Graphic Designing Success

This week we have discussed all things designer when it comes to formatting your manuscript. There is the pivotal book cover that can make or break your audience, unique artwork to keep the reader intrigued throughout reading, and now there’s only one bit left.

Graphic design!

Graphic Design Success

Before and after the release of your book, graphic design needs to be on the forefront of your “To-Do” list. Whether or not you have a team of professionals backing your book, an author needs to have multiple hats to help their book succeed in a time where there are a lot of books available. Give yourself a crash course on simple graphic design, and you’ll find the ideas are endless when it comes to promoting your manuscript!

By no means do you need to classify yourself as an expert. Anyone and everyone can get online, find some commercial free stock images, and throw together an illustration that can make anyone do a double take. The easiest way to gather up some ideas is by scrolling through as many social media accounts you can. Search up some inspiration and jot down any thoughts that come to mind. Remember to ride on the trends, but to always make it your own.

Audiences love authenticity. 

No matter what situation you find yourself in that needs promoting, remember that your audience can see through fakeness, and won’t pursue you if they don’t feel like there’s a human being on the other side of the screen. 

Furthering this idea, it’s incredibly important to discuss AI has an author looking to promote their work. When I say an audience loves authenticity, it also means that readers can spot Artificial Intelligence from a mile away. Artwork, video footage, and text that is procured by an AI through ideas of the creator, is never a good thing to use for promoting your work. While it may seem like the creative industry is divided on this issue, the majority leans towards anti-AI products. Readers don’t want to try and enjoy something created by a robot! 

While social media can be filled with designs feeded into an AI system, you have to be good at spotting the difference. When I’m scrolling through Pinterest either looking for a fun new recipe or some images to use for my own designing purposes, it’s hard to see the line between something that had been created by AI versus a real person. Something that helps me differentiate between are some miniscule details. Not only will the comments be flooded with whether or not the immediate audience can tell it’s AI, there are also some telling signs within an AI constructed image that can give it’s true ownership away.

The easiest thing to pay attention to are hands. For some reason, AI has a hard time figuring out human hands. There will always be something in the image that will feel off to you, as a human being. Remember to take a closer look when making your graphic designs to avoid any issues an audience might catch! 

For some people that might enjoy using AI to feed them some creative ideas, this might come across as a bummer. But fear not! This is where scrolling through social media comes in. As people who are working in the same boat, use others as inspiration! If you use a trend started by another author, credit them while also making it your own. The key to graphic designs that work across platforms is the ability to make it unique.

Your story is already the most unique thing about you! You are the only person who could’ve written it, and thus are the only person able to promote it to the fullest!

Thanks for tuning in. See you soon :)