# Judging your book by it's cover - did you diy or pay?



## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Everyone judges a book by it's cover, it's pretty much a fact of life. That doesn't necessarily mean you won't pick it up for a read if the summary is good enough, of course. But what I want to know- seeing as there are quite a few self-published authors on these forums (and quite a few of them with gorgeous covers!) *just how many of you designed your own covers?*

And if you designed it yourself, what skill level would you say you had?

If you hired someone, why? And how did you find the experience/cost?

As both a backpacker and an aspiring author, I don't have access to the sorts of funds I'd need to purchase a cover right now. That said, the cover I am using for my debut novel Amanzimtoti (image via the link or in my signature), is one I managed to design using an online photo editor and a text generator! ...which says alot about my skill level! 

The image is a photograph I took myself of the Inyoni Rocks on Amanzimtoti beach, which is where my novel is set. The rocks feature quite significantly throughout my story and I liked the idea of giving a nod to them on the cover, especially so that readers could have the visual aid to refer to. I then used an online editor to give it that 'sketch' effect as a nod to my main character, Wayne du Preez, who likes to sketch but due to certain circumstances (hint: spoilers!) he has to keep his artistic abilities hidden. So again, it's a bit of a nod to events that happen within the story.

I then engaged my friends on social media and got them to vote through the various designs I'd come up with and we all agreed that the one I've selected to use was the favourite.

That said. I guess I still worry that my story will be judged in a negative way, especially as I have no real artistic abilities!

*So what's your experience with buying/designing book covers? How do you think it's affected you? And... er, how do you think it'll affect me? XD*


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

I do everything but my grim reapers myself. I can manipulate photos but not draw and I wanted something illustrated for those. I pay $500 each for those. I was trained on Photoshop before I started but I watched tutorials online to pickup new skills.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Both. I'm OK with covers with symbols, artwork and some photo-manip. I'm not OK with anything that involves photos and people.

About a year ago I went on a mission to re-do my covers. I still haven't done so for two of my series because, 1. money, 2. they seem to sell ok with the covers I did.

I am very happy with the covers I had done, but I have a lot of books and don't want to spend $900 a pop to have custom covers drawn for all of them.


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## Andrei Cherascu (Sep 17, 2014)

Hi Carmen,

I'm also in the DIY section, for now. I've designed the covers for Mindguard and The Vintages from scratch, and recently made the third one in the series, trying to keep a similar theme:










When I started out, I was in a similar situation, in that I didn't dispose of any money to invest in the books, so I figured I'd put my decent-if-not-good Photoshop skills to use. I'm a hobby photographer, so I played around with image manipulation before and I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted the covers to look like. Some people seem to love them, others not so much. I've had readers tell me they bought the book specifically because they loved the cover (Mindguard, in this case) and some KBoarders tell me they'd never buy the book because they hated the cover (I had asked for honest feedback). I sell some books, but not a lot and I think one of the main reasons for that is that my covers don't hit the tropes (they don't necessarily scream out science fiction adventure). It also might be the reason I've been passed up for a BookBub about ten times.

I'm definitely planning to change the covers once I can afford to do that. For now, the first move was investing in professional editing and getting the actual manuscript in near-perfect shape, before moving on to things like "presentation". But the next move will definitely be re-investing the money from sales in professional covers for the whole series.


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## Ted Cross (Aug 30, 2012)

I paid for the artwork (two commissioned and one a pre-made) but did the typography myself. I did have a friend help me with the typography on TIG since I was really struggling with it.


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## Guest (Jan 22, 2016)

I've done both.

Aisuru's is DIY and version 3 (with version 4 likely to happen). Being my first book, I was trying to keep costs down and the pre-made market is absolutely abysmal for representing different ethnicities and the like, so I've mostly given up on them for my first three releases (all set in Japan). My guess is you probably are seeing a similar issue with potential premades for your story because of the setting.

Unfortunately, I suspect it worked against me because while the first version was pretty (especially in print) and much like yours spoke to the themes of the work it did absolutely nothing to draw in readers and sales have mostly been non-existent since it's release. It's cover was more literary while the story itself is YA love story with fantasy elements.

After accepting my pretty cover wasn't cutting it, I did version two after several months using a stock image from Shutterstock for $10, then tweaked it again to the current version. That improved sales some after a promo but I know it's still not quite as good as it could be. I'll probably do another version to fix typography some more and maybe tweak the image a little more, but either way it was a learning experience. I'll still DIY for shorts I'm giving to my newsletter subscribers.

