The importance of illustration

Back, long ago, in the days of pulp fiction and fifty cent novels, illustration was king. There was a reason for this. People, in general, are drawn to beautiful things. Granted beauty can be subjective for each individual from a splatter of black and white on an austere surface all the way upwards to a grandiloquent baroque-like tapestry of color and form grafted to a forty-foot plaster wall. In the case of the novel and short story, publishers from long ago understood this concept.

As indie authors we understand this in regard to the book cover. There are wonderful instructions and posts that can be found in every corner of the web extolling the virtue of a beautiful cover. I have heard many stories of how an indie author revised the cover of their novel and increased sales overnight. In the world of electronic publishing, just as in the world of print publishing onto paper, the first element that many inquisitive readers see is the cover. If it stands out to the reader and arouses their imagination they are inclined to look inside.

And this is where my story begins. It is a story concerning interior art.

Yesterday, I posted a map that belonged in the novel Stormwalkers. When this novel was written both Eric and I decided to worry over the map at a later date. We first had to have a presentable novel that a publisher would be interested in. The book was written back in the 90's and at the time electronic publishing was but a dream, unrealized. The etiquette for manuscript submissions did not call for any art, because this was a guarantee after the sale—provided by the publisher in most cases. When years had passed and the novel didn't fly, the map seemed superfluous in light of my busy schedule. But when we decided to publish electronically back in 2011, we began to discuss the need for a map. This also faded from our view as our lives again became very busy. But recently, while renewing the push for our writing an idea came to me that I hope to implement soon. While constructing our blogs I thought, why not bring illustration back to the fore? Since my first vocational choice as a young man was illustration I thought this would not be too difficult a thing to do. Incorporating my art into the blogs and into the books would just be an organic process.

So, yesterday I published the raw map, a portion of the Stormwalker world, onto the web. The immediate result: book sales. The map is raw because it is still missing many elements, but the lesson is clear. Illustration matters.

In later posts I will be discussing this very important point and how other authors can work this for their benefit and the benefit of the many fine illustrators that are still out there. I am very fortunate that my skill sets are in syncopation, but I will say this: Many of you are artists and writers, use this skill to your advantage. For those that would like to incorporate illustration into their novels, (And you should.) there are many young, hungry, illustrators out there looking for cash to get them through university. They are plying their trade by the thousands out on the web, some for very reasonable prices.

Anyway . . .

Best Always!