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The Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It's a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
IWSG Asks: If you are an Indie author, do you make your own covers or purchase them? If you publish trad, how much input do you have about what goes on your cover?
I've had the good fortune to have experience with all three of these options.
I started as a traditional author with The Wild Rose Press. During the publication process, they supplied a questionnaire for me to fill out with details such as the subgenre of the romance, the hero and heroine's hair and eye color, what kind of clothes the characters wore, and any specific items or objects that were important in the story. They also asked for any details I would like to see on the cover. I provided as much information as possible for the cover artist to create stunning covers for my books. In every case, I was quite pleased with the results.
A few years ago, I decided to self-publish my books. This gave me more freedom with the publication process, as well as control over my own book covers. While I don't have many skills in designing covers, I decided to keep it simple. Simple works for me. And when I began, I was testing the waters so to speak. I didn't have a lot of money to invest in expensive covers as I was just starting out.
Some of my stories needed a cover that required more skill than I could provide. For these books, I needed the aid of professional cover designers. Most of these, I bought as premade so I had no input to offer in the design. I simply stumbled upon them and they kinda shouted at me to buy them. For those I commissioned, I again offered the details that were necessary for the artist who then created beautiful works of art for my stories.
I prefer to make my own covers, but I really need to invest more time into learning the art. So far, I've been using Canva which has gone above and beyond my expectations, but I'd really like to invest in a better program where I have more design options and grow my skill set.
While I love the idea of traditional publishers taking the responsibility of creating book covers out of my hands, the truth is, I like the control. Waiting for the cover art was almost like waiting for lucky numbers to hit on the lottery. It was a gamble. Either I get a cover I like, or dare I hope love, or I'm stuck with a cover I hate and there's nothing I can do about it. Traditional publishers don't redesign covers if the author isn't satisfied with the work. You get what you get. Also, book cover trends can change drastically after a few years. A book cover that was marketable ten years ago, might not be so attractive now. But unless you're a big name making lots of moolah, traditional publishers don't typically update their covers. You're stuck with that cover for as long as you're with that publisher.
For now, my favorite option of these three is commissioning an art cover designer for my self-published books. The artists I've dealt with are talented and professional, and easy to work with. I've had no problems with getting changes done. While it can get pricey, I'm always on the lookout for premade covers that match my story. They're usually cheaper and sometimes the artists have sales that make the work more affordable.
I hope this helps anyone who is looking to decide which option is suitable for them. The best part of publishing in this day and age is there's no one-size to fit all. There are so many choices and options. As an author, you get to decide which one works best for you.
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Your covers are great! You've done well. I have no talent in that area but I wish I did.
ReplyDeletehttps://gwengardner.blogspot.com/2023/01/iwsg-how-are-you-book-covered.html#comment-form
I've don't have the skill set to make marketable covers. Nice to know some of us do, though.
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
I don't have the skills to make covers. You did a good job on the ones you did!
ReplyDeleteI am working on a project to provide 4th option. You can use AI to generate a bunch of fitting book cover, instead of searching in pre-made book covers. But you probably need to find another designer to execute the AI generated covers again, because you need to fine tune some parts and avoid potential issues. But this kind of work should charge you less time and money, other than coming up ideas from the designers. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteLet me share with you a showcase link: https://aibookcover.jalbum.net/AiBookCover/index.html