Guest Blogger: Here's Looking at the Cover, Kid by Vince Aiello

HERE’S LOOKING AT THE COVER, KID

By Vince Aiello

When I think about the cover of a book, I am always reminded of a story I once heard regarding Bill Gold, an art director in the art department at Warner Brothers Pictures responsible for poster art. One of his earliest posters was for the classic film, Casablanca. Given that the film had a rather large cast of notable actors, he decided to do a montage showing the various characters, which he thought would be an interesting ensemble.

When he showed the poster to Jack Warner, Mr. Warner thought it was bland and needed intrigue and excitement. Mr. Gold took the poster and added one element: He placed a gun in Humphrey Bogart’s hand. When Mr. Warner saw the revised poster, he felt it captured the perfect essence of the movie, which went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture of the year.

Regardless of your position on guns, the objective of the cover is to “sell” the book and entice the reader to purchase it. So, it is necessary to have some form of provocation to achieve this. You know your book is good, but no one else does. That cover image is the “thousand words” you have to make your pitch.

In my first novel, Legal Detriment, I had Mr. Gold’s story in mind when I came up with the cover. It is simply my hand, wearing a suit and long sleeve, white shirt, holding a semi-automatic pistol. In addition, the picture is in black and white. That image captured the essence of the story.

Legal Detriment went to #8 on the Amazon list of crime, thriller, heist novels and remained in the top 100 for over 2 years.

So now, I begin every book cover with an idea of how I can incorporate a weapon into it to give it that “wow” factor.

So my advice is to find a place for a weapon on your cover. It could be the beginning of a beautiful (and lucrative) friendship.

About the Author:

Vince Aiello grew up in upstate New York before moving to Southern California where he attended California Western School of Law. He is admitted to practice law in both New York and California. LEGION’S LAWYERS is his third novel. His earlier novels, LEGAL DETRIMENT and THE LITIGATION GUY, were both acclaimed bestsellers.

For More Information

Visit Vince Aiello’s website.
Connect with Vince on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Book:

Title: Legion’s Lawyers
Author: Vince Aiello
Publisher: SarEth Publishing
Pages: 296
Genre: Thriller
Format: Hardcover/Paperback/Kindle

LEGION’S LAWYERS, the latest thriller by Vince Aiello about the Legion law firm, dissects, in Aiello’s signature punchy style, the driving ambition within the firm and its deadly consequences. The firm’s head, Roger Legion, has appeared in Aiello’s previous books about the firm, LEGAL DETRIMENT and THE LITIGATION GUY. Readers have developed mixed reactions to Legion, who is both a brutal taskmaster and a great litigator. Love him or hate him, all look forward to his appearance in the story. Legion believes the courtroom is like a gladiatorial arena, where he will do whatever it takes to win.

Previous Legion books have dealt with a heist by lawyers and a terrorist attack on the Coronado Bay Bridge, in San Diego. In LEGION’S LAWYERS, Roger Legion finds himself the target of a drug cartel and more than one team of assassins.

Aiello writes books that are “screenplay-ready,” with tight scenes, strong dialogue, and a three-act structure. “I am drawn to authors who have also written for the screen,” Aiello says, citing such writers as Rod Serling, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Peter Blatty.

Aiello also writes a song for each of his books, which is featured in the story. The complete lyrics appear at the end of the books. For a scene in LEGION’S LAWYERS, Aiello composed a song titled “All I Know.” A music video is pending, but the song can be heard on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y11j7biCGus

The author’s combination of hard-boiled legal action accompanied by its own, built-in soundtrack makes for an irresistible reading, listening – and potentially viewing – experience.