign (what did you call it again, Kent? LOL) sends a clearer message what the book is about but isn’t as emotionally hard-hitting as the rat cover. I also worry that text in the image conflicts visually with the title.

    The idea of combining the two is interesting, but I worry it would be too busy. Might be worth playing with that to see.

    Keep those responses coming. They really help.

  13. EN
    EN October 20, 2012 11:11 am

    Keep rats no matter what other changes you make. Important point being made there.

  14. Pat
    Pat October 20, 2012 11:19 am

    “The idea of combining the two is interesting, but I worry it would be too busy. Might be worth playing with that to see.”

    Remove a couple of rats, put the sign behind what’s left, and decrease the size of the sub-heading font.

  15. Jim B.
    Jim B. October 20, 2012 11:40 am

    Get or borrow a Rat then a take a can of spray paint and go to your nearest stop sign and spray snitching below stop, put the Rat on top of the sign, take picture, voila, got your picture.

    I do agree that neither picture work for me, so you’ll probably be better off combining the two somehow.

  16. Bear
    Bear October 20, 2012 11:57 am

    If this were a paperback, I’d say go with the stop snitching sign; better bookrack visual appeal. But since this is an ebook…

    I’ve done a few ebook covers. Most ereaders just don’t have the displays to show that off properly, especially the older/cheaper ones like my greyscale Kindle. The rats would display better.

    Or, I kinda like Joel’s take. Play with the sign contrast, convert the image to greyscale, and overlay it with the rats. That would be for the ebook itself. Keep a color version of the sign/rats graphic for your link advertising (and summing this goes on Amazon, upload that as your ad graphic separate from the book cover), since the color is more likely to grab browsing customers’ attention.

    Jim’s suggestion has merit, if you can acquire a rat. You don’t even have to spray paint the sign; paint “snitching” on something else, photograph it, then copy&paste it onto the stop sign pic. (I did some of that for MamaLiberty’s cover; it seems to have come out well. She provided a photograph, and I ‘shopped the heck out of it.)

  17. LibertyNews
    LibertyNews October 20, 2012 12:10 pm

    Not all e-readers are greyscale, I’m fairly sure you can have different covers based on device (eg. when I read kindle books on the laptop the covers are in color). I really don’t like either of the examples, they both yell ‘self-published’ at me.

  18. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 12:14 pm

    Okay, I’ve posted a third design based on your suggestions.

    Jim B., while I didn’t go out and get myself a rat and a can of spray paint, I was working on a similar notion as you wrote.

    Combining multiple rats with the stop sign was way too busy. One rat … maybe that works. You guys tell me.

    I’ll let Anon Layout Guy (who, unlike me, knows what he’s doing) deal with the grayscale/saturation issues.

  19. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 12:19 pm

    FWIW, I like this design better than the others, but I’m still bothered that the “STOP” in the graphic visually interferes with the title. I tried de-saturating the photo further to try to eliminate that, but then the photo didn’t look great.

  20. David
    David October 20, 2012 12:36 pm

    Hmm. Ebook covers are (most?) often seen as thumbnails. I don’t think anything but the title would be visible with design #3. And that doesn’t really tell people what the book is about. “Snitch!” would. Not that I’m actually arguing for a title change…just offering it for comparison. But I do think “Stop snitching” needs to be legible at small sizes with the current title.

  21. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 12:59 pm

    David — oh drat on the thumbnail. I’m not opposed to a title change, but “Snitch!” sends the wrong message. And “Stop Snitchin'” isn’t right (and is overdone). Still … it’s something to think about.

    Maybe keep “Rats!,” shorten the subtitle, and just have one big, ugly rat image? Dunno … dunno … Good to have input from an ebook writer, though.

  22. Pat
    Pat October 20, 2012 1:00 pm

    I like #3; it would work. I think the stop sign needs to be somewhat smaller (but not too small), placed more between the bottom of the sub-title and your name, where “snitching” can be seen – and needs to be clearer, i.e. more primary color, less faded or pastel.

  23. David
    David October 20, 2012 1:10 pm

    I’m sorry…did you say “oh da rat on the thumbnail”?

  24. David
    David October 20, 2012 1:11 pm

    Because that sounds painful.

  25. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 1:22 pm

    David — Groaaaaaaaan!

