Elizabeth Parisi – Book Covers: How to fit your style into the current market

Elizabeth personally designs 7-10 covers per list a year, and oversees about 40 per list. Scholastic does 3 lists per year.

Some of the reps and places that Elizabeth relies on for cover artists:

Shannon and Assoc., Berstein & Andriulli, Lott Reps, iSpot

How much time does Elizabeth usually give an illustrator for a job -- from commission to turn in of cover art piece?

• 1 to 2 months
• 2 weeks for a rough
• Another 2 if it is a complicated image or there needs to be revision
• 2 weeks for final art

Flat fee for covers. There are different levels of flat fees, a few are:
World All Media rights – Scholastic gets exclusive rights for 5 years, non exclusive for 2
North American rights (which is less time than World All Media)

Scholastic likes to keep authors paired with illustrators if they seem to click even if the future books aren't part of a series or a sequel.

If Elizabeth loves an illustrator she will use them as much as she can.



Elizabeth designed this cover using art by her husband, illustrator Tim O'Brien (who was sitting right behind me in the workshop!)

POSTED BY JAIME TEMAIRIK