For my skill/experience - nearly two decades in web development/design and enough knowledge with Adobe Fireworks to work with it (and a sweetie who is awesome with Photoshop and helped me learn and do stuff). Still, he's busy and doesn't have time to do heavy work and he mostly does photo fixes and touch ups, not heavy manipulation and art stuff (though he can do some with time), so mostly for the current version he helped me do some tweaks to the stock art and we left it at that. I also was lucky in that I already had Fireworks and Photoshop, so working with them cost me nothing but time.

Deviations cover was designed by Kerry Hynds of Hynds Studio (a regular poster here too  ) after she came up with a great concept in my thread on "OMG I have no idea what to put on this darn thing"  You can see her prices on her site, but it's under $300 for eBook and print. She is great to work with and the cover is gorgeous. Well worth the money! I'm now waiting for my first proof from CS so I can drool at it in person :-D I plan to work with her on the cover for the next novel as well. I've also considered having her redo Aisuru's, but most likely for now I'm going to focus my money on upcoming works.



CarmenShea said:


> That said. I guess I still worry that my story will be judged in a negative way, especially as I have no real artistic abilities!


It is "pretty" and I wouldn't say it would be judged negatively per se, but you'll likely find it won't aid you in sales anymore than my pretty one helped me because it isn't in keeping with genre. Until I checked your site, I'd have never in a million years guessed the genre; I figured it was literary fiction.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I do everything but my grim reapers myself. I can manipulate photos but not draw and I wanted something illustrated for those. I pay $500 each for those. I was trained on Photoshop before I started but I watched tutorials online to pickup new skills.


A part of me wants to cringe at the price but another part of me knows that good artwork should never be cheap and you really do get what you pay for! I'm very impressed with the ones you did yourself actually, it's great that you have the skillset needed to design them so well.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Patty Jansen said:


> Both. I'm OK with covers with symbols, artwork and some photo-manip. I'm not OK with anything that involves photos and people.
> 
> About a year ago I went on a mission to re-do my covers. I still haven't done so for two of my series because, 1. money, 2. they seem to sell ok with the covers I did.
> 
> I am very happy with the covers I had done, but I have a lot of books and don't want to spend $900 a pop to have custom covers drawn for all of them.


Meep! I look at like kind of figure and think of all the places I still want to travel to! But I guess if you're serious about sales then it's a good investment. I'm not quite ready to give up the travelling so I hope my cover passes muster :S

I've just taken a peek at your site and your covers are lovely! I think you've still got some of the old ones up under your 'book' tab so I was able to see the difference and whilst (what I assume are) the originals are good, there's just something nice and shiny about the new ones.

Have you found the new ones are helping with interest at all though?


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## RinG (Mar 12, 2013)

I'm lucky that my sister is a graphic designer, and she does all my covers. I have the requisite photoshop skills, but not the eye for design.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Andrei Cherascu said:


> Hi Carmen,
> 
> I'm also in the DIY section, for now. I've designed the covers for Mindguard and The Vintages from scratch, and recently made the third one in the series, trying to keep a similar theme:
> ...
> ...


Hey Andrei!

Thanks for your insight! I like your covers, and whilst I agree they don't "scream out science fiction adventure", I wouldn't dismiss them based sorely on the cover, but I can see how maybe they'd be overshadowed by other SF books with more specific cover designs. I think hate is a very strong term to apply to them though, especially considering some of the covers that are up on Amazon! 

Yeah money is the biggest factor when it comes to these things though. I'm just hoping my own novel won't be too easily dismissed :/ or scrolled passed because it's not catchy enough. My skills are purely limited to writing (I hope!), not so much to the arty side of things.


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## jazzywaltz (Jan 3, 2016)

I have have a decent eye for composition but very rudimentary graphic skills and trying to design something on my own usually leads to lots of swearing and headaches. I would have happily paid for a cover designer, but my boyfriend's an illustrator and he offered to do it for me for free, so I only had to pay for typography.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Ted Cross said:


> I paid for the artwork (two commissioned and one a pre-made) but did the typography myself. I did have a friend help me with the typography on TIG since I was really struggling with it.


TIG is absolutely stunning, and the typography is very well done (just popped over to read the summary and it sounds awesome too! Adding it to my list for when I have pennies!) Was this one of the commissioned ones or the pre-made? And how did you end up choosing the artist(s) you used?


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## JeanneM (Mar 21, 2011)

I bought stock images for The Nostalgia Cafe, Dual, and The Medium's Daughter. I did the lettering, and as you can see, my skill level is just about zero. But it was necessary.

