Zone 1 client Lillian Csernica is a veteran writer whose stories have appeared in Weird Tales among other periodicals, and anthologies that include 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Midnight Movie Creature Feature 2, HORRORS! 365 Scary Stories, and Year's Best Horror Stories XXI.
Wearing her nonfiction hat, Lillian wrote columns for Speculations magazine, an excellent publication for writers that ran from 1995-2006. One of those columns was The Writer's Spellbook, wherein she outlined the principles of creating believable, practical, and well-grounded magic systems for fantasy fiction.
Recently, Lillian decided to use the material in those columns to create an e-book. She brought the book to Zone 1 and hired me to do the cover, interior design, and formatting. The Writer's Spellbook: Creating Magic Systems for Fantasy (US, UK, CA, AU), is the result. Listen up: if you write fantasy, you need this book.
Wearing her nonfiction hat, Lillian wrote columns for Speculations magazine, an excellent publication for writers that ran from 1995-2006. One of those columns was The Writer's Spellbook, wherein she outlined the principles of creating believable, practical, and well-grounded magic systems for fantasy fiction.
Recently, Lillian decided to use the material in those columns to create an e-book. She brought the book to Zone 1 and hired me to do the cover, interior design, and formatting. The Writer's Spellbook: Creating Magic Systems for Fantasy (US, UK, CA, AU), is the result. Listen up: if you write fantasy, you need this book.
The Writer's Spellbook, by Lillian Csernica The idea of a spellbook for writers is enchanting all by itself, and the magical book artwork provided a base on which to build a cover design to attract readers. It's a high-contrast cover that jumps off a sales page and pulls viewers into the concept of practical magic, and of writing as a magical act. I repeated the idea with scroll designs on the title page, chapter headings, and end-of-chapter ornaments.
I also used color throughout, repeating the cover's red in the interior's headers. Color is still quite under-used in e-book design, and I like to include it wherever it works with the spirit of the design I'm creating. Readers have long been accustomed to most fiction and narrative non-fiction being presented in black and white, and while I think some aspects of a book benefit from that restriction, there are still plenty of places to use color in ways that don't interfere with the reading experience.
I also used color throughout, repeating the cover's red in the interior's headers. Color is still quite under-used in e-book design, and I like to include it wherever it works with the spirit of the design I'm creating. Readers have long been accustomed to most fiction and narrative non-fiction being presented in black and white, and while I think some aspects of a book benefit from that restriction, there are still plenty of places to use color in ways that don't interfere with the reading experience.
Since I'm offering publisher logos at no extra charge with cover plus formatting, Lillian's publishing enterprise, Sense of Wonder, got a whimsical full-color logo added in to the deal.
Watch for more great fiction and nonfiction as Sense of Wonder's future unfolds.
The Writer's Spellbook is on sale as of today at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au, and all Amazon stores worldwide. It will be available at other internet bookstores soon. Add it to your collection of books for writers. You'll be glad you did.
Watch for more great fiction and nonfiction as Sense of Wonder's future unfolds.
The Writer's Spellbook is on sale as of today at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au, and all Amazon stores worldwide. It will be available at other internet bookstores soon. Add it to your collection of books for writers. You'll be glad you did.
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