How Important Is a Book Cover?

January 21, 2024January 4, 2025 Larada Horner-MillerLeave a comment

A book cover? Important? I’ve often heard, “Don’t judge a book by its cover!” Today authors know that a cover can determine the fate of a book. Let’s look at the first three book covers I created.

IngramSpark, a leading self-publishing company, suggests 7 Book Cover Design Tips

Give readers a sneak peek of what’s to come.
Let the reader know the book’s genre.
Introduce your protagonist.
Set the right tone.
Follow the rules of design in a way that makes sense for your genre.
Pay attention to the details.
Have a distinct style.

https://www.ingramspark.com/blog/book-cover-design-basics

So much goes into the design of a a successful book cover, and I had no idea when I first started this journey. I created what I like, not thinking about what the reader liked.

My First 3 Book Covers

For my first three books, I created the covers.

This Tumbleweed Landed 2014

This being my first book, I created the cover on Amazon’s createspace.com and thought it was beautiful. Excited with my first book, I loved everything about it.

In 2014, Lin and I spent a memorable spring afternoon on the dirt road going out to our ranch, trying to photograph a tumbleweed. The piercing cold spring wind had blown them around recently and lodged them into the fence posts. Yes, there were lots, and we took lots of pictures. I will never forget going through those photos and the awe I felt of the pictures he took, and then this one came up and I knew it was perfect. It had a tumbleweed locked into the barbed wire with an old wooden fence post and in the background Mesa de Maya, a landmark noted by Spanish invaders on early maps.

I liked the cover I created, but someone who reviewed the book identified a problem. The box around the title blocked out the tumbleweed. After looking closely, I realized how true that was!

In 2014, I didn’t realize the importance of a subtitle. This book has no subtitle on the book cover; it does on the Amazon website description I added later.

After ten years of researching and training, I plan on having the cover redesigned to feature the tumbleweed.

When Will Papa Get Home? 2015

Again, I created the cover for my second book, When Will Papa Get Home?, on createspace.com too. On the cover, I featured a photograph I took of the homestead house that’s featured in this book.

The book cover generator on createspace.com in 2015 had limited templates. I liked the one I selected: it featured the homestead photo, and in the background, it had the photo, too, but I don’t think anyone realized what was in the background.

Again, I didn’t include a subtitle on the cover, and this book desperately needed one because this is an immigration story, but the title doesn’t say that.

So, readers, be looking for a redesign for this cover later this year.

Let Me Tell You a Story 2016

I chose a simple cover for the re-release of my third book, Let Me Tell You a Story. In 1992, my dad, mom and I collaboratively published this for my dad’s 75^th birthday. He dictated to Mom the story of how my granddad put our ranch together during the depression when many homesteaders were losing theirs, then I word- processed it and laid out the book, adding pictures. Then Dad selected the picture for the book cover—him on his favorite horse, Rusty. We printed enough to give to everyone in our family, and I printed twenty-five extra copies to read in my literature and language arts classes in Denver, Colorado.

After publishing the other books about my country roots and life, I wanted to get Dad’s retelling granddad’s story out to the world, so I re-released it. Again, I published it on createspace.com and used their template for the book cover.

I’m not sure if I will redo this cover—I like its simplicity; however, you can’t easily read my name or my dad’s as authors, so it probably does need to be redone!

How important is a book cover? Can you judge a book by its cover? In today’s hurried world, the visual representation of the book must catch the reader’s eye. So, yes, it’s vital to the success of the book.

Next week, I’ll share the next four book covers and why I moved to a professional company to do the last two.

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir - book cover

~ Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir available in audiobook format at the following places:

~SHOP TODAY! Shop at my E tsy Shop or my Shopify Sto re

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Grief · Marshall Flippo · Mom · My Books · My Thoughts · Prejudice, Mistreatment, Mexican, immigrant · Ranching · Spirituality · square dance

What Ties My Six Books Together?

February 19, 2023January 4, 2025 Larada Horner-MillerLeave a comment

Someone holding up things that connect - ties

What Ties My Six Books Together? As I pondered this question this week, I wondered: three books about my rural childhood in southeastern Colorado, one about my grief in losing my parents, one a biography about a square dance caller and the last one about my reaction to the coronavirus pandemic. Then I saw the tie that binds them: relationships and connection to people. So, here’s how I see the tie that ties my writing together:

My First Book

This Tumbleweed Landed, a memoir written in poetry and prose, focuses on people, places and events in my small rural community during my childhood. I fashioned it after Cynthia Rylant’s children’s book, Waiting to Waltz, who wrote poetry about people, places and events in a fictional town. In my book, I celebrated my childhood relationships with many notorious adults in town—Virgie Firestone and the Warners. Also, what I wrote about many of the places and events, places and times I connected with my family and friends—Branson dances and stories my dad and his school years, told sitting at our round table.

My Second Book

When Will Papa Get Home?, a historical fiction, focuses on a Mexican immigrant family’s perilous times during the 20s in southeastern Colorado. Maria, the daughter, tells the story of her family’s plight. She weaves the tale of those people responsible for her papa’s false accusations.

