Deborah Rose ReevesNov 21, 2022

I like big books and I cannot lie.

I also quite like short books to tell the truth.

Some of my favorite #ShortNovels:

The Weight of Things (Marianne Fritz), Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead (Barbara Comyns), The Guest Cat (Takashi Hiraide), The Blue Fox (Sjón), The Facts of Winter (Paul Poissel), Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan), Attempts at a Life (Danielle Dutton), The Lover (Marguerite Duras), The Day of the Locust (Nathaniel Hawthorne), To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)...

Show threadDeborah Rose ReevesNov 21, 2022

More unsolicited #ShortNovel recommendations:

If Beale Street Could Talk (James Baldwin), The House of Paper (Carlos María Domínguez), The Ice Palace (Tarjei Vesaas), Fool's Sanctuary (Jennifer Johnston), Sula (Toni Morrison), Tinkers (Paul Harding), Glaciers (Alexis Smith), The Testament of Mary (Colm Tóibín), Dept. of Speculation (Jenny Offill), Ghost Wall (Sarah Moss), A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Becky Chambers), Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony.

#RecommendedReading #Bookstodon

Show threadDeborah Rose ReevesNov 21, 2022

Why am I tooting about #ShortNovels, you may ask?

Because I'm falling short of my reading goal for this year, and while part of me thinks it's arbitrary and silly to care, another part of me would like to read a few more books before the year is out.

So... seeking recommendations for a good #Novella or #ShortNovel that isn't already listed. Please and thank you @bookstodon 🙏

Show threadSarah AveryNov 21, 2022
@deborahrosereeves @bookstodon If a #novella will do, The Imlen Brat, by yours truly, is 17K words with lovely illustrations by Kate Baylay. Here it is at a local independent bookstore:
https://www.onemorepagebooks.com/book/9780997414028#about
And here it is at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Imlen-Brat-Sarah-Avery/dp/0997414022/
Show threadDeborah Rose ReevesNov 21, 2022
@Sarah_Avery Thank you for sharing! The cover is beautiful.
Show threadSarah Avery
@deborahrosereeves Thank you! I connected with Kate Baylay when she was not long out of art school, and she's gone on to do amazing things. Such fortunate timing.
Nov 21, 2022 at 3:01amWeb
Show threadDeborah Rose ReevesNov 21, 2022
@Sarah_Avery I've always been curious about the process of choosing/finding art work for books. I know I shouldn't judge a book by a cover but it often is the thing that catches my attention and sort of tells me what I might expect on the inside...
Show threadSarah AveryNov 21, 2022
@deborahrosereeves When I was a new user on Pinterest, I set up a board called Belongs on a Book Cover, and I pinned covers I liked and other kinds of images I that had cover potential. The Pinterest algorithm started suggesting art by Kate Baylay. I said to myself, Who is this lost artist of Art Nouveau illustration? Only it turned out she was new in the field. A couple of years later, when I decided to publish that novella as a Kickstarter project, I knew Baylay was the artist I wanted.
Show threadSarah AveryNov 21, 2022
@deborahrosereeves I followed all the advice in this guide to commissioning art:
https://gallegosart.com/blog//2012/10/how-to-commission-illustration.html
And because I was only asking for rights I would actually use, Baylay and I came up with an agreement I could afford. She read the novella, we talked about what scenes would make sense if the Kickstarter hit the internal illustrations stretch goa, and she got to work. She was a pleasure to work with. I hired Design for Writers to do the cover design, and have hired them for my covers since.
How to Commission an Illustration — Randy Gallegos

Some time ago, I wrote a post detailing how a collector might commission a unique painting for their collection. However, the bulk of my year is spent producing artwork for clients, to be used as illustrations in various products. Typically, these are larger or more established companies. Increas

Randy Gallegos