I just recently bought two wonderful pre-mades for 45.00 each for upcoming stories, from James of Goon Write. His pre-mades are economical and really well done. So you don't have to spend a lot for a designer if you can't afford it. Sometimes pre-mades really fit the bill until you are able to hire a designer. Best of luck to you.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I do everything but my grim reapers myself. I can manipulate photos but not draw and I wanted something illustrated for those. I pay $500 each for those. I was trained on Photoshop before I started but I watched tutorials online to pickup new skills.


And very good they are too.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Anma Natsu said:


> I've done both.
> 
> Aisuru's is DIY and version 3 (with version 4 likely to happen). Being my first book, I was trying to keep costs down and the pre-made market is absolutely abysmal for representing different ethnicities and the like, so I've mostly given up on them for my first three releases (all set in Japan). My guess is you probably are seeing a similar issue with potential premades for your story because of the setting.
> ...
> ...


Yes, definitely. Aside from the price, finding a pre-made cover that spoke to me and could work to represent my novel was proving pretty impossible, which is why I ended up creating one for myself. The more I'm thinking about it the more I realise that "pretty" might not be enough. As you say, it doesn't exactly advertise the story to anyone who ...hasn't read the story? Which is a bit of an issue, and I'm sort of worrying that KindleScout might judge me for it too. At least if people click on it and read the blurb they get a better sense of the story but it's getting them to engage with the cover in the first place.

I like Aisuru's cover, particularly the image, but after reading your journey with it I can see how you'd want to rework it again. Do you think you'd hint more at the fantasy/fairytale element with the next one? It sort of feels like it could be a never ending cycle though. I see now why even the best selling books out there often change up their covers! Did you re-release your book each time you updated the cover?

And the cover for Deviations is lovely! I'll definitely check her out.


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## Yamila Abraham (Jan 5, 2016)

Your cover makes me think it's a book of poetry.  This is not meant to be a diss.  The only purpose for a cover is to sell the book.  It doesn't have to feature scenery that the reader will find relevant after they read the book.  If you can picture your target audience then think up a reason they might want to buy a book like yours, the cover should convey that information to them.  You want a coming of age exotic story of angst?  A character on the cover that can get an emotional reaction from a potential reader might serve you better for garnering sales.  

But I come from a comic book and genre fiction background so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I use the direct approach to covers.  I want my covers to scream:  HEY!  LOOK AT ME!  You totally want to read me!  Look!  This is what you were looking for!  

I don't want anyone scrolling past my thumbnail image on Amazon without clicking. 

I used to pay $150 to $300 for illustrated covers, but I've moved into photo covers which I do myself in Photoshop.  Illustrated covers help to sell to manga fans...but they just don't buy as much as male/male or sci-fi romance fans.  If you're targeting Young Adult and want an illustrated cover and like any of mine I can give you a lead on the artist.  Their prices have gone up in many cases since I last used them.

My DIY photo covers are selling the best for me.  Since that's the case it doesn't make sense for me pay for illustrations.  When I do my Young Adult mega-block-buster-going-to-be-made-into-a-movie-novel I'll spring for an illustrated cover.  For now the photo covers are doing me fine.


Going from left to right on my signature:  

Eidolon's Conquest I did myself.  I used a tutorial to make a fancy logo.  Put two stock photos together and changed levels and so forth.  I would never charge anyone for my shoddy work, but this is my highest-ranking book to date.

Conquering the Phobe I bought as a pre-made cover and paid $60 for (I think).  Premade covers are great and usually cheap.  I'd go through some sites and see if anything fits your needs.

The Demon and the Emperor and Android's Bride was drawn by a Morrocan artist I work with for $250.  Unprison, Alien's Bride, and Bride Games were done by an Indonesia artist for $150-$200 each.  Maelstrom was done by a Spanish artist for $150 (I think) and Alien's Bride: Meredith was done by the Morrocan Artist.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

I clearly need to start upgrading my friends and family!  everyone either is or knows someone who's great with these things, haha.



Rinelle Grey said:


> I'm lucky that my sister is a graphic designer, and she does all my covers. I have the requisite photoshop skills, but not the eye for design.


Between the pair of you those covers are so lovely!



jazzywaltz said:


> I have have a decent eye for composition but very rudimentary graphic skills and trying to design something on my own usually leads to lots of swearing and headaches. I would have happily paid for a cover designer, but my boyfriend's an illustrator and he offered to do it for me for free, so I only had to pay for typography.


