Anatomy of a Book Cover: This is How to Get Your Next Job (Is Less Always More?)

Our Creative Director Cathleen Ouderkirk brings us another behind the scenes look at how a book gets a cover in a new installment of our “Anatomy of a Book Cover” series.

I’m a less-is-more fanatic. How many times have I fought hard for a single small image on a book cover? Or cheered on one-word titles (bad for search, I know)? And I never wear earrings AND a necklace . . . it’s just too much. So there’s no doubt I’m a radical less-is-more gal. Until recently.

We’re publishing a book this month called This Is How to Get Your Next Job in which the “less is more” adage was put to the test on the jacket design. Our design firm was Faceout Studio (a hip and helpful group out of Oregon), and our instructions to Faceout were: Give us a very strong but very simple design to go with this very commanding title. We received three designs.

Let’s take a look. First this one, which I call Teal Retro. Handsome (of course, it’s a Faceout design), but not simple enough, and more charming than strong.

Next, something completely different, which I’ll call Grey Icons. Very contemporary and much more focused on the job-finding process. But not completely clear – were those icons representing the jobs you had held and the orange was the “next” on — or were the doc icons all the competing resumes and yours is the orange. Hmmm.

The next design I simply call Checkmarks.

Wow. Now that’s what I call simple and strong on several levels:

1. Big declarative title (in a fresh font).
2. Simple presentation — just an unfolded piece of paper that implies resumes and almost nothing else to interfere with the powerful title.
3. And then the frosting on the cake – four checkmarks (and the marker, just for fun) to show you the process you go through.

We felt the four checkmarks really worked, because they’re not only energetic and positive, but they literally illustrate how you get a job by using the book:

√ one
√ step
√ at a
√ time.

Brilliant! Visually gives the reader a sense of how easy it is to check off the steps that lead to a job. And then a final confirming checkmark on the word JOB, because you got the job!  We were in love.

We asked Faceout to make a couple of changes (bump up the subtitle, give it a darker background) and eagerly sent it off to author Andrea Kay.

Here’s her reaction:

Andrea: “I love it. Strong. Simple. Clear. Except for one thing — too many checkmarks. They obscure the title.”

Us: What? No, they enhance the title, they lead you through the idea.

Andrea: Nuh uh  — they’re so powerful and red, it’s hard to “see” the title.

For once I was arguing on the side of More, and someone else on the side of Less. It felt really weird, like I was playing the part of a villain in a school play. And yet in this case more DID seem like more. The four checkmarks made a strong point.

But what to do? Andrea’s the author – it’s the face of her book. She’s our partner in marketing the book. So we had Faceout create the Single Checkmark version. Here it is and this is what we went with. Simple, handsome, clear cover with a fat red checkmark, reiterating “you’ll get that job.” And it looks great.

But I still like it with MORE checkmarks. What do you think?

Cathleen Ouderkirk is Creative Director here at AMACOM. With us for over 20 years, she started as a copywriter and then moved to producing catalogs, sales sheets, and direct mail pieces, before moving on to design. After secretly designing on her own book jackets and showing them to the acquisition editors, her work evolved into overseeing all of our jackets today. Visit our website for freelance design inquiries.

Random Quotes from New Books This April

Don’t be fooled in business. Read our new books!

The AMA Dictionary of Business and Management by George Thomas Kurian

“Fixed pie: Assumption that the market for a product is finite and that an increase in one segment will be at the expense of another.

Flag of convenience: National flag of certain small countries, such as Panama or Liberia, flown by a ship owned by nationals of another country. Flag is flown to avoid paying high taxes, incurring high labor costs and meeting stringent safety and environmental regulations.” (page 115)

Conversations That Sell: Collaborate with Buyers and Make Every Conversation Count by Nancy Bleeke

“Expressers make a lot of decisions, and they may reverse many of them as well. They will make decision ‘in the moment’ that satisfies them and the people with them at that time. If contrary opinions or ideas surface soon after, they can be easily swayed to change their decision. The opinions of the other people involved matter to them. You, the people on your team, and the people affect the decision are important drivers in a decision.” (page 172)

Intelligent Leadership: What You Need to Know to Unlock Your Full Potential by John Mattone

“Once you, as a leader or emerging leader, isolate your individual values, you can now better understand why you act and behave as you do. When you start exploring your own unique value hierarchy and assess the degree to which that hierarchy either supports or deviates from the elements of character, you make it easier to see why you sometimes make a bad decision, can’t make a decision, or even why your decision sometimes creates conflict. Consider this: if your number one value is security and your second value is power, you have conflicting values so close in rank that you are very likely to experience a lot of stress when making any decision.” (page 44)

