Covering All Titles

As it's a new year, I've finally got around to updating my website and other social media images to include Underword (my most recent poetry collection, published at the end of 2022 - and yes I realise it's taken me a whole year to update things: procrastination is my super power).

As ever, the process is always more complicated than I expect. 

First, I take multiple photographs. Then I whittle them down to the ones I like best. Then I have to pick one that works for the website layout, deal with what ever update changes the hosting platform has introduced since I last updated the infrastructure and upload my chosen photo. This in itself can take a long time and the photo that appears to work best is not always my favourite.

To complicate matters still further, the image that works on the website, doesn't always work for Facebook, or YouTube, or... You get the picture (or rather pictures).

I therefore have to repeat the process for every media site that I update.

Anyway, it's now done for 2024. To give you a flavour of the process and the choices it involves, here are some photos that I've used for this year's makeover.

Covers

The title of this post is 'Covers' because the images are of book covers and because, whilst the images posted here are all mine, two of the cover designs, and the images that have gone into them, are not. In someways it's a bit like covering someone else's song. Hence, 'Covers'.


Cats and Other Myths

This is the cover art from my 2011 poetry collection "Cats and Other Myths". The black and white collage and photographic elements are my own work, but the underlying pencil sketch was done, under duress, by an artist friend of mine.

The final book cover looks like this:



















A DARKER MOON
Next is the wonderfully atmospheric cover of my 2012 dark fiction novel "A Darker Moon". I should so like to claim credit for the images, but I cannot. The cover images are by Vladimir Vitek and James Knopf. Cover design is by the wonderful Maggie Ward.

Songs of Steelyard Sue
The black and white photographic artwork for the cover of my 2012 poetry pamphlet "Songs of Steelyard Sue" was created and photographed by me:

The final cover appears like this:





























Witchlight
This is the rather superb cover of my new paranormal novel, "Witchlight", which comes out in May 2015. Once again cover design is by the super-talented Maggie Ward. Cover images are by Serazetdinov and Naum:

To conclude this post, a rather fine pile of books. I am looking forward to adding to the pile and taking more book photos when I get my hands on the paperback version of "Witchlight" this May.

Out in paperback in May 2015 from Vagabondage Press, Witchlight, a novel by J.S.Watts. Other books by J.S.Watts: A Darker Moon (novel), Vagabondage Press 2012 - ISBN 978-0615706528; Cats and Other Myths (poetry collection), Lapwing Publications 2011 - ISBN 9781907276644; Songs of Steelyard Sue (poetry pamphlet), Lapwing Publications 2012 - ISBN 9781909252028: NOMINATED for BOTH SFPA and Saboteur Awards Best Poetry Pamphlet 2013.