I centered this book on familial and friend relationships and connection to people. Sadly though, this book also shows the prejudice of the time and the misconnection some people had with certain races. But her deep connection with her family wins in the end.

My Third Book

Let Me Tell You a Story, a nonfiction account of how my granddad put our family ranch together during the depression when many other ranchers lost theirs, focuses on the three generations of my family and our ranch. My dad, mom and I had previously released this booklet in 1992 at my dad’s 75^th birthday party. It overflows with the relationship between my dad and his dad and my granddad, and the relationship my dad and granddad had with the ranch they loved. Yes, you can have a relationship and connection with the earth! Even though it focuses on the ranch, the underlying topic is our familial relationships.

My Fourth Book

A Time to Grow Up: A Daughter’s Grief Memoir, a memoir about the loss of my parents, shows the foundation of my life and relationships: my parents. Of all my books, this book hurt to write, yet I love it the most! In talking about my loss, I feature the unique relationship I had with each parent. First, I connected with each of them, making it easier to connect with others in the world.

My Fifth Book

Just Another Square Dance Caller: Authorized Biography of Marshall Flippo, a biography of the most famous square dance caller in the world’s, first and foremost highlights relationships and connections with people. Yes, it tells Flippo’s life story from Texas to Japan as a young man and then later in life, but a major part of his life story was his connection with his family and friends. So much so, he required a section in the book telling stories about his square and round dance friends. After fulfilling that request, I connected with callers, cuers and dancers and featured their stories about Flippo. Yes, he truly understood relationships and how to connect with just about anyone.

My Sixth Book

Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better?, a spiritual self-help book written in poetry and prose, focuses on many of the perils of the coronavirus pandemic with an underlying theme the opposite of my focus: isolation. Yet this theme emphasized the extreme need I had and many others had to connect with people, to be with people, to relate with people. Thankfully, Zoom met some of those needs—a monthly get-together with two women friends I knew in Loveland, Colorado, a Christmas concert with our local caller, and many recovery meetings. But I’ll never forget the first time I went out without a mask and actually hugged someone besides my husband. Something deep inside me healed.

The lack of connection truly became the hardest part of the pandemic for me, and I see now how that appears throughout this book.

Finally,

This topic came up because I’m a multi-genre author which makes it difficult to market my books, my brand. Current training I’m attending wrestled with this dilemma. But I have no qualms about this! I love poetry and prose. Also I relish historical fiction. Writing Flippo’s biography was a privilege and an honor. I love the variety!

Relationships and connections with people feed my life and my writing. I did not know when I wrote each book that those themes laced their way through each work, hiding in a poem, a story, or my prose. Actually, taking the time to identify the tie between my six books opened my eyes! I’m so glad I wrote this blog to see the common tie that binds my work together. I have a feeling this meandering around and through my six books will help me in my future writing!

If you’ve read my books, did you see this theme? If not, did you see others? Let me know.

News, News, News!

A wintery day is an invitation to read! meme of five of my books — All available at my website: laradasbooks.com or Amazon.com

~For me, it’s Christmas all year long! Here’s a variety of Christmas greetings from Flippo & Neeca, featuring his song, “When It’s Christmas Time in Texas”: https://youtu.be/mpJCUGffU3A

~My new book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? WON the 2022 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards in the Body, Mind & Spirit Category. Have you bought your copy yet? Vist my website: laradasbooks.com or at Amazon.

Just Another Square Dance Caller: Authorized Biography of Marshall Flippo meme — Baby, it’s cold outside! Read about Flippo inside where it’s warm!

~Have you bought a copy of Flippo’s biography yet? Believe it or not—it’s been three years. Go here for your hardback or paperback: https://www.laradasbooks.com or at Amazon.

Blogging · My Thoughts · poetry · Ranching

How I Record Life? Poetry

November 15, 2021January 4, 2025 Larada Horner-Miller2 Comments

How do you record life? Today I wandered through a journal dated August 1, 1999 to August 29, 2004 and found some poetry gems. It’s a large sketch book I dragged around with me those five years, writing poetry, taking notes and wondering about my life. I haven’t revisited it in years, but as I prepared for this blog post, something deep inside nudged me, “Look, browse! Be surprised!”

So, I did, and I am!

As I look at this chronicling of my life, I see a twenty-year time lapse. Yet, I recorded what was going on it the time, what I thought important! I have a stack of journals I’ve filled out over the years. I thought I had typed up all the poetry that had meaning, but my spirit knew treasures awaited me in this journal. That makes me wonder about those others on the shelf.

A Sampling of My Early Poetry

These three poems address attitudes of life and a specific life experience—branding.

Experience Life Totally

July 24, 2000

Anticipate the joy
	Toes on the edge
		Lingering ever so slightly 
Life in its fullest
	Step up to bat
	Step into the swimming pool
		No dive in head long!
	Step out of the crowd
	Step into the crowd

I must participate
	I can’t watch
		Wasn’t made to watch,
			To be a spectator

I want my hands dirty
	My neck sweaty
		My feet wet

I want to experience life totally!
		


