Acknowledgements
It's obvious how much an artist does for children's books. A children's book is nothing without a great artist, but there is so, so, so much more to design work. Do you ever think about giving credit to the graphic designer when you read a novel? Someone has, because the colophon page is dedicated to paying credit to all that the graphic designer does. So, my question is why don't more of us give credit where credit is due?
I am guilty of it myself. Until we started publishing, I had no idea how much work graphic designers put into each novel. There are all sorts of technical little thing such as font and font size, but did you know that there is a whole set of rules that go with the typed layout like you never leave words alone on a line unless they are so many letters. I sure didn't. I open up word. I type, and that's that.
Then, they have to get the whole document formatted to fit the desired book size. It has to meet certain criteria set by the printers, and all of this is on top of the cover art. Not just the front cover either, they have to design the front cover the back cover, and the spine too! I had never thought much about the spine or even the back cover for that matter.
We all know how important the front cover is. Never judge a book by its cover and all that. Who goes by that? Sure, we read the title and the synopsis on back, but you can't help looking at the cover. Good cover art can sway us more towards a book, or the opposite, bad cover art leaves us more likely to never pick up that book.
The author wrote a fun story that keeps us on the edge of our seat. That's great, but there is so much more that goes on behind the scenes before that book ever makes it to market. So, the next time you pick up a book, take a good look at the outside covers, all three, and flip back to the colophon page. Go ahead; give credit where credit is due.
