Archive for September, 2011

The Chattahoochee Review

September 27, 2011

Friends sometimes become clients and my clients often become friends. And best of all is when a client becomes a friend and then becomes a client again!

I worked with Anna Schachner more than 10 years ago to create a logo and business card for her side business as a designer of beautiful bead jewelry. As long as I’ve known her, she has been a talented writer and a professor teaching creative writing at Georgia Perimeter College.

Anna was named editor of  The Chattahoochee Review, GPC’s literary journal, a few months ago. This respected literary journal is celebrating thirty years in publication and is known for publishing new and established authors from the South and around the world. They even have an annual contest, the Lamar York Nonfiction Prize, that awards $1000 every year. (Submission guidelines are here.)

I was excited when Anna contacted me about helping design and format the first issue of The Chattahoochee Review published under her editorship. It has been great fun to reconnect and have a chance to work with her and her team, including Lydia Ship, the Review managing editor.

In addition to this issue of the Review, I helped them update their logo and designed bookmarks, signage & ads.

This is what Anna said about working with me, “When we hired Vanessa Lowry to do the layout and graphic design of The Chattahoochee Review, a literary journal whose editorship was given to me just a few months before, I already knew that Vanessa was a great designer. What I would learn, however, was that in addition to her design skills — the logo she did for us is so perfect — she brings a kind of intuition that we desperately needed. In other words, being new editors and new to the publishing business, we didn’t know what we needed, but she did! She was patient, insightful, and always very quick to remind us of how changing one element of a design changes the entire thing. She even caught some typos that we didn’t. Her ability to be accommodating under our very tight deadline also meant the world to us. I can’t say enough good things about her. 

All you have to do is look at the cover of the latest issue to see what I mean. All the other literary journals are jealous. Enough said.”

This issue of The Chattahoochee Review launched over Labor Day weekend at the Decatur Book Festival. Anna was interviewed at the Write Here, Write Now radio remote on Saturday of the festival. Listen to interview number 5 to hear more about the writers featured in this double issue.

Subscribe to The Chattahoochee Review for only $19 for one year or $36 for two years. They accept submissions of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Check out their website for full details.

Let me know if I can help you bring your book from concept to creation! Or, let’s talk about your marketing and graphic needs. Contact me at 678-521-8820. Find out more about me by visiting my LinkedIn profile or watching my video profile.

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Recipes for Life

September 26, 2011

I love collaborating and it’s fun to work with others who also embrace that idea. Cathy Horvath gathered stories and recipes from over 100 contributors to create her book.

Recipes for Life: Food for the Body and Nourishment for the Soul features stories about overcoming depression, grief and financial ruin, navigating change and returning to joy. Special recipes from many contributors are scattered through the book, along with stories of why these foods and memories are important. After reading Cathy’s book, you are likely to feel more hopeful, more thankful, more passionate, better about life and possibly a little hungry.

I interviewed Cathy on the Write Here, Write Now radio show that I guest host once a month. Our show topic was about writing and publishing after retiring. Hear what Cathy has to say about this NEW career she has embarked upon.

Recipes for Life is available on Amazon or you can purchase multi-packs of books at a reduced price on Cathy’s website. This book makes a perfect gift… I even gave one to my mom.

This is what Cathy said about working with me, “If it weren’t for Vanessa Lowry, my book would not have taken form as the beautiful presentation that it is. It was her creativity and skills that have impressed me from the first proof for a cover and interior design that she offered. She listens, she has patience, and most importantly…she cares for her clients.”

In addition to her book cover and the interior book design, I also designed Cathy’s business cards, bookmarks, a speaker one-sheet and her website.

Let me know if I can help you bring your book from concept to creation! Or, let’s talk about your marketing and graphic needs. Contact me at 678-521-8820. Find out more about me by visiting my LinkedIn profile or watching my video profile.

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Take Me To TEXAS

September 26, 2011

I’ve worked with Walter (aka TW) Lawrence on many projects and was thrilled he asked me to design his book cover for Take Me To TEXAS. It is an anthology of short stories… all with a Texas theme. Although, one story takes place in my current town of Roswell, GA.

Walter has a great marketing mind and is promoting his book in interesting ways. He launched the book over Labor Day weekend at the Decatur Book Festival in Atlanta, the largest independent book festival in the United States.

He posted this comment on his Facebook page after the festival: “Vanessa Lowry is the graphics designer for the book cover, front and back. She interpreted my vision for the artwork in a way that made it better and in the process made it FABULOUS. An independent bookseller told us it was ‘the best cover he’d seen in the entire festival.’ WOW.”

