Background information
Organization name
J. Pepper Bryars
Industry
Entertainment & The Arts
Description of the organization and its target audience
Fiction, general adult audience
Content details
Description
Book Cover
References
Other notes
1. THE STORY
a. “A Forgotten Man,” the first novel in “The Life of Julia” series, is an emotional tale of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one father's heroic struggle to provide for his family, of one mother's heartbreaking sacrifices, and the tragic unraveling of a young girl's once promising future. The novel captures the unseen impact of the Great Recession on American families and explores the changing relationship between citizens and their government. The novel follows the Bosarge family -- Jack, Donita and their three-year old daughter Julia -- after environmental regulations force a small coastal town’s seafood company to close, costing Jack his job and sending his family deeply into debt. As Jack fails to find employment, Donita loses hope and their way of life begins to crumble beneath a society that seems to have forgotten about working class men and women.
b. Setting: A small fishing community along the United States’ gulf coast (could be Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana): bays, bayous, country roads, trailer parks, bridges, fishing boats (specifically oyster boats), working class people.
c. Time: Present day
d. Main character: mid-30s, white, working-class male. He just lost his job working on an oyster boat and is struggling to provide for his wife and three-year daughter.
2. GUIDANCE
a. Please use the attached image (Oysterman image), but also feel free to use anything else you can imagine
b. The cover should communicate the essence of being forgotten by society, a working man discarded, isolated, tired, worn down, rusted and weathered, hopeful but facing a dismal and foreboding future.
c. Fiction covers are often paintings or drawings, so along with using the picture as-is, I’d also like to see the Oysterman picture converted to a painting (watercolor, oil, other effects, etc.). I’d like to see designs that use the entire picture, and ones that extract the boat and just the water around it.
d. Texture is very important to capture the feeling. Think what an old photograph, a weathered piece of paper, an old painting. The aged, worn look, but gentle, not overdone.
e. Color is also important. I’d like to see warm colors, not vibrant because the story is sad, but warm so that the reader feels a sense of home, of comfort.
f. Readers must be able to clearly see the main image and the book’s title when the cover is the size of a thumbnail (will only be sold online).
g. This novel will be sold in the literary fiction genre, so art must conform to what readers expect and identify with within that genre.
h. Please adhere to the requirements and limitations on the spine and back cover.
3. FRONT COVER
a. There should only be the following text:
A Forgotten Man
A Life of Julia Novel
J. Pepper Bryars
4. SPINE
a. There should only be the following text:
Bryars (at the top)
A Forgotten Man (centered)
b. Include the typewriter letter “J” (attachment, “J”) at the bottom on the spine similar to how publishing houses place their logos. It should be either converted to black-and-white or colored/shaded to match the cover's overall color scheme. Please see how publishing houses do this on the spines of books.
5. BACK COVER
a. There should only be the following text:
A Forgotten Man
A Forgotten Man, the first novel in The Life of Julia series, is an emotional tale of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one father's heroic struggle to provide for his family, of one mother's heartbreaking sacrifices, and the tragic unraveling of a young girl's once promising future. The novel captures the unseen impact of the Great Recession on American families and explores the changing relationship between citizens and their government.
The novel follows the Bosarge family – Jack, Donita and their three-year old daughter Julia – after environmental regulations force a small coastal town’s seafood company to close, costing Jack his job and sending his family deeply into debt. As Jack fails to find employment, Donita loses hope and their way of life begins to crumble beneath a society that seems to have forgotten about working class men and women.
Out of their trials and repeated collisions with government unfolds a sad tale of injustice, hardship, and desperation. Packed with meaning yet plainspoken, A Forgotten Man shows what it's like to be broken, alone and forgotten in modern America.
b. The QR Code (attachment, “Website QR Code”) code should be placed opposite the barcode area.
6. FORMAT
a. The book will be 5x8 and approximately 225 pages.
b. IMPORTANT: Please use the CreateSpace template (attachment “CreateSpace Template”) to ensure accurate measurements for the paperback format.
c. Please follow the Kindle eBook cover requirements:
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publish…TRG6OPX0VM
7. DELIVERY
a. Paperback and eBook format.
b. The contest winner MUST agree to adjust the paperback spine size at a later date once the exact number of pages is known, without the contest holder incurring any additional expenses (the text is being proofed, so the number of pages might change a little.). The contest holder will send the contest winner a new template with the correct spine size once the editing is complete.
Attachments
Contest deliverables
Digital design
Final files
If you use fonts that require a license, confirm with the client they're ok with it. For licensing reasons, it is better to provide your client with information on how to acquire the font rather than providing the actual files.