    Pat — The problem with bringing more color into the stop sign is that then the word “STOP” conflicts more and more with the title. Also, if I make it smaller, that’s going to mean there will be a large white area on the cover, which … well, I can see one way of making that work. I’ll give it some more thought.

  26. Kent McManigal
    Kent McManigal October 20, 2012 1:24 pm

    Or you could take a photo of a recently-revealed snitch and photoshop her to have more Rattus norvegicus– like qualities…

    I know. Mean and nasty for me to even suggest that.

  27. Pat
    Pat October 20, 2012 1:51 pm

    Claire, I don’t know what you’re working with as the background, but the greenish, “pebbly”-looking stuff around the edges is not bad if it became a little bigger as the sign became smaller.

    OTOH, you could just decrease the size of the word, “STOP” – which would minimize its competing with “RATS”. (Though that might leave too much red showing.)

  28. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 2:23 pm

    Okay, there’s another, and better, one.

    Not sure why the image looks so mangy, but the larger version looks good and with some cleanup, I think this might be the one.

  29. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 2:23 pm

    Kent — You are not a nice person. I like that in a commentor. 🙂

  30. Pat
    Pat October 20, 2012 2:36 pm

    I think that would work nicely on a white cover.

    BTW, have you thought of saying “STOP Ratting”?

  31. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 2:39 pm

    Yep, it would have a white background for sure.

    Hadn’t thought of “STOP Ratting.” I’m not sure how fully younger people get the idea that ratting is a synonym for snitching, so I like having both the rat image and the word snitch in there.

    Also, on David’s earlier idea of using something other than “Rats!” as a title … I said I wasn’t agin’ it, but then I remembered that the domain name I bought has the word “rats” in it. So I’m stickin’ with that.

    Anyhow, glad to be getting there …

  32. Keith Perkins
    Keith Perkins October 20, 2012 2:39 pm

    I did a mock up, I didn’t like the 1st ones you showed us, but #4 looks good.
    See mine here: http://keithperkins.net/files/Rats-mockup.jpg

    I don’t think image tags work in the comment, but let’s try that.

  33. David
    David October 20, 2012 2:49 pm

    I like #4. Especially if you add a border, ’cause it’ll probably be shown on a white background. {8′>

  34. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 3:07 pm

    Keith and Travis — oh wow. I love both of those. And your rats are wayyyyyy more sinister than mine.

    Travis, I hardly even think that rat needs any cleanup. The sketchiness of it goes very well with the “sketchy” nature of rats.

    Damn. I’m impressed. May I add these to the blog entry so people won’t miss them? (I’ll probably remove the first three, since they’ve already been shredded by the Commentariat.)

  35. Keith Perkins
    Keith Perkins October 20, 2012 3:07 pm

    Sure, that’s why I did it. 🙂

  36. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 3:08 pm

    David — Yeah, funny thing, that. I keep thinking in terms of physical pages, where the boundary is obvious. Border. Yes, border …

  37. Travis
    Travis October 20, 2012 3:34 pm

    Do as you wish with mine. You may have it. Let me know if you need a scan or the original.

  38. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 3:38 pm

    Travis, I just put it in the post. Right now I’m feeling a little mind-boggled about all this. But it strikes me that whether or not it goes into a book cover, it could be a sort of mascot that goes with the book.

    Must adjust my brain and think …

  39. Travis
    Travis October 20, 2012 3:55 pm

    Cool.

  40. Pat
    Pat October 20, 2012 4:18 pm

    Are you making a final decision now, Claire? I’d kind of like to see Travis’s spying rat incorporated into it somehow – since spying definitely works from both sides of the legal system where snitching is concerned. But the cover would need some color. And I don’t know how or if the STOP sign would fit in.

    I’m glad it’s *your* decision. 🙂

  41. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 4:31 pm

    Pat — Right now my little brain isn’t up to deciding anything. I was surprised and delighted when “input” turned into design and illustration that were better than I could do. Now I’m just going to sit back and enjoy for a while.

    BTW, an old friend of the blog (who has retired from all involvement in “political” matters) will create a plain-and-simple page for the book and host it on his servers. Once that’s up, I’ll maintain the site and encourage people to mirror it.

    Anon Layout Guy also suggested I ask somebody to put up a Facebook page for the book. I know nothing about Facebook, so sometime next week I’ll see if anybody wants to start and maintain such a thing.