I can definitely relate to the swearing and headaches! But at least you were lucky enough get out of before too long


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Myself, but then I am a graphic designer in my _day job_.


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## abgwriter (Sep 12, 2015)

Nic said:


> Myself, but then I am a graphic designer in my _day job_.


Ditto! 
Does it count as DIY if you do it for a living?


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

I started out with zero budget, so I had to put on the artist hat and do my own. Since I was crazy (or dumb) enough to start with short stories, there was no way I could afford to pay anything for covers. Free images, taught myself to use GIMP -- though I now had access to Photoshop -- and a learning process about genre, and here I am. Still doing my own covers, because I still can't afford it, and I like doing them.

I haven't had any graphics training, but I did win two professionally judged art shows in high school (and a peer-judged one in elementary school), so I figured I had a decent chance of getting something close. I think I did all right, though some of my earlier efforts weren't that great.

My skill level is fair to middling, since I can do some things pretty well, but others not so much (I can't cut things out for crap -- yet!). I'm still learning and practicing. I like to make the cover early on in the writing process. Looking at it seems to keep my spark going for whatever I'm working on.

Here's a strip I made up to use on another site, so you can see more recent covers:


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

JeanneM said:


> I bought stock images for The Nostalgia Cafe, Dual, and The Medium's Daughter. I did the lettering, and as you can see, my skill level is just about zero. But it was necessary.
> 
> I just recently bought two wonderful pre-mades for 45.00 each for upcoming stories, from James of Goon Write. His pre-mades are economical and really well done. So you don't have to spend a lot for a designer if you can't afford it. Sometimes pre-mades really fit the bill until you are able to hire a designer. Best of luck to you.


I wouldn't say you have zero skill- The Medium's Daughter at the very least looks professional to me!

My other problem was not being able to find pre-made covers that fit my image for the story :S I was hoping for some kind of beach or surf themed cover but I barely found a handful and none of them were all that great.

I may just have to stick with this one until I make my millions (snort) and then I can pay someone to redo it for me


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## FionnJameson (Jan 19, 2016)

I design all of my own covers. They aren't that complicated, but I'm of the camp that "less is more" is better for book covers. My head hurts when I see covers that are way too "busy", something you see in a lot of paranormal/urban fantasy covers.


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## Scottish Lass (Oct 10, 2013)

Anma Natsu said:


> It is "pretty" and I wouldn't say it would be judged negatively per se, but you'll likely find it won't aid you in sales anymore than my pretty one helped me because it isn't in keeping with genre. Until I checked your site, I'd have never in a million years guessed the genre; I figured it was literary fiction.


I think that's a common problem with those of us who do DIY covers - not signalling the genre properly. It really _is_ one of the most important things our cover has to do. Not just with the imagery - the typography also plays a part.

I'm another with years of experience in web design and good PhotoShop skills from amateur photography, so I've made all my own covers so far, although I wouldn't be averse to buying eg an illustrated cover if I needed it to match others in the genre (and I could afford it!  ).

There are 'rules' of graphic design and typography that you can learn which will improve your covers (shameless plug: see my sig) but if they don't fit for your genre then it's a hard sell no matter how pretty they are.


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## alawston (Jun 3, 2012)

Both. I have a big six book designer in the family, so even when she designs a cover for me I don't pay beyond image/font rights (and at this point in her career, she owns a _lot_ of fonts, so even that's rare).

Having said that, she's incredibly busy, so if I want something out by a particular date, or if I don't think the project has enough commercial potential to make it worth bothering her, I do it myself.

From my signature, Something Nice once had a DIY cover from myself, which to be fair got pretty decent feedback, and was then redesigned by Rachel into the graphic cover you see now. I did the same thing with Chantecoq and the Aubry Affair, but that was a dreadful effort and I couldn't wait for Rachel's to come through and replace it. Something Nicer is also one of Rachel's. Story Of My Escape was originally designed by another friend, and then redesigned by Rachel when we reformatted the paperback. That was all a bit messy, and the friend in question is still not really speaking to me.

Killing Me Softly is my own work, as is Smoke Me A Kipper: Neil's Farrago, as I don't see them as potential big sellers within my catalogue. I like to think they look OK, though.

Of the two anthologies, the shape of A Splendid Salmagundi's cover bugs me, people sometimes think it's a CD. But it certainly shifted a lot of books back in the day, so who am I to judge? And I can't stand the cover to Sanity Clause is Coming, which is a bit of a shame as it's my story that's apparently illustrated there.


