The Busiest Art Director in New York

Writers..we yak about our covers endlessly, but who do we talk to? Each other mostly and what do we know?

Today we're getting the chance to listen to someone who actually has some of the answers.

Jungle Red welcomes David Baldeosingh Rotstein, Art Director of Minotaur Books/Palgrave Macmillan, Senior Art Director, St. Martin's Press
DR: Hi Rosemary. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share some thoughts about the book cover design process.

JR: So, first question..How busy are you? We all know lots of books come out every month - how many covers do you work on in an average year?

DR: It’s hard to believe, but I work on well over 150 book covers a year. Some of the covers I design personally, while others I Art Direct. A few colleagues have said that I am the busiest Art Director in New York.

Working on so many projects is certainly challenging, but it has great benefits as well. It requires me to streamline my thinking and trust my instincts. It also gives me the opportunity to work on many kinds of books ranging from mysteries and novels, to biographies and cookbooks. It’s a very stimulating environment for creativity.

JR: I doubt it's possible, but do you read every book that you work on?

DR: All of the books I work on are read in some measure. I need to read enough of a book to understand how to package it.

Books are like people. Sometimes you get a sense of a person within two minutes of meeting them and feel like you’ve known them your entire life. Other personalities require more time and closer examination before you can begin to uncover a core message. This issue is not exclusively a function of the writing style alone, but is also determined by my experiences and familiarities. Sometimes the great idea comes to me on page one, and those covers are just as powerful as ideas that took longer to develop.

Another thing to realize is that book covers are always communicating with an audience that has not yet read the book. I typically need to pull myself back and pretend that I know nothing about the book. Over the years I’ve had so many covers where the payoff to the cover was contingent upon having read a certain passage. This approach is one that authors and editors love because they are so close to the project, but it’s not an approach that targets the real audience.

JR: I adore the cover for Dead Head and can't seem to stop slapping it on postcards, bookmarks and other promotional materials, but what happens if the great idea doesn't come?

What's the longest amount of time you've ever spent designing a cover? (Please don't tell me it was Dirt Nap)

DR: Six months of design is probably the longest span. Some books literally have dozens of versions of a cover. Dirt Nap is certainly on the list, but it is not even close to being among the longest ones.

JR: I'm really glad to hear that! (I have to add if the title of the book had not been changed, the process might not have been so torturous. But, I digress...)

Is there one cover that you are most proud of?

DR: I’m always most proud of solutions where I succeed in trying something new or increase my scope and range. I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite cover, there are just too many.

Your book Dead Head would certainly be on that list though, because it was a new kind of solution for me.

JR: Well, Death Will Get You Sober by Liz Zelvin ranks as one of my favorites..how did you come up with the idea for your dramatic, Anthony-nominated cover?

DR: I wanted to feature a drink but my initial versions of the glass spilling or falling were too static and lacked the sense of energy and violence that I was seeking. So I explained the idea to my photographer and had the image photographed with a high-speed strobe.

JR: Very cool. I'm just about to finish my fourth book and I've already got some ideas for the cover! What information can the author give her publisher to help the art department?

DR: It’s very helpful for authors to communicate what they like, especially if they have strong ideas. But if an author does not feel covers are their strength, then it can cause difficulty. Comparison book jackets can be great. Saying “I want the cover to feel like an Ella Fitzgerald song” can speak volumes.

My favorite questions are: Who is the audience for this book? What emotion, mood or tone should the cover convey? Should the cover feel epic and sweeping or intimate and precious? Dark and moody or bright and sunny? Masculine or feminine?

Authors can also be very specific: photography vs illustration? Full bleed artwork vs small spot art? Or one can suggest a specific a scene to depict, or a conceptual idea.

I have two big cautions. One is to avoid the cover trying to do too much: it can’t be funny but also serious (even though the book itself has both aspects). The best packages focus on one.

Caution two is to not feel that you have to try to come up with cover ideas yourself. Professional graphic designers and art directors struggle to create their solutions. If you are struggling with the cover (or even if you’re not), then don’t be afraid to simply ask the art director figure it out.