At the Decatur Book Festival, Walt was interviewed by Tim Morrison as part of the Write Here, Write Now radio remote. You can see how Walter took the audio and combined it with photos to make a YouTube video. Very smart!

Walter had posters printed of the front cover art as another item he can sell along with his book. He also had shirts embroidered with the headline type of Take Me to TEXAS to wear when he is out promoting the book. He has developed a 20 minute business presentation on the topic of the importance of creativity in business to share with business professionals at groups such as Rotary. He is an alumni of Emory University and they are listing his book in their newsletter with other published alumni. Walt’s joining groups in Atlanta that have Texas roots to network with others who love all things Texan.

The front of the card is just the book cover. This is the back of Walt's business card.

Walt was my first client to use a QR code on his business card. He tells me many stories of how that creates a conversation with the people he meets while networking.

He and two other fellow authors will have a booth at the Texas Book Festival in October 2011 representing the Atlanta Writers Club while each promoting their own newly published book.

Walter is using this book to build an audience for his upcoming novel, Texas Cool Million.

I guest host the radio show Write Here, Write Now once a month. Walt was my guest on August 9th when we talked about using the power of your network when writing, publishing and promoting a book. Walter’s interview starts at about 20 minutes into the show.

It is fun for me to work with creative clients like Walter. We learn new things together.

Let me know if I can help you bring your book from concept to creation! Or, let’s talk about your marketing and graphic needs. Contact me at 678-521-8820. Find out more about me by visiting my LinkedIn profile or watching my video profile.

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Mama Always Says…

September 5, 2011

This books of quotes published by Myra McElhaney are straight out of MY childhood. And that is really the point. These quotes are familiar because MY Mama, YOUR Mama and MYRA’s Mama said them… or something very similar.

I love working with Myra. She always makes collaborating fun and we laugh often. Myra has also started calling me her Gifted Graphic Design Goddess. I’m taking it a step further and adding the letters GGDG after my name. Vanessa Lowry, GGDG!

In the past year, I’ve helped Myra publish Mama Always Says as well as her newest book, Musings on Major and Minor Matters that May or May Not Matter.

This is what Myra says about working with me: “I love working with Vanessa! She’s a gifted graphic designer who delivers inspired designs with professionalism. She’s also marketing savvy and shares many ideas on how to build my brand and expand the impact of my projects. Plus she’s fun to work with! That’s why I call her the Graphic Design Goddess Extraordinaire! Vanessa not only designs my business cards, marketing materials and books; she helps me take my ideas to a higher level.”

You can purchase your own copy of Mama Always Says from Amazon.

Myra and I also created a t-shirt commemorating McElhaney’s Pub. Myra’s husband, Phil McElhaney, died a few years ago as a result of a brain tumor. Proceeds from the sale of these t-shirts go to brain cancer research. You can contact Myra through her website and find out more about purchasing the t-shirts.

Let me know if I can help you bring your book from concept to creation! Or, let’s talk about your marketing and graphic needs. Contact me at 678-521-8820. Find out more about me by visiting my LinkedIn profile or watching my video profile.

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Setting God Free

September 5, 2011

Sherri Lane and I connected initially through my book, 30 Days of Gratitude. She became a fan of our Days of Gratitude Facebook page and began to regularly comment on our posts. We became friends on FB through our personal pages as well.

While she was still writing her manuscript, Sherri called me to discuss her book cover. She believes in the power of visualization and wanted to have a compelling cover to encourage her as she was writing… to help her envision the book as completed. She even had the illustration she wanted to use, so it was a quick collaboration to create the cover. Writing can be a very solitary practice and it was an honor to assist her in bringing her book to the world.

Sherri is an author who seeks to bring out the best in others by recognizing the good in the world. Through her own powerful spiritual experiences, she has felt led to share healing and glimpses of enlightenment to others, helping them walk in faith to a brighter place.

Here is what Sherri said about working with me:

“Vanessa produced the cover for my book Setting God Free: Awakening to Miracles.  It was important to me that I have that done by someone with the right energy and feel – and I sensed that immediately in her.   She grasped the vision that I had and ran with it, producing something that had just the right feel for the message of the book.  Every step of dealing with Vanessa was not only professional, but also pleasant and easy.  She brings a wonderful presence to a project and I would highly recommend her! ”

Find out more about Sherri’s book at www.SherriLane.com. If you are in the Asheville, NC area, you may see Setting God Free in many of the area shops. You can also listen to an interview on Awakening Zone where Sherri talks about her book. Sherri also hosts her own radio show every Tuesday. You can listen here.

Let me know if I can help you bring your book from concept to creation! Contact me at 678-521-8820. Find out more about me by visiting my LinkedIn profile or watching my video profile.

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