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## Jarmitagetheauthor (Sep 30, 2015)

I did my own.  put them on here and some people liked them and some didn't. I think the problem was that they didn't quite fit my genre (or any genre come to think of it) so I spent one Saturday redesigning them to the ones you see below. Becoming Aethelu is really no more than a stock photo but it's only a novella so I didn't put as much time in on that one. My next book, tentatively titled 'The Labyrinthians' is giving me a headache cover wise. I've no husband and no kids in the house tonight so I'm going to sit down and give it a good go at finishing it!


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## Douglas Milewski (Jul 4, 2014)

Right now, I'm a mixture of doing it myself and paying. I'd have a far easier time if I could grab stock photos, but that has proven impractical for my fantasies. Meanwhile, the cost of professional art has proven challenging to my finances.


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## LittleFox (Jan 3, 2015)

I hired cover designers for all of mine, none of them cost more than $300 but I've had plenty of compliments.  My laptop won't run photoshop, and to be entirely honest I don't have the patience to dig out the required stock art and then play with fonts. I'd rather hand it over to a professional who can create a fantastic cover that hits all the genre requirements.


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## Jennifer Lewis (Dec 12, 2013)

So far I've done all of my self pubbed books. Each time I come out with a new book I resolve to find an awesome designer and buy one, but I can never find quite what I want, so I start tinkering and end up doing it myself. I think I'm too much of a control freak to just turn it over to someone else and be happy with whatever they make. I do have an art background and try to expand my knowledge of Photoshop as I go. I like having the ability to change covers as needed and to create different versions and matching graphics for website, social media, etc.


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## Jim Johnson (Jan 4, 2011)

I bought a couple of pre-mades from James at goonwrite.com and was happy with them. He also did a custom job for me that I was pleased with. The covers on my current series were done by a friend of mine for a great rate, and he set it up as a template that I can manipulate in InDesign to change the episode number and title without having to futz around too much. I know enough about Photoshop and InDesign to be dangerous, and I'm actively learning more so that I can do my own covers, or at least give it a fair shot before deciding to hire out.

Some of the reasons I want to do covers myself include:

1. Learning a new skill. I'm constantly learning and challenging myself to learn something new, so if I can learn how to make a competent, genre-focused cover that sells some books, that's time well spent.

2. Control. Not that I'm a control freak, but there's a lot to be said for making something and knowing that thing's success or failure is on no one's shoulders but yours.

3. Time. There's also a lot to be said for being able to make a tweak or change to a cover RIGHT NOW as opposed to sending an email and waiting for the designer's schedule to open up enough for them to make the change.

4. The joy of building something. Like writing, building with Lego, painting, etc. There's a joy in flexing the creative muscles in a way different from writing. Moving layers, manipulating images, adding text, agonizing over just the right font; it's fun to take all the different pieces and see how they combine together.

5. Cost in relation to number of releases. I'm a fast writer with a lot of series and series installments either in hand or in the works. I'm forecasting 18 releases this year. I have a small pool of seed money to use for those releases. I simply can't afford editing and covers for all of them. I'm not willing to skip editing because even though I am a professional editor, I still need someone else to find the stuff I can't see because I'm too close to the writing. Better option is to strengthen my skills with PS and ID and try some homebrew covers.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

I started out designing my own, but there are people so much more qualified than I am and I wanted to actually sell books. So now I hire it done and I have no regrets. It's worth every penny.


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## GP Hudson (Sep 16, 2013)

I've paid for all my covers since day one. It is definitely worth the cost, and then some.


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## Matthew Stott (Oct 22, 2014)

CarmenShea said:


> Everyone judges a book by it's cover, it's pretty much a fact of life. That doesn't necessarily mean you won't pick it up for a read if the summary is good enough, of course. But what I want to know- seeing as there are quite a few self-published authors on these forums (and quite a few of them with gorgeous covers!) *just how many of you designed your own covers?*


I'm not a cover designer, and the cover is SUPER important. So I happily pay people who know what the heck they're doing to do it for me. I'll stick to the writing.


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## TommyHill (Dec 21, 2015)

I tried my hand at a DIY cover and it was a disaster. Luckily, Yoly from Cormar Covers stepped up to the plate and gave me something that I instantly fell in love with for a very reasonable price. I may try my hand at a cover for my online serial, but for the rest of my major series, I will be returning to Yoly for my covers.

If you want a great cover for a great price, Cormar Covers may be the place for you to check out.


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## belindaf (Jan 27, 2011)

I've done some myself and hired some out. I don't see a dramatic difference in sales either way, even if the quality difference is apparent. I'm not great , but like other DIY folks here I'm learning new tricks every time. I have to mind the budget since I write niche fiction.


