eBook Cover Design Award Guest Judges

POSTED ON Aug 11, 2012

Joel Friedlander

Written by Joel Friedlander

Home > Blog > Cover Design, E-Books & Readers, Self-Publishing > eBook Cover Design Award Guest Judges

We’re getting ready to post the latest roundup of ebook cover designs, this group for covers submitted during July, 2012.

But wait! I have a surprise in store for all the people who entered: I didn’t judge them.

That’s right, no snarky comments from me this month (you’ll have to wait until next month for those). No carping on the red type on black backgrounds, illegible type, or mindless paperback conversions.

This month I have a real treat for you instead, a guest judge.

Or rather, a bunch of guest judges. Here’s what I mean.

Meet Tami Dever and TLC Graphics

Tami Dever is the owner of TLC Graphics in Austin, Texas. She is an accomplished book designer and TLC Graphics is an award-winning provider of design and publishing services for independent publishers.

Tami and I were supposed to give a presentation together that never happened, but happily we made contact anyway. I invited her to sit in the judge’s chair this month, and she enlisted the help of two other designers at TLC to tackle the job.

Just to give you an idea, TLC Graphics has an extensive page detailing the many book industry awards they’ve won, including:

  • 17 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year awards
  • 16 IBPA Benjamin Franklin awards
  • 13 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book awards

So you know you’re in good hands here. Tami was also kind enough to send over background information on all three of your guest judges, and this is what she had to say:

ebook cover design

Tami Dever, Erin Stark, and Monica Thomas of TLC Graphics



Tami Dever is the co-owner and founder of TLC Graphics. The business has grown from design studio to a complete publishing development firm with a reputation for providing award-winning design and caring customer service, escorting the serious small publisher from manuscript through printing and beyond. Tami has a BFA in Graphic Communications from UW Oshkosh (that’s in WI).

Our resident interior design specialist, Erin Stark has 15 years of experience in the graphic design and publishing industries. She giggles with glee when a paragraph flows perfectly and guffaws with delight in seeing an index formatted beautifully. In 1998, she joined the staff of TLC Graphics and is not permitted to leave—ever. Erin has a B.S. in Art from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Bringing six years as senior designer at Prima Publishing, Monica Thomas was added to our design team more than seven years ago and loves designing business, gift, and children’s books. She’s not allowed to leave in her lifetime, either! The enthusiasm, endless creativity, and extreme dedication she brings to TLC Graphics makes the rest of us here look pretty lazy. Monica has a degree in Communication Design from Chico State in California.

July eBook Cover Design Award Post

Sounds good yes? You’ll notice in tomorrow’s post that the comments which are usually signed “JF” are signed “TLC” and they are the result of all three of these talented designers putting their heads together over your book covers.

There’s a lot of specific recommendations they make, so I’ll be interested to see your reactions.

Watch for more guest judges in future months and, as always, I’d love to hear your reactions to this latest experiment.

See you tomorrow.

Photo by Seattle Municipal Archives

Joel Friedlander

Written by
Joel Friedlander

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