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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nathal" data-source="post: 186153" data-attributes="member: 1809">Re: Cover CreditI know you're writing to Erik, so I hope you don't mind if I respond. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  I think readers will look first at the idea and content of the book and then hope it is written well.  If the idea is great and the writing good, then he will buy again, probably remembering both the author (especially if displayed) and the brand.  If the book has great ideas and is poorly written, it reflects badly both on the author and the publisher (but perhaps less so for the author if his name is not on the cover).  If the book has bad ideas written well, that is a sad state indeed...I'd probably look at who the editor was and feel sorry for that talented fellow.  In sum, I don't think the name of the author should be larger than the brand logo or that it needs to be in glowing colors.  I do think it ought to be on the cover, because many do look for that in addition to brand recognition.  To my amazement, many stores shrink-wrap their books so the customer cannot page through them (very stupid thing to do in the RPG biz!), and so having both author and brand recognized on the cover is equally important to me...as a consumer. Traps and Treachery was excellent, got rave reviews from many sources, and set the name of your company high on the quality list, at least in my book.  You are quite right that it's your job to find authors who can write and design well.  Doesn't it follow that your authors could benefit greatly from being associated with your brand name?  At least from a consumer's point of view...unless they fly under the radar.  I do not believe, however, that cover credit is needed on a book that has more than two primary authors.  Of course, I'm not suggesting that RPG companies showcase their authors as if they are all a bunch of Neil Gaimans or Steven Kings in-the-making, as this *is* a game industry, and I agree that brand recognition is much more important than in the world of fantasy fiction.  I mean, nobody gives a damn who will publish the next book by Robert Jordan, I don't think, so long as they can read it without a microscope.</blockquote>

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