Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book TV 20140802

President s. For more information visit the authors web site, chris derosebooks. Com. Sunday on booktvs in depth, former republican congressman from texas and president ial candidate ron paul has written more than a dozen books on politics and history with his latest, the School Revolution on americas education. Join the conversation as he takes your calls, emails and tweets, three hours on sunday at noon eastern on cspan2. Watch more booktv next week while congress is in recess. Booktv prime time monday at 8 30 eastern and tuesday through friday at 8 00 featuring a wide range of topics including the middle east, immigration, marijuana and covering book fairs and festivals from across the country. Booktv television for serious readers. I am the executive art director. What does that mean . I oversee, direct and design the simon and schuster imprint, touchstone, gallery, all different artwork but i fully do this. You do the covers of books. What goes into the cover of a book . The first thing when we hear about this project usually from the editor, we find out what the book is about, there are manuscripts, sometimes a little bit to lead and you get a flavor of the voice of the author and from that we had a discussion with the editor, publisher and author to find out do they have any preconceived notions of what they are looking for and it is good to hear that up front. Even if they dont and you get a sense of their aesthetic and you can do some research at bookstores and competition, what the books are facing, on the bookshelf face. I will start with this one, former senator james webb, his new book i heard my country calling. How did this develop . This was pretty straight forward in that it is the story of his and his fathers years in war, and he had photographs, we knew he wanted to kind of give it a look, a nostalgic feel, marrying the two together so that they were more cohesive. What went into your gift, five partnerships that built america . This is a new book. This is a new book. It is sort of calls for having his photo on it. Because of the subtitle the five partnerships, you need to explain that, what does that mean and who are those people . In this case it worked out nicely that we have five beautiful portraits, the five people that mattered. One thing you worked on, we all know what this cover looks like. Here it is the cover of the book and that is the finished product. What was this . When we first learn about a book we do a little exploration of the photograph out there. This is a great opportunity to design something with that. It didnt have the big look that we wanted. The epic feel and you seek a topography that has that feel of the historical feel but then we start to think maybe it needs to look classic so we tried different funds, try adding a little color. That is how we ended up. Did Doris Kerns Goodwin have any say in the covers . Absolutely. We both do. Worked on their baby so they are going to go out on the road selling the book. You want them to be happy. And when they are, it is wonderful. They are very appreciative. It is all give and take. Doris didnt want her name on the top. The she wanted it on the bottom. She wanted to see a little bit more faces. We played with that aid little bit. Color schemes come in and out of fashion . Sure. Sometimes fashion itself. The hot color on a runway is affecting what is on a books cover but yes, definitely, obviously read is always a sure shot, green, not necessarily unless it is a book about golf. I think blue works really well. John mccain, senator mccain has a new book, something you are currently working on. That is a work in progress, working on a couple of retailers who told us they want to see a more classic historical photographic treatment. So you get feedback like that from places like barnes and noble and sams and costco when they feel that their market is something that isnt quite to their market. Cspan host responded that as well. Guest sometimes we change that and sometimes we do. It is the publishers decision. Host is there a cover, is their artwork, something you really worked hard on . Guest steve jobs, one that i really thought was striking. We worked with the author on the hardcover. Host and older picture. Guest and older photograph and that was definitely a classic photo. We were fortunate when we went to paperback that steve jobs likes that pose because it was the exact same pose from 30 years before. We saw it as a marketing opportunity to give the book a fresh look, even have people who bought a hardcover wanting to have a collectors item in paperback. Host why black and white and gray . Guest it all has to do with photographs and that is not a conscious decision, it is just when you have a fantastic photo you let that sean. Host jimmy carter call to action, his most recent book. Very serious, he takes the subject very much to heart. This book came about very quickly. It is passion about womens rights. We need to be straightforward, nothing that is embellish. A hard subject matter. The blue color is softened. Host has there ever been a time the book is going to print and for whatever reason the cover has to be changed . Guest oh yes. I am rug