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## authorkcfinn (Jan 8, 2016)

I do my own covers, but I've been dabbling in graphic design and learning bits and bobs for nearly twelve years. Most readers that bother to get in touch say they like my covers and find them eye catching. I try to do something that deliberately looks different to other books of the genre, which some people say is not the done thing, but it's not holding my sales back.


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## Guest (Jan 22, 2016)

CarmenShea said:


> I like Aisuru's cover, particularly the image, but after reading your journey with it I can see how you'd want to rework it again. Do you think you'd hint more at the fantasy/fairytale element with the next one? It sort of feels like it could be a never ending cycle though. I see now why even the best selling books out there often change up their covers! Did you re-release your book each time you updated the cover?


Thank you  So true on it feeling like a never ending cycle and it's hard to know if I'm blaming the cover for lack of sales or if it really has major issues. It's one reason I'm not going to spend more money on it right now. Mostly it will be fixing typography to better match my branding re author name placement/font. I have tried a few small things to hint at the fantasy element but am finding it challenging without the skills do do photo merging well :-D

I didn't do a full re-release, I just updated it in KDP. With this next version, I do plan to do a second edition on the print books, as I'm also reformatting the interior.


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## Jim Johnson (Jan 4, 2011)

belindaf said:


> I've done some myself and hired some out. I don't see a dramatic difference in sales either way, even if the quality difference is apparent.


This is an important reminder. The most expensive and fanciest cover in the world doesn't necessarily guarantee sales. Take a look at most any cover design service's portfolio and start plugging titles in to Amazon's search function. Sales rankings are all over the place. Hard to predict what readers will want to read. Putting a polished pro cover on a niche-y title is probably wasted money.


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## Matthew Stott (Oct 22, 2014)

Jim Johnson said:


> This is an important reminder. The most expensive and fanciest cover in the world doesn't necessarily guarantee sales. Take a look at most any cover design service's portfolio and start plugging titles in to Amazon's search function. Sales rankings are all over the place. Hard to predict what readers will want to read. Putting a polished pro cover on a niche-y title is probably wasted money.


True, but on a personal level, I just want my work to have a 'nice' cover. That doesn't mean you have to spend loads, of course. I certainly haven't so far. Even if it doesn't always affect sales, it gives you a more pro-sheen when people glance over your work.


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## UnicornEmily (Jul 2, 2011)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I do everything but my grim reapers myself. I can manipulate photos but not draw and I wanted something illustrated for those. I pay $500 each for those. I was trained on Photoshop before I started but I watched tutorials online to pickup new skills.


I didn't know you did all your own covers, Amanda! And they're fantastic! Wow, now I'm even more impressed at your speed, since you're doing all those covers on top of such fast writing. 

As for me, I'll do the simple covers (if it's mostly design / typography, I can do that myself), and I'm not going to pay for covers for short stories, as I know I wouldn't make back my investment. So my short stories are fully illustrated covers I make myself, because I want to practice myself into professional quality eventually.

I also illustrate all of my comics' covers, of course, because I draw the comics inside.

All that said, I hired an artist for Black Magic Academy, I've bought a premade that I fell in love with, and I currently have an artist (that I hired at $500 per cover) making really pretty illustrated covers for some books I soon want to release. Because I KNOW what I want, and I KNOW I'm not that good yet, so I'm happy to pay for the beautiful quality I want to see.

Mostly typography, however, or a simple illustration that's more comicky or simple? That I can do myself. I do all of my interior illustrations for my books that have them (for instance, line break illustrations). I do every part of the interior formatting myself, and I put a lot of design into the print books (because I really, really like pretty books).


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## mach 5 (Dec 5, 2015)

CarmenShea said:


> ... the cover I am using for my debut novel Amanzimtoti (image via the link or in my signature), is one I managed to design using an online photo editor and a text generator! ...which says alot about my skill level!


I think you did an excellent job aided by your genre and your actually having a picture you took of the area. You definitely have a good touch on typography.

My skill level is at or above most cover artists available for hire to indies. It's only when we start getting above $300 that the artists start getting better than me. But I have an easy genre to "cover" and will likely continue doing all of my covers for my books within that genre.


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

I made most of mine using diybookcovers.com. Now that my books more than pay for themselves, my time is far better spent working on the next book. I've been hiring out lately, and I plan to continue doing so. The pros can take it to a level I can't, nor have any desire to learn.