The Sound of Her Voice

August 24, 2002

The sound of her voice
	Saying my name,
Reverberates back to
	The very first time.

The time she held me in her arms
	For that first time
	And said my name.

No fruit tastes sweeter,
	No bell rings clearer.
Nothing soothes my soul
	Like hearing my mother
		Saying, “Larada.”


That Smell I Will Never Forget

August 29, 2004

Burnt hair
	Burnt skin
A tradition
	A part of our work.

Branding day on a ranch
	Is a day of celebration of ownership.

These are my cattle
	My property
	My destiny
	My life!

The smell stays with me
	Many years later
		The stench
			The smoke
				The bawl from the calf
					The wrestle to get free!

It was painful
	But necessary!

One day, I slept by the campfire
	Three or four years old
I couldn’t miss today,
	But I was sick!
		Diarrhea
Mom put me in a diaper
	And let me go
		To our special day.

I slept and smelled 
	The campfire
		The branding.

My approach to life stays the same today. I look at life and capture it in poetry to record the feelings, the nuances. These three topics still resonate in my heart.

How do you record life? Do you write poetry? If so, what do you do with it? Leave a comment below.

Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? meme

Visit my website to find out about my new book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? and my other five books and three cookbooks: https://laradasbooks.com

Books · family · My Thoughts · Ranching

Truth and Fiction: My Next Two Books!

November 9, 2021January 4, 2025 Larada Horner-Miller4 Comments

Truth and fiction! My next two books again centered on ranch life and my family through truthful nonfiction and historical fiction. One was truth—how my granddad put our family ranch together during the depression when others were losing theirs. The other was historical fiction where I fictionalized a story I had heard my whole life.

Let Me Tell You a Story—Truthful nonfiction. Truth — Dad on the cover!

The Truthful Nonfiction–Let Me Tell You a Story

My dad celebrated his 75^th birthday on March 20, 1993. So, Mom and I worked together on producing a chapbook of the story of how our family ranch was put together for his gift, titled Let Me Tell You a Story. Dad dictated the unique stories to Mom about the technique Granddad used to put together our ranch during a time when many lost their homesteads. Dad, the master storyteller, relished the telling and retelling of these familiar family stories. Then I typed them up on a 2E Apple computer with floppy disks. Then Dad helped me edit it, which was hilarious for this ole cowboy—he didn’t trust computers but immediately saw their usefulness. As a finishing touch, we added pictures to it.

Originally, I had copies printed for only our immediate family members and twenty-five copies for a classroom set for my literature class. Again, this lay aside for over twenty years. In 2016, I self-published it, again. It has become a favorite in Etsy Shop, Larada’s Reading Loft.

To tell the truth, this small chapbook warms my heart each time I reach for it because Dad’s words live on in it.

When Will Papa Get Home? Historical Fiction. Truth — The Philly Place

The Historical Fiction—When Will Papa Get Home?

In 1986, I taught my first year in Denver, Colorado, and the school district lent me a 2E Apple computer for the summer. I visited my parents on our family ranch, and we ventured to my favorite homestead on the place, the Philly Place. It got its name from the original owner, Philadelphia Cardenas. I had been there many times, but this time as I was leaving the homestead, I stopped out of what was the living room, looked down and found a blue marble.

I asked Dad about it, but he did not know. “Probably some arrowhead hunters out here with kids.”

I stuck that marble in my pocket, went back to Denver, and the story came pouring out of me, based on a story I had heard my whole life, told by Dad in Let Me Tell You a Story:

Charlie Garlutzo was working for the County Sheriff Department. Bob Gleason had “Phillie” (Philadelphio Cardenas) up on cow theft. Charlie got the one hundred and twenty acres bought from Phillie for seven- teen dollars and fifty cents an acre while he was scared about the charges. Garlutzo had the choice of selling the land to either Horner or Doherty. He chose to sell it to Horner.
Phillie was sentenced for a one-year term but got out in seven months for good behavior. Had Garlutzo not got the land bought from Phillie when he was scared, he would have been right back out there, back in business.
Larada Horner-Miller, Let Me Tell You a Story ( 2016): 15.

So, I fictionalized this true historical story and made the supposed culprit a horse thief with a twist. I told the story through the eyes of the daughter of the man accused of the thievery, and the blue marble belonged to her. The sheriff falsely accused her papa, and the story unfolds. Through extensive research, I wove their story of immigration from Mexico to the high desert prairie of southeastern Colorado. In doing that, I discovered how much I liked research and dove in. I researched adobe house building and much more.

For this book, I laid it aside for almost thirty years! After my successful stab at self-publishing, I released When Will Papa Get Home? in 2015. My aunt now owns the Phillie Place, and she gave me and my brother to revisit it to take pictures. So I took the picture on the cover. We had a delightful day rummaging through the ruins and marveling at how much of the original homestead was still there.

So, I featured truth and historical fiction in these two books. Retelling my family history in the one book encouraged me to jump into the historical fiction in the next. Enjoying both genres, I loved celebrating my country roots and heritage.

Do you have family stories? Truth or fiction? Share your thoughts! (Scroll down below!0

Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? Truth