JR: David, thanks so much for visiting and JR readers if you have any questions for David, fire away because in the time it took you to read this blog David has already gotten another book cover to design. Check in over the weekend for comments and questions.

Philadelphia Story

Meet Cordelia Frances Biddle

Today we're visiting with one of our very first friends on Jungle Red, Cordelia Frances Biddle.

Cordelia is the author of the Martha Beale series set in 19th century Philadelphia, and if there's anyone who knows Philly, it's Cordelia. There have been Biddles in Philadelphia since the 1680's.

I had a chance to catch up with Cordelia when I was in town for the Flower Show and she was taking a break from touring for her latest novel, Without Fear. This latest installment of the Martha Beale series was inspired by a serendipitous conversation at one of her talks.

"I was speaking at the Union League when a gentleman asked me if I knew about the headless corpse that had been found on an ice floe in the Delaware River during the 19th century." That research lead her to the Joseph Bonaparte estate just outside of Philadelphia.

"Without Fear is not that particular story, but that was the start of my research. Of course, I've added a corpse or two!"

In Without Fear Martha Beale is exposed to the grandiose – albeit sinister - realm of the former Comte de Survilliers, Joseph Bonaparte, at his estate Point Breeze on the Delaware River while also drawing her into the dangerous world of Philadelphia’s textile workers. The time is March, 1843; the city (“the Athens of America”) is a place divided between the heights of culture and sophistication, as epitomized by the Bonaparte family; and the depths of squalor experienced by the mill hands and other common laborers. When a headless corpse is discovered on the Bonaparte estate, Martha is drawn into a world of mistaken identities, vanished wives and thwarted desires.

Cordelia's scrupulous attention to detail is one of the things that really sets her books apart. She can routinely be found at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Founded by Ben Franklin in 1731, the Library Company houses 400,000 books, including first editions of Moby Dick and Leaves of Grass. It's also home to centuries of old newspapers which Cordelia pores over looking for that snippet of information which will add yet another layer to her prose.

"You can tell as much about the time by the advertisments, the shipping news and the weather as well as the articles."

As a direct descendant of Nicholas Biddle, Cordelia is also fortunate enough to have access to a treasure trove of legend and history in both the family archives and in the reminiscences of relatives.

"I can remember one elderly relative telling me that the secret to a successful marriage was to make one's husband think he's smarter than you. And she believed it."

That may still be true but it does show how times have changed. With all research, it's important to know when to stop. A former actress, Cordelia frequently gives talks in an elegant period costume, but she is not one to be trapped in her hoopskirt.

"There are no exhaustive footnotes necessary in my books.." And that's true, the research is there but it is seamlessly tied into her compelling stories.
Cordelia is also (with her husband Steve, a playwright) the author of the Nero Blanc crossword puzzle series, and she is currently working on a biography of one of her illustrious ancestors.

Cordelia will be here today and tomorrow to chat and answer questions. You can also visit her on her website http://www.cordeliafrancesbiddle.com/

How many more days until Spring??

RO: Just about every year for the past 20 years I've gone to the Philadelphia Flower Show. Some years it's better than others - or maybe it's my expectations. Or perhaps there's a direct relationship to how much snow is on the ground! In any event flower show season signals the beginning of the end of winter and a lot of us are ready for that.

This year the theme was Passport to the World and it was one of the best shows in the last 10 years. None of the pictures will do it justice....the giant hot air balloon made out of flowers, the moss elephant, the African manyatta. (In fact those pix wouldn't load for some reason...)

The parrots from the Brazilian garden refused to stay put and there was no shortage of anxiety as they flew around the convention center, screeching and threatening to, um, make a deposit on someone's prized plant.

As usual the orchids were spectacular. As someone who's killed every orchid she's ever touched these other-worldly plants never fail to mesmerize me, and the ones at the show are flawless.
Of course I went to the show for myself..and I do volunteer there at the Horticultural Information Booth. It's one of the most nervewracking things I do all year long.

With the advent of cellphone cameras, anyone can take a picture with their cell and bring it up to the info desk and ask...Why did my plant die? or What's the name of this plant? I think there was only one the hort team couldn't identify, but talk about pressure! Two hundred opportunities to feel like an idiot in a three hour period.