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## IreneP (Jun 19, 2012)

All of my covers are professional but two of them were paid for by my publishers (so I don't know the cost).

I paid $200 for the cowboy (You Can Leave Your Boots On) by Kanaxa and $100 for the illustrated cover (Tall Order) by Dar Albert at Wicked Smart Designs.

I'm happy with the results and loved working with my designers.  I looked at both their portfolios before I contacted them to see if I liked what they were putting out. I also looked specifically for artists who had done covers for top-selling authors in my genre.

The hubs is well-versed in Photoshop and offered to do my covers, but he knows 0 about cover design. If I get on a really tight budget I might still take him up on it for a small project but my preference is to go with a professional in the field.


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## Guest (Jan 22, 2016)

I have zero graphic skills, and frankly not much interest in trying to get any. It takes too much time away from writing.  I pay to have my covers done. However, I have a short story coming out, and I'm going to experiment with that. I'll probably regret it.


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## 555aaa (Jan 28, 2014)

Jim Johnson said:


> This is an important reminder. The most expensive and fanciest cover in the world doesn't necessarily guarantee sales. Take a look at most any cover design service's portfolio and start plugging titles in to Amazon's search function. Sales rankings are all over the place. Hard to predict what readers will want to read. Putting a polished pro cover on a niche-y title is probably wasted money.


There's a lot of books with nice covers that don't sell. There's not many books with horrible covers that sell well.

In the niche fields you just need a "competent" cover. In genre fiction you need to hit the genre and IMHO the cover quality doesn't have to be that awesome, but you have to nail the market.

I'm super niche-y so I do my own covers.

Your cover is nice. It says literary fiction to me. If it's NA then you might want to change it.


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## G. (Aug 21, 2014)

I do my own covers in Photoshop. It helps me maintain, and improve, my Photoshop skills. But I can spend way too much time trying to find the stock image(s) I need. I wouldn't hesitate to use a designer, especially for illustrations, if I found a good fit.


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## belindaf (Jan 27, 2011)

G. said:


> I do my own covers in Photoshop. It helps me maintain, and improve, my Photoshop skills. But I can spend way too much time trying to find the stock image(s) I need. I wouldn't hesitate to use a designer, especially for illustrations, if I found a good fit.


This. I spend hours sifting through stock images. Keywords only go so far. I usually lurk istock photo while I'm watching television and keep a running list of things that catch my eye or may be in-line with a current or future project.


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## ScottCarlson (Jul 23, 2015)

I did my own using gimp and canva. I like how it came out. My next book cover is looking good. I figured out how to use transparency in canva to make layers.


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## Ted Cross (Aug 30, 2012)

CarmenShea said:


> TIG is absolutely stunning, and the typography is very well done (just popped over to read the summary and it sounds awesome too! Adding it to my list for when I have pennies!) Was this one of the commissioned ones or the pre-made? And how did you end up choosing the artist(s) you used?


Thank you. That is one I commissioned. Stephan Martiniere has been one of my favorite artists for ages, and I never dreamed I could have him do one of my covers, but I bit the bullet and paid for it, though I think it will take several years of sales to earn that money back. I love it, though, so it was worth it.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

I did my own until I could afford to hire someone. I think it's important to mention that even with my old covers I was able to make a living. I do think that the new covers have helped. The first month I definitely made more; now they do modestly better than the others. 

If you have to do your own covers I think the most important things are: Make sure the title is legible, make sure they stand out, make sure it's easy to see they are part of a series.


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## Guest (Jan 22, 2016)

Some I buy. Some I do myself. Some are a combination of the two. 

In general, if it is a major, full-length project, I hire someone.

If it is a short, like my Nancy Werlock series, I do those myself.

For the Quarterly, I buy art from artists and then add all the text elements myself, so it is a combination.

A lot depends on what my total budget is for a project, how much time I have, and what I want the cover to do.


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## Robert Dahlen (Apr 27, 2014)

I pay all the way. I found my cover artist, Willow, on DeviantArt, and she does a great job (IMHO) of capturing the main characters and the feel of the books. She does the art, and someone else does the design. It's not as cheap as DIY or using stock covers, but it's the look I want, and I'm happy to pay for that.


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## Megan Crewe (Oct 8, 2015)

I did my own design for the two books in my sig that are self published (GIVE UP THE GHOST and THOSE WHO LIVED). I've been using Photoshop for about twenty years now to do my own website and graphic design (bookmarks etc.) so I'm comfortable with basic image manipulation and typography. With TWL, I knew it wasn't going to be a big money maker and just needed something that matched the trilogy it's attached to. With GHOST, I had a specific idea of what I wanted that I felt I could capture on my own, so I didn't see the need to go through a designer and risk paying for something that didn't quite match what was in my head after all.

