I should hope by now that when I mention the name ‘Jo Fletcher’ to you I invoke fond memories; memories of fantastic, unforgettable books that span a range of our favourite sub-genres.
For those who just pick up books and don’t really pay attention to who publishers what, let me educate you: Jo Fletcher is the top-top-boss over at ‘Jo Fletcher Books’. She is one of Britain’s most successful editors, and earned this label by working with the likes of Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman and Patrick Rothfuss (amongst others) in one of the highest editorial positions attainable at Gollancz. A few years back she left her long-time position over at Gollancz (much to their dismay, I am sure!) to start her own imprint with the support of Quercus Books.
Although we might not have seen the same ‘quantity’ of books as Gollancz from JFB (Jo’s team is very small), the quality has been second-to-none. I’d argue that this smaller and more controlled dynamic has helped the label tremendously. Having a small team means that each book is a big deal for the label and means that each and every book is chosen very, very carefully and that when it is eventually signed everything is put into editing and promoting it. Knowing some of Jo’s authors I also know that she is massively supportive of them and involves them every step of the way.
What I have come to love about releases from Jo Fletcher is that they publish a little something for every one, no matter what your taste. I think we’ve already seen 2014’s debut of the year from Jo Fletcher Books (in Sebastien de Castell’s fantasy novel Traitor’s Blade), but having just started on their latest, The Child Eater, this weekend I don’t think Jo’s content with just the likely title of best debut. The Child Eater is Jo throwing her name into the hat for ‘best novel’ too.
On Earth, the Wisdom family has always striven to be more normal than normal. But Simon Wisdom, the youngest child, is far from normal: he can see the souls of the dead. And now the ghosts of children are begging him to help them, as they face something worse than death. The only problem is, he doesn’t know how.
In a far-away land of magic and legends, Matyas has dragged himself up from the gutter and inveigled his way into the Wizards’ college. In time, he will become more powerful than all of them – but will his quest blind him to the needs of others? For Matyas can also hear the children crying.
But neither can save the children alone, for the child eater is preying on two worlds…
Now, having read a good portion of the book – it’s hard to put down – I can tell you that it is something pretty unique, maybe even a little bit special. At first, reading the book is like spotting two strange shapes through frosty glass. This lasts for about 3 or 4 chapters; all the time these objects getting clearer. By about chapters 4 and 5 you realise that these two objects are in-fact puzzle pieces. It becomes evident these puzzle pieces must come together at some point, but how on Earth they fit you will initially have no idea, but that’s the fun of it! Rachel’s writing is lyrical, simple and gives you the feeling you are being told a fairy story. Indeed, if I was to describe the book I think the best way I could do so is by saying that it is a fairy-tale for adults with wide and very modern inspiration – from authors such as J.K. Rowling to Patrick Rothfuss. Don’t think it’s all light and lovely though – severed heads, blood drained bodies and nightmarish angels await you very early on.
The folks over at Jo Fletcher are so excited about this book that they’ve decided to try something new to promote it and help it gain the attention it deserves. Digital Books are, well… Digital and that opens up a few possibilities. The Child Eater will be one of the first eBooks to feature a digital cover, check this out:
It’s a pretty stunning cover anyway (I’ve seen the hardback and the purple and gold really pop off the page), but the animated version really stops you in your tracks – it’s subtle, but it draws your eyes. Wanting to know more about the chosen design and the process behind creating it, I got in touch with Jo Fletcher’s Art Department and asked them for some insider details behind its creation and some thoughts on whether animated book covers are the future:
Creating the image – Paul Oakley
Along with favourable reviews and referrals, a great looking cover is all but essential for getting your book noticed. Acting as mini posters they entice the potential reader with images and type not to pass by, but look further and start reading.
So with all those book covers competing for readers’ attention, how can you make your work stand out? One answer is with animation. There are a small but growing number of titles which now employ moving images and graphics to attract attention.
Making use of the multimedia capabilities of the internet and the diverse ways people can access online content, the animated book cover is just starting to make its mark.
What goes into making an animated cover? Most obvious is a good cover design, although in some cases where the design falls short, animation can come to the rescue. The animation should enhance the cover, not overpower it. Remember your readers will still need to recognise the static version of your cover when it is displayed without its dancing graphics. Often discreet movement can be very successful. An example would be the eyes of a portrait gently blinking, wisps of hair moving in the wind. Landscapes could have clouds traveling across the sky, mist swirling around or sea waves gently undulating.
Of course one can go for a more graphic approach with a buildup of the cover’s elements. You could have an empty forest with your character gently materialising into view, with the book title following.
More ambitious productions can take influence from movie trailers by employing cross fades, emotive words as text trailing across the cover and brief video clips. Although care needs to exercised not to overcook this, as it will be displayed in a loop and may become tiring on repeat.
The geeky stuff:
The Child Eater cover uses the straight forward technique of frame animation (one picture being replaced by another with a slight change made to give the illusion of movement. The software used was Adobe Photoshop, using the animation/timeline function and exporting the file as an animated GIF. The choice of using Photoshop was chiefly governed by the original cover artwork being in the application to begin with. A simple but effective orbit of the moon was produced along with a fade in of the title and author name to complete the picture. One of the biggest challenges of any animation cover is to keep the file size down for rapid download on webpages. This is achieved by trimming frames to a minimum and reducing the number of colours used. The GIF file format is used because most web browsers can display it without a problem.
As I said, I am REALLY enjoying this book so sent an e-mail across to Jo Fletcher asking for more details about how she came across it and why she felt it suited her label. Here’s what she had to say:
Why I bought The Child Eater – Jo Fletcher
You want to know why particularly I bought this book? Well, for the same reason I buy any book for JFB: because I can’t live without it.
Oh. You want more? Well, Rachel Pollack doesn’t write anywhere near enough fiction (although she’s very active in the Tarot genre), and I was dead keen to be able to introduce her to a whole new readership who have not yet had the enormous pleasure of reading her previous books, including Unquenchable Fire, which won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and is a Gollancz Masterwork.
I started reading the manuscript for The Child Eater with enormously high expectations, and I wasn’t very far into the book before I realised I could stop worrying; that it was every bit as good as I expect from Rachel. It’s set in both the modern world and a fantasy world, but the interaction between the two is completely unlike most books of this type. In fact, the protagonists are pretty unusual too – maybe that’s another reason why I badly wanted this on the JFB list.
But the final reason is in fact the most important one: I couldn’t put it down. When a manuscript makes you stay up all night, or miss your tube or bus stop, or leaves you dreaming about it, then as a publisher, you have to take notice.
So I did. And that’s why we’re publishing The Child Eater next month.
So, as you can see, me and Jo are in agreement on this one… If I can get a sample chapter on Fantasy-Faction at some point I’m certainly going to do so because I think this is the kind of book that will capture you within a single Chapter. Look out for it next month, people!
Richard Marpole
Jennie Ivins