The Brian Tracy Success Library: Motivation by Brian Tracy

“It is not what a person says or wishes or hopes or intends that explains who they are inside. It is only the actions that they take that matter, and especially the actions that they take under pressure, when they are forced to choose between one action and another, between one value and a conflicting value.” (page 48)

Successful Acquisitions: A Proven Plan for Strategic Growth by David Braun

“Market selection should begin with a broad sweep but become progressively narrower. You will eventually be looking for very specific segments, because the tighter your market focus, the greater your chances of success. If your approach to markets is geographic, for example, you may begin by considering an acquisition in Europe. But as your research deepens, you may find yourself looking only in southern Germany. If you are looking to acquire an auto parts manufacturer, you may narrow your focus to those that make parts for hybrid cars instead of for all vehicles. ” (page 67)

This is How to Get Your Next Job: An Inside Look at What Employers Really Want by Andrea Kay

“It may seem like a perfectly natural response to explain why you want the job you’re interviewing for when you’re a recent graduate, a younger worker, or moving in to an area in which you’ve never worked. But it doesn’t fare well. Again,  it may make you sound eager–which isn’t bad. But that’s not enough to make employer want to hire you. Yes, employers know you need to learn. Even seasoned folks will need to get up to speed on certain things. But you won’t get hired because of that. Forgive me for repeating myself, but I find you can never hear this enough. Why would they hire you? Because you can help the company create and deliver the product it makes or service it offers. And you need to know you will do that. Or as I left it in the last chapter: How will you justify your paycheck?” (page 161)

Want to sample other AMACOM books? Check out our Random Quotes from New Books series.

New Book Trailer for The Customer Service Survival Kit

Have you ever had a customer situation go really, really wrong? If so, check out this book trailer for The Customer Service Survival Kit: What to Say to Defuse Even the Worst Customer Situations by Richard Gallagher, landing in bookstores this month. In this video, Rich gives tips to turn the worst customer service situations in to an opportunity to be seen as an ally by the customer.

Claire Raines on 10 Predictions for Generation Z

The following is a guest post by Claire Raines, coauthor of Generations at Work: Managing the Clash of Boomers, Gen Xers, and Gen Yers in the Workplace.

The oldest of them are 13 now, and in three years, the next generation will enter the workforce. Born between 2000 and 2020, they will be a significantly smaller generation than the one before them. Call them Generation Z— for now. They’ll eventually be named for an event or trend that occurs around Year 2020. As with all generations, they will be shaped by their times. The worldview they adopt and the style they embrace will depend greatly on world and national events that occur over the next decade.

We’ve just done a major overhaul of our book Generations at Work. It had become a business classic that was often used in college classes and corporate seminars. But the world has changed since the first edition. Not only has the job market and labor force been transformed, but the Millennial Generation has also come of age and taken their place in the work world. In another 10 years, another revision will be needed as managers and colleagues seek to understand the newest generation in the workplace. 

Booms & Busts

The last 80 years in the United States have seen dramatic ebbs and flows in birth rates. From 1932 to 1946, the rate of live births averaged 2.5 million per year—and birth rates remained fairly steady, neither rising nor falling dramatically from year to year. Then, precisely nine months after the end of World War II, rates soared. During the peak boom years, 1954 to 1964, over four million babies were born each year. When it was time to bring little Gen Xers into the world, rates had fallen dramatically, dropping below four million—and staying low for another 23 years.

Then, beginning in 1980, birth rates began to increase steadily, and a wave of immigrant children added to the burgeoning new generation. During the 1980s and 1990s, large numbers of children immigrated to the United States; a record average of nearly 8 percent of new immigrants were children—nearly twice the proportion of foreign-born children who had arrived on American shores when Boomers and Gen Xers were kids. By 2000, the Millennial Generation totaled over 87 million, making them larger than Gen X by 31 million and a full 11 million more than Boomers. Millennials now comprise a third of the population in the United States and nearly a quarter of the world population.

Generation Z will be dramatically smaller. In 2011, the mid-point in Generation Z birth years, population growth in the U.S. plunged. Linked to the recession and hard times, the current birthrate is the lowest since 1920, the earliest year with reliable records. Furthermore, birth rates among foreign born women have declined in recent decades, and net immigration from Mexico has been zero.

Size Equals Clout

When it comes to generations, size matters. Political power depends on how many people sign petitions, contact their representatives, carry signs, and cast their ballots. Buying power, too, depends on size.  Madison Avenue first recognized children as a viable market segment when Baby Boomers were kids, and they pursued the Boom Kids directly via television. Those kids could recognize the word “detergent” before they could read. Numbers translate into power.