I am planning on hiring a designer for my next self pubbed book, mainly because I don't have a clear sense of what I'd want the cover to look like that I think I could pull off myself.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Yamila Abraham said:


> Your cover makes me think it's a book of poetry. This is not meant to be a diss. The only purpose for a cover is to sell the book. It doesn't have to feature scenery that the reader will find relevant after they read the book. If you can picture your target audience then think up a reason they might want to buy a book like yours, the cover should convey that information to them. You want a coming of age exotic story of angst? A character on the cover that can get an emotional reaction from a potential reader might serve you better for garnering sales.
> 
> But I come from a comic book and genre fiction background so take my advice with a grain of salt.
> 
> ...


Not taking it as diss at all, I'm very happy for the honest opinion! This is why I asked the question initially as I feel like my cover needs something a bit ~more to really make it appeal to my genre(s). That said, my main problem is funds- I just don't have that sort of money right now. My second problem comes with finding a pre-made cover. Yes my story is "a coming of age exotic story of angst" XD but my characters are in their late teens who spent most of their time on the beach and I haven't been able to find anything that fits that concept. I don't just want to slap a random boy on the front cover to evoke a response- and maybe that's my problem right there. Perhaps finding and editing a photo of surfers instead of purchasing a pre-made cover is my next best option. Hrmm...!

I can see how your covers give a nod the stories you're telling though. I guess a part of me also bristles at the idea that certain types of novels need to have certain types of covers. I personally don't like all the Gay/Erotic novels out there with half-naked people plastered all over them- I already know what I'm getting when I'm looking for a read like that. Same for the YA novels which tend to (not always) have the couples on the cover. Or at least the MC.

Thanks for the info and your experience, got a bit of thinking to do re my own cover now though!


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## blancheking (Oct 15, 2015)

I make my own covers, though I  have trouble finding royalty free images. In the end, I started merging images on photoshop and making my own.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

mach 5 said:


> I think you did an excellent job aided by your genre and your actually having a picture you took of the area. You definitely have a good touch on typography.
> 
> My skill level is at or above most cover artists available for hire to indies. It's only when we start getting above $300 that the artists start getting better than me. But I have an easy genre to "cover" and will likely continue doing all of my covers for my books within that genre.


Thank you  I do really like it, but I am worried it won't ping on most people's radars when they're searching either the YA or LGBT categories. That said, it's very obviously different from most of the stories up on Amazon atm that maybe they'll notice it because of that reason alone? Ugh. It's so HARD! haha.

It's great you've got the skill! I never really played around with graphics/art but I do envy those of you who can turn an image into a work of art. And as you say, if you can continue doing the covers and they're selling, you might as well! No point paying someone for something you can do yourself!


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## Kate Lowell (Apr 18, 2015)

I did the cover for Lead Me to You myself, and I have one ready for the sequel, but everything else I either contracted or the publisher did. I'd like to be able to do mine myself, but if I'm being honest, I just don't have the time right now to learn enough to do the stuff I'd need. So I'm content to have someone else do it. For my self-pubbed ones, I have a good working relationship with an excellent cover artist who I sometimes feel can read my mind   . With the publisher--well, it's mostly out of my hands. I can influence that, though, if I want to shell out money for stock art. I did that for Flesh Market and got a cover that I'm reasonably happy with.


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## Thisiswhywecan&#039;thavenicethings (May 3, 2013)

I've done all my own so far but I'm not opposed to paying a pro at some point.


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## Howietzer (Apr 18, 2012)

I'm a designer/illustrator in real life, so I did my own... illos, type, all that junk. Your cover looks good IMO. I'd say keep doing them yourself as long as it doesn't cut into your writing time too much.


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## PJ_Cherubino (Oct 23, 2015)

My first book had a DIY cover. I still personally like it and think it looks great, but unfortunately, my audience (and just about every other author I surveyed) did not feel the same.

So I learned my lesson and bought a pre-made cover for my second book and commissioned a new cover for the re-write of the first book.

Those who do their own covers seem to have a professional graphics design aesthetic and/or skill set. It seems I do not. Mere competence didn't seem to cut it for me, so hired a pro.

That being said, there is no harm in trying. Every effort yields more experience, so why not try?

I agree with you that books are definitely judged by their covers. Fact of life. So one thing