You know the drill. You walk into the bookstore (work with me on-line only shoppers). Your eye catches sight of a book and it will not let go. Your curiosity is peaked, so you look at the book and slowly reach out. Or you simply snatch it off the shelf like you were raised by wolves. Either way, you are holding a book without knowing anything about it. Sure, you’re going to read the back and maybe skim a few pages. Preferably not the back pages, which is the reading equivalent of cheating. Yet, what brought you to this book in the first place when it’s sitting among other books?
Most likely the phenomenal cover art. Let’s be honest, people. If a book’s cover looks like a toddler made it with a crayon or it was slapped together within 5 minutes, we don’t really trust the inside. Presentation is everything at the beginning. You don’t eat a meal with a shoeprint on it, so you wouldn’t buy a book that looks unprofessional. Now, there might be a little more leeway in the age of self-publishing, but not much. So, you need to get that professional-looking cover to get noticed.
There are many ways to do it. The easiest one is to do it yourself, but that only works if you have artistic or graphic design talent. If you can barely draw a straight line or you think Photoshop is only used for altering celebrity photos then you need to get help. In terms of that second scenario, psychiatric help could be necessary as well.
The second option is to pay a freelance cover artist to make your cover. You can find them on Amazon forums or simply ask other authors who they used. This does take money, which varies from person to person. Yet, you come out with a great cover that is worth the price that you paid.
A third option is to use some self-publishing programs’ cover design services. I know very little about this, so I can’t say anything about it. The service is there for those that want it. So far, I only know about Createspace doing it and I think Wattpad has something like that too. Let’s avoid the Wattpad discussion again.
A final option is to have a friend or family member who is a highly talented artists and willing to help you out within your price range. This one probably requires more luck and contacts than anything else. If you are able to take this route then all I will suggest is to not piss off your cover artist. They are doing this as a favor to you, so don’t treat them like you’re Mister Burns and they’re Wayland Smithers. Be nice, patient, and polite.
This is the important point of cover art. The author rarely has much control over the look and timing. We’d all love to give an exact, detailed design to another person then get that back within two weeks. We’d also like immortality, flying cars, and an ice cream that causes you to lose weight. Not going to happen. I’ve heard from a lot of self-published authors that did the ‘my cover artist is dragging his/her feet’. That’s not the way to think because they are working on giving you the best that they have. The product of your cover artist is what a reader will see long before they read your words. They are the opening act, the hostess, the crowd warmer for your hard work. So, you have to practice patience and trust that the person doing your cover art knows their trade as well as you know yours. Now if your cover artist comes back after two months with stick figures and a misspelled title, you can rant a little. Though, I’m pretty sure you would have had a clue before hiring them.
Legends of Windemere 
What’s the deal? You don’t like stick figures? But that’s my specialty! 🙂
But just so you know, your book’s cover would really stand out on a shelf and scream “Buy Me!”
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Thanks. I’ll relay that to my cover artist, the next time I talk to him. If you can do stick figures then you’re ahead of me. I have trouble with straight lines.
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All my stick figures are kind of like ‘action’ stick figures, you know, the legs are bent like they’re running, arms waving in the air, lumpy head… LOL
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They’re all bendy spine, so that makes sense.
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Great post! I don’t think there is any excuse for bad cover art. The key is to keep it simple and you’ve listed some stellar options for those who are looking to self publish. Another aspect I find interesting are variant covers. I don’t know why in most cases they’ll change a cover for different countries.
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Maybe it’s to connect with a different country’s cultural norms. Something that looks great in America might look campy in France. Another reason for variant covers could be that the book is a newer edition. I’m not sure what causes this, but it might be art rights. The new edition needs a new cover even though the book is the same. Look up any of the Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings and you’ll find a wide variety of covers.
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You know I agree 100% here. I ALWAYS judge a book by its cover. I can’t help not doing it, because I’m a very visual person and this is how I decide what is appealing to me. Most readers are like this. Its also one of the first “signs” that a book is self-published, which isn’t in itself a bad thing obviously, but self-published and bad covers seem to go hand in hand from the public perception. Securing a great cover says that you’re serious about your work and others should be too. Its why I don’t mind paying for mine, and will keep doing it.
By the way, I think your cover is awesome.
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Exactly. The level of professionalism of a cover can make or break a book. It doesn’t matter how good the author is if people can’t get beyond at bad cover.
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Spending so many years in the corporate world, you really do learn the meaning of “perception is reality.” We are in charge of our perception, and, fair or not, what people perceive of us becomes the reality of our reputation.
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I’m just imagining what some co-workers must have thought of me back in the day. We don’t usually realize what alters a person’s perceptions because we see these things as normal. The least we can do is make our books pretty.
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*Claps* As an artist myself, I certainly approve of this article. I’ve gotten quite a few commissions in the past where people have tried to rush me – and in return they got sloppy work. I’m usually a pretty fast artist (no more than a week for a fully painted piece most of the time) but things come up. Art requires a lot of skill, time, and patience.. and if you take any of those out of the equation, you aren’t going to like what you get as a consequence. Thank you for reminding people to treat their artists fairly 🙂
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You’re welcome. I wouldn’t think of rushing a cover artist because that really is the first line of attraction for a book.
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I couldn’t agree more. They always say “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” but we all do. We can’t help it. I’m a total cover snob. I’ll admit it.
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Proudly hold your nose up high. 😉
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haha well some of us have to be honest! XD
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Reblogged this on The Way of the Storyteller:.
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Thanks for the reblog.
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