Command decision, Fred Gambino (2D)

[AHaas]

Hi Fred!

Nice image, very sharp, very hard sci-fi, it has high speed in it. It immediately looked familiar. Now I know why: the Elisabeth Moon-books .I first saw your work in a book I bought: fantasy art of the new millenium. At that time I was looking for a new way of creating since painting with paint and brush was somehow finished for me. Your work inspired me to go digital and although now I'm very happy to be back to the old brush and paint again, I still want to thank you for the inspiration then. Also thanks for your comment on my work a few threads back.
Question: since you're in the field: I've done quite a few mailings to a big number of publishers over the last years. Do you have any idea which company could possibly be interested in my work and how to best approach them? So far I send a few samples of my work to these publishers accompanied by a letter to the person who I've managed to figure out was in charge of acquisition. No luck so far though. I would really appreciate it.
Aman Haas
http://www.amanhaas.com

[FredGambino]

Hi Aman
Thanks, I'm flattered to have been an inspiration to you. Very nice work on your site, I really like your style and ideas.
To answer your question, it's tough to get cover work these days. I don't want to put you off but there was a change in attitude from the publishers some years back. They came to the conclusion that SF images on SF books gheto - ised them, if that is a word. They felt that a spaceship on a cover would only appeal to the geeks as they saw it and felt that generic covers would appeal to a broader audience. In other words, they no longer wanted their sf books to look like sf. To that end they started using in house designs, black covers with silver type, that sort of thing. The upshot is that there is a lot less work to go around. That doesn't mean there isn't any tho. I have two reps, one in London and one in New York and between them they just about keep me going. I've been lucky as I have some long running series like the Battlerech series to keep me going. I've also been lucky enough to get some work for films in the last few years.
The publishers that give me most work in the US are Penguin Putnham and Scholastic, Little Brown and Transworld in the UK.

I hope that helps somewhat and sorry to sound a slightly depressing note. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

[AHaas]

Hi Fred!

Thank you for the quick reply. Yes, it does sound quite depressing hearing that even for you it's not as easy as I thought.
I'm not giving up though. What's a rep, a representative, an agent? How do you get those? I'll defenitely will try the publishers you mentioned although penguin I tried already without getting a reply. It doesn't even have to be bookcovers specifically,I just want to get published. My style is changing lately, getting a bit more abstract. I guess it has also to do with letting go of the idea of making stuff for potential buyers, more following my own direction. What I'm trying to say is that although I keep going after publishers, it wouldn't surprise me if I find a place for my work in the future because of developing more my own style. Anyway, thanks for the time you took in replying and hope to keep in touch with you.

Aman Haas

[FredGambino]

Yes, representitive or agent. I have Bernstein and Andriulli in the States and Alison Eldred in the UK. Agents can be very good, I never would have got the work I have in the States without one, but of course they do take a percentage. No, you should not give up, I'm sure something will work out for you in the end. You certainly have the talent to succeed.

Good luck

[AHaas]

Thanks again! Very nice of you to mention your agents. I immediately looked them up on the internet and send them a mail asking for the submissionguidelines. I've been so free as to mention you as a kind of reference, hope you don't mind. Thanks again for all the encouragement. I had a bit of a negative run yesterday looking for a gallery for my work. This and all the other nice compliments of others helps me to stay focused. I'll let you know if something turns out for me.

Greetings,
Aman Haas

[LWPerkins]

Love those colors! That alone would make me pick up the book. I much prefer images to type on my bookcovers--I find a poor cover is a turn-off. It would be nice if more publishers figured that out again;-)

[FredGambino]

Well, you wont get any argument from me :) Trouble is and I hate to admit this, the trend has been going on for about seven years now and I have to assume that it is working for them so I don't see it's going to get much better any time soon. I don't think it will get any worse tho, I think we are bumping along the bottom. You have to remember also that it saves them a lot of money and that will be hard for them to give up.

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