    The only snag so far is that if the book also goes on Amazon, which it really should for widest exposure, they won’t allow perpetually free distribution. We would have to charge some minimum price for copies sold through them, which raises the issue of what to do with that money.

  42. Tahn
    Tahn October 20, 2012 4:46 pm

    Claire,
    Sorry to chime in late but this thought came to me. If you search “Rat” or “Rats” on Amazon there are thousands, mostly about rodents but if you search “Snitch”, not near so many. How about the name “Snitches” with a rat pictured within a “no circle”. Don’t know what they are called but you know the circle with the slanted line to show “Not Allowed”. Just a thought.

  43. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 5:19 pm

    Tahn — You’re not chiming in late.

    Well, yes you are, but not in the way you think. Only after this thread started did I remember that the domain name I bought a month ago is rats-nosnitch.com. So “rats” is a given.

    However, you make a good point. And I believe that having the word “snitch” along with all those other words in the subtitle will make the book findable under that term. Hope so, anyhow.

  44. David
    David October 20, 2012 5:58 pm

    Claire-

    Actually there’s a loophole in the Amazon pricing thing. If you have the book listed for free elsewhere (you can use Smashwords, I think, to get it to B&N, iBooks, Kobo, & maybe more…I haven’t done this yet b/c my books are exclusive to Amazon at the moment) Amazon will then price-match. Maybe they’ll do it even if you offer a free download on a standard website, though results appear to vary with that.

    There would probably be a delay before they got around to price-matching (though there’s a link on every book page @ Amazon that lets readers report a lower price), but you could price it at $.99 until then.

    I could do the FB page, if you like. Or you could…it’s pretty easy. The main issue with that, though, is that it’d be better if somebody updates it fairly often–like a lot of other things, it’s easy to set up but a lot of work to keep going. And I’m not the right person for that, b/c as you know I have no experience in this area. Yet. Which I kinda hope remains true in the future.

    HTH.

  45. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 6:05 pm

    David — Thanks, that’s interesting on the price matching. Still slightly incomprehensible to my inexperienced-with-epubbing mind. But interesting. I’m sure I’ll understand better as we go. Smashwords? I’d better go find out what Smashwords is … are … might be. I sure would love it to be free on Amazon.

    Thanks for the offer on the FB page! And good point on needing somebody who would keep it going. I admit I wouldn’t. I loathe FB and am not a member. But I know there are a few people around here who think it’s the cat’s pajamas. So maybe I’ll post something on the blog next week and some dedicated Facebooker will speak up.

  46. UnReconstructed
    UnReconstructed October 20, 2012 6:18 pm

    Darn,

    Wheres Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth and the Rat Fink when you need them?

  47. David
    David October 20, 2012 6:31 pm

    FWIW you can actually set several “admins” on a facebook page. Which might help. I dunno.

  48. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 7:00 pm

    Rat Fink? Rat Fink! OMG, UnReconstructed, now there’s a blast from the past. I used to have one of those Revell Rat Fink models when I was a kid.

    But LOL, he’s way to pleasant a rat for present purposes.

  49. Claire
    Claire October 20, 2012 7:02 pm

    David — Thanks for the FB admin info. Who knows? Maybe a couple of people will want to be a team on a page for the book.

    One of them will not, alas, be me. Sorry. I really do want to get the word out and I’ll do everything else I can to make the book available, get sites to mirror its download page, etc. But FB? I do not go there …

  50. Bear
    Bear October 20, 2012 7:33 pm

    If you want this mirrored and spread freely, I’ll host it on my server, too (looks like I’m good for another year+ there, thanks to a little help — “Brytni” donation).

    For that matter, I’d have to look into the details, but if you were to place this in the public domain or use one of the GNU licenses, I think you could get it on Gutenberg, as well. I thought about that for my own books, but never got a round tuit. But this is a little more valuable than crappy SF, so I can check if you want.

  51. Joel
    Joel October 20, 2012 9:06 pm

    I like these new covers a lot.

  52. Claire
    Claire October 21, 2012 6:49 am

    Thanks, Bear! That’s great of you. It will be published with a creative commons license (unlimited distribution for non-commercial purposes, with attribution and no changes). Hadn’t even though about it getting Gutenberged, but that’s a good idea.