In the workplace, the Generation Z’s diminutive size may be the one place their numbers work to their advantage. In the 2020s, we’ll likely see another labor shortage similar to the one in the 1990s. Generation Z will be needed, perhaps even catered to.

10 Predictions

1. In just the way Gen Xers felt they grew up in the shadow of the Baby Boom, Z’s will feel like they’re coming of age in the shadow of Millennials.
2. They’ll learn from the school of hard knocks. Z’s will be less doted upon and sheltered than Millennials were as children.
3. They will be more independent. This generation will learn to watch out for themselves and will be less collaborative than the generation before them.
4. They will be needed on the job market. Virtual learning consultant Adam Renfro, who studies Generation Z as students, says that 65 percent of them will work in jobs that don’t even exist today.
5. Racial, ethnic, and gender boundaries will be invisible to them as groups once considered minorities become the majority.
6. They will be a less powerful generation that the Millennials.
7. They will be forced to develop thick skins as they deal with criticism from older generations.
8. They will rebel against the Millennial way.
9. They will live in a less youth-oriented, more adult-focused, world.
10. They will be saddled with economic responsibility for a huge aging population.

Claire Raines is one of the leading experts and a pioneer in the field of generations in the workplace. In 2012, she introduced the Values and Influence Assessment®, a new tool based on four generational profiles that identifies an individual’s values regardless of birth year. Her company, Claire Raines Associates, delivers interactive speeches and workshops that focus on creating environments that engage employees of all ages.

Random Quotes from New Books This March

Daylight Savings Time starts soon. Why not fill that extra hour of daylight with some AMACOM books?

Be a Direct Selling Superstar: Achieve Financial Freedom for Yourself and Others as a Direct Sales Leader by Mary Christensen

“Most of us enjoy being praised. Make everyone on your team feel special by heaping on the recognition. Track and acknowledge personal and team milestones, and make a big deal of achievements. If you value your team members you”ll never be short on ways to recognize them. New people are the most vulnerable, so single them out for special attention. If a recruit’s sponsor is not attending the meeting, arrange for that person to sit with one of your empathetic doves. Make guests feel welcome by asking the people who invited them to introduce the guests and share what they admire abou them.” (page 162)

The Customer Service Survival Kit: What to Say to Defuse Even the Worst Customer Situations by Richard S. Gallagher

You do not know how to acknowledge other people. Especially difficult ones. I mean this in the nicest possible way. In my experience working with groups ranging from senior executives to front-line employees, the vast majority do not know how to acknowledge a truly obnoxious, demanding customer. These are good people who try hard to do the right thing with customers, and they either struggle with what to say as they are being taunted, baited or yelled at, or they fall back on empty catchphrases that don’t work. (page 28)

Generations at Work: Managing the Clash of Boomers, Gen Xers, and Gen Yers in the Workplace, Second Edition by Ron Zemke, Claire Raines and Bob Filipczak

“Boomers have made an art form of turning the mundane and ordinary into trendy sources of soap-opera style drama, and they continue that practice in the way they look at aging. They have reengineered the process. The Boomers are making senior citizenship as trendy as cappuccino and personal trainers.” (page 85)

The New Rules of Lead Generation: Proven Strategies to Maximize Marketing ROI by David T. Scott

“If you’ve been doing lead-generation marketing for some time, you probably have an idea of what your target CPA is for the tactics you use. However,  it can be tricky to determine your average cost for a tactic you’ve never used before. In some cases, it may help to know the average return for that tactic.” (page 85)

Personality Power: Discover Your Unique Profile–and Unlock Your Potential for Breakthrough Success by Shoya Zichy 

“Most of us have mentally disengaged during work hours because of conflict, stress or frustration. An alarming 33 percent of us are disengaged permanently, costing $300 billion in lost productivity annually. According to a New York Times article, ‘Do Happier People Work Harder?’ progress in meaningful work is the greatest professional motivator, ahead of  raises and bonuses. Conflict occurs when people are required to spend long periods of time together, physically and virtually; but that’s also the time when creativity and accomplishment occur.” (page 14)

Web Copy That Sells: The Revolutionary Formula for Creating Killer Copy That Grabs Their Attention and Compels Them to Buy, Second Edition by Maria Veloso 

“Headlines are the starting point of successful web copy. If your headline fails to capture the attention of readers, it doesn’t matter how good your body copy is because your readers won’t ever get there. According to master direct marketer and author Ted Nicholas, who reportedly has sold $500 million worth of products in 49 industries, a good headline can be as much as 17 times more effective thank a so-so headline. Simply changing one word or one figure in a headline can dramatically improve the response” (page 66)

Want to sample other AMACOM books? Check out our Random Quotes from New Books series.