Donald Norman Quotes

Readers are always surprised to learn that authors have little or no input regarding the cover art for their books.

I used to do jacket design, and I'm very conscious of covers, and probably meddle more than other authors would.

I've planned book tours for myself, whether or not anybody wants to hear what I have to say. I've weighed in on things like what the cover looks like, what the copy looks like, how it's going to be promoted - just every aspect of it.

Writers usually don't get to pick our own covers. I know it's surprising to hear that.

Of course, to publish something, you have to write it, polish it, then hire out the line editing, copy editing and cover design. After which, you pick your way through the minefield of conforming to the differing requirements of Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords, or hire someone to do it for you.

I have a strong say in how my books are marketed, and the covers - I am very firm that I don't want pink and fluffy, or stick figures sitting drinking cocktails. That's simply not appealing to me.

You imagine a reader and try to keep the reader interested. That's storytelling. You also hope to reward the reader with a sense of a completed design, that somebody is in charge, and that while life is pointless, the book isn't pointless. The author knows where he is going. That's form.

The design of a book is the pattern of a reality controlled and shaped by the mind of a writer.

Each of my books has taken me a different length of time to write - eight months for 'Seesaw Girl,' eight months for 'Shard,' three years for 'When My Name Was Keoko!' The publisher takes another year and a half to work on the book, so altogether each book can take up to three or four years to publish.

My fictitious characters will take the bit between their teeth and gallop off and do something that I hadn't counted on. However, I always insist on dragging them back to the straight and narrow.

At first my publisher had reservations about publishing it in the form you are familiar with.

I should have my own publishing companies.

Self-publishing worked for me. Being able to put your work in print, even if it's a tiny print-on-demand print run of a dozen or so copies, shows publishers and editors a completed piece of work and that you can follow through on a project.

My biggest role as director on the film is keeping a sense of the overview - how to cast the movie and shoot it in such a way that it will cut together. And how to design the style and tone.

I worked in publishing before I became an author, so I knew how a book gets made.

No matter how well a person writes, a successful book is a team effort involving many, many people.

Authors of books are not given very much control over the films that are made from their books.

Every single one of my books had its title changed almost as we were going to press, for all sorts of different reasons.

One of the biggest differences between you and a traditionally published author is that a self-pubbed author is responsible for everything. Not just writing the book - but cover design, editing, producing, distribution, and publicity as well.

You're at the mercy of the editors' hands.

Everything is different - except for publishing itself: getting hold of an amazing author, working to make his or her book the best and best-looking it can be, telling the world.

I publish my own books, so there isn't a certain editor I owe the book to at a publishing house.

McSweeney's as a publishing company is built on a business model that only works when we sell physical books. So we try to put a lot of effort into the design and production of the book-as-object.

I became interested in making books, starting about 1965, when I did the Serial Project #1, deciding that I needed a small book to show how the work could be understood and how the system worked.

As an author on a corporate press, you have a lot less control over the finished product. I figure if I spend a couple years writing something, I want to be able to decide what the cover looks like and how it's going to be presented.