  53. Bear
    Bear October 21, 2012 8:25 am

    Well, Gutenberg does publish new works, but everything I’m finding (so far) in their how-to FAQs is about sorting out pre-1923 expired copyright material. I gave up and emailed an inquiry for exactly what they require.

  54. LarryA
    LarryA October 21, 2012 3:29 pm

    Out of left field: Is the book really about “stopping” snitches or snitching? I’m not sure how you could do that. Convincing snitches to quit reporting, then being able to trust them, seems unlikely. Disappearing snitches could cause you even more trouble than their reports.

    I’d think the main strategy would be to detect and isolate them.

    Maybe like a rat in a cage.

  55. Claire
    Claire October 21, 2012 3:51 pm

    “I’d think the main strategy would be to detect and isolate them.”

    That’s pretty much what the book is about LarryA. Recognize, avoid, isolate — and not fall victim to their ploys.

    It also covers what to do if you get arrested and ways to avoid being pressured into becoming a snitch yourself.

    Nope, I don’t think anybody is under the illusion that snitches themselves can be reformed or ever trusted again.

    Oh. Wait. I see. You’re wondering whether “STOP Snitchin'” is the right meme. Hm. In a way, in a way not …

  56. cctyker
    cctyker October 21, 2012 5:49 pm

    I wish to say the two words — “Stop” and “Snitching” — should be the same font size, or better yet, “Snitching”, should be slightly larger.

    The book’s subject is Snitching, Stop is the action step.

    Besides, STOP is a bureaucrat’s shout; screw those humanoids.

  57. Laird
    Laird October 22, 2012 11:22 am

    I don’t have anything to contribute on the graphics/title front, but I do have a small question: what is the difference between “informers” and “informants”? And is it substantial enough that you need both words in the subtitle? I’d eliminate one of them.

  58. Claire
    Claire October 22, 2012 11:57 am

    Laird, it occurred to me over the weekend that maybe I should just have made the subtitle “The anti-snitch book” instead of all that. It is quite a mouthful. But since I made it a mouthful, I set out to make it a BIG mouthful. 🙂

    I actually have a reason for including all those words — search engines.

    But then, that’s the beauty of e-publishing. If that subtitle doesn’t do the job, we can go back and shorten it later.

  59. Claire
    Claire October 22, 2012 11:59 am

    And the difference between informers and informants … it’s just eye of the beholder, but I find that it matters a lot to me (though that difference is never explained in the book). The state likes to call its snitches “informants” because they think that makes them sound respectable. The old word “informer” drips with the contempt such people really deserve.

    Same sort of rat. Different perspective.

  60. just waiting
    just waiting October 22, 2012 12:26 pm

    Informer=1 time

    Informant=regularly

    Either=rat

  61. Claire
    Claire October 22, 2012 12:28 pm

    Yeah. That too, possibly. Well-said, jw.

  62. Jim Bovard
    Jim Bovard October 22, 2012 1:26 pm

    “Commentarial” is an awkward, artificial-sounding word. Can you get something earthier?

  63. Jim Bovard
    Jim Bovard October 22, 2012 1:29 pm

    also, ‘snitching’ needs to be much more visible – the STOP overwhelms the add-in

  64. Claire
    Claire October 22, 2012 1:58 pm

    Jim — Keith is already in the process of enlarging the word “snitching.”

    And “Commentarial” is my goof. It’s supposed to be “Commentariat” — which Keith got right and I got wrong. Yeah, I realize that might not be much clearer. But I’m thinking people will make the connection with terms like “commissar” or “proletariat” or … whatever. It’s better than “peanut gallery.” 🙂

  65. Claire
    Claire October 22, 2012 2:24 pm

    BTW, as I haven’t yet made clear … Keith’s cover is The One. And Travis’ rat will be a “mascot” placed somewhere in the book and/or on the book’s web site. Thanks guys. Your fun surprises from Saturday turned out to be more than just fun.

    Bill St. Clair is hosting (with Bear already volunteering to mirror).

    Anonymous Layout Guy is roaring along on layout and formatting. The plan is to have four versions of the book available: Kindle (mobi), HTML, pdf, and epub. I’ve already seen two of them. The HTML is gorgeous. The mobi needs work — mostly thanks to my own lack of knowledge about that format’s limitations.

    Things are really moving now.

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