I'm also working on book four in my Dirty Business series which is set at a flower show and the thing that most astounded me in Philly this year was the existence of an urban garden display exactly like one that I had created in my story. It was uncanny! Has anyone ever had that happen...something you've made up turns out to exist??

HANK: Oh, sure. Absolutely. Frighteningly so. Hilariously so. Where to start...
First, I struggled to come up with a name for a very important character in my Charlotte McNally books. He needed a last name--I wanted it to be of indeterminate ehtnicity, strong, two syllables. My first boyfriend (age 10 or so) had the last name "Gelston." So I thought--okay, Gelston, that'll work. But his real first name was (is) Phillip. And I couldn't use that, of course, because of Phillippi in my name.
So I thought: I need a one syllable first name. Strong, masculine, not cute, potentially but not necessarily romantic, appropriate for someone who's fifty or so. Jake, I decided. Ben. Luke. Nick. Sam. Josh. Josh! And so in that complicated way, Josh Gelston was born.

And then soon after PRIME TIME came out, I got an email. And the subject line was: "from Josh Gelston." He was a real guy (and very cool, I might add!) And he has a brother named Ben! And now we're Facebook friends.

And just after I wrote a character who is an undercover investigator for the IRS, it was BIZARRE when a glass mug appeared by the coffee machine in our office--with the logo "Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division." No one knew where it came from.
I have to admit, I'm still a little creeped out by that.

RO: Mundo Bizarro. Life imitating art?

A lot of what we write about is as they say "ripped from the headlines" but what if the headlines are hundreds of years old? In Philly for the show I had a chance to visit with one of my favorite Philadelphians. Stop by tomorrow when we chat with Cordelia Frances Biddle, author of Without Fear, the latest in her Martha Beale series

And the winner is...

RO: Forget about Barbara Walters making people cry...show me the dresses. If you had the perfect body and could afford anything in the world - or had it thrown at you for free..why in the world would you wear that?? An itty-bitty jacket that makes you look like one of the dancing elephants in fantasia. A frilly bathrobe with a blue belt?
The names stand out even if some of the hideous outfits have been forgotten. Demi Moore in the bicycle shorts, Geena Davis in something white and weird which I think she lent to Kim Basinger a few years later, Cher in the Vegas showgirl headress. (I confess, I thought Bjork looked cute in the swan dress.)

If the point is for us to remember them, no worries,it worked. And the men get in on this, too. Mickey Rourke? Ewwww. I prefer to remember him as he was in Nine and a Half Weeks or The Pope of Greenwich Village.

HANK: Remember--Celine Dion? In what looked like a jacket on backwards?

RO: YES! I thought she'd lost her mind!

HANK: My mother always says they wear those ridiculous outfits because they'll be certain to get their photo in magazines. It's the "just spell my name right" theory.
(When people say to me--"Put me on TV!" I always tell them--"You have to do something really really good, or something really really bad." Same goes with clothes, I guess.)

RO: No thoroughly ridiculous outfits tonight. Too bad. In fact, surprisingly tame and a little boring.

HANK again: Watching the show right now. Is it me? Is everyone weird? Did that woman just get up and start talking in the midst of the acceptance speech for best short? What was that Neil Patrick Harris song? "The best two since Dolly Parton?" That's supposed to be funny? I do like Cameron Diaz's dress. And everything by Armani Prive. And I keep saying "Who's that? Who's that?" Sigh.
But I must say--this is a WEIRD program.

RO: YUP! Every once in a while I think...who are these people??

Hank: What's up with George Clooney?

RO: Yes...George is on drugs tonight. Happy for Jeff and Sandra...but...WTF..that was so not the Best Movie. Do they totally hate James Cameron or what? And it's not just that I probably lost the Oscar pool at the party. I get it...war is not healthy for children and other living things..Peace, man.. but this was not about war..it was about the movies. I don't suppose it's going to hurt Avatar at the box office but it is a reminder that all awards are subjective.

Handicapping the Oscars

ROBERTA: The Academy Awards are coming this weekend! I don't pretend to be a movie expert--I haven't even seen all the nominees. But I won't let that stop me from having opinions... Here they are:

Best actor: I did like George Clooney in UP IN THE AIR, but in the end he couldn't hold a candle to the dissipated country music star played by Jeff Bridges in CRAZY HEART. I'll be disappointed if Bridges doesn't get it.

Best actress: As with Clooney, I admired Sandra Bullock in THE BLIND SIDE--and I haven't liked much of what she's done lately. But she was overshadowed by Meryl Streep in JULIE AND JULIA and Gabourey Sidibe in PRECIOUS (astonishing movie!) I have to go with Streep for her chameleon-like performance as Julia Child.

Best supporting actress: this has to go to Mo'Nique in PRECIOUS. Was she not one of the most terrifying mothers ever played on film?

Best picture: PRECIOUS

I had the chance to see both the animated and the live action shorts. The word this year is DARK. My goodness, is anything wrong with a nice romance? Anyway, I'd vote for THE NEW TENANTS in the live action division--dark as all get-out, but a measure of black humor thrown in.

JAN: Live action division??? There's a live action division?? That shows you how long its been since I've sat down and watched the Oscars. You can't trust any nomination from me because I just nominate the actors from the movies I've happened to have seen. But given, that, I'll vote for Meryl Streep as Julia Child.

HANK: Um, well, um. I'm usually the big movie person, but this year I'm pitifully out of the loop. (Can we talk about, maybe, Lawrence of Arabia? Okay, not that bad. But..) Anyway, we did see Up in the Air, I think it was the movie we saw last year--and I loved it. I think the actress who played the young trainee was terrific (she's nominated, right?), and Vera Farmiga was wonderfull too. And whoever wrote the screenplay. And the director.

And I can't imagine how Geroge Clooney must feel--I mean, wasn't he a shoo-in until Jeff Bridges?

HALLIE: I've been hanging out under the same rock as Hank. Did see Julie and Julia and thought La Streep was amazing. Saw AVATAR (just this past weekend) which I thoroughly enjoyed but would so NOT award it best picture. Its "Transformers go to war" ending was predictable and loud and endless. I also saw SERIOUS MAN which I hated. Hated. HATED. Sigh. I'm still catching up on last year's (loved The Wrestler - Mickey Rourke was astonishing; also Sean Penn's Milk).

RHYS: I've just realized how out of the loop I am. I saw Julie and Julia, and adored it. Meryl Streep is the person I most want as my friend. She seems funny and witty and brilliant and I know I'd never be bored with her. Whats' more she's my age and she looks fantastic! I thought I was going to have to suffer through Avatar, but avoided it. And why do movies always have to be so loud. I have super sensitive hearing and can't endure most action movies.
Apart from those the only movies I saw this year were feel-good, or kids, or foreign with my friends movie-group. I liked Coco before Chanel.
This year I promise to be a better movie-goer. And one exciting side bar. My son gets to sing at an Oscar Party in LA. He's hoping it will lead to wonderful things.

RO: I like to watch. No...I'm not channeling Peter Sellers in Being There. I'm talking Oscars! I always watch. And I stay up until the bitter end, because after all if you've slogged through the boring bits you want to stick around for the payoff, right?

This year I haven't seen many of the nominated movies..as of this writing..An Education, Hurt Locker and Crazy Heart. I just don't get out much anymore (!) That won't stop me from plunking down my twenty bucks and entering the Oscar pool at a party I've been going to for the last fifteen years. (I never would have guessed it's been that long but remarkably I still have the $25 Gift Book from City Cinemas Theatres that I won at the party in 1997. I haven't won since. I guess it's like most awards...there are the people you think should win and the people you think WILL win.

Here are my picks for the majors...
Avatar
James Cameron
Coraline
Jeff Bridges
Sandra Bullock
Mo'nique
and this is my longshot..Stanley Tucci. This is borne out of pure fan geekdom. I adore Stanley Tucci.

ROBERTA: Okay so for JRW, Meryl Streep is a shoo-in. How about you JRreaders? Do you like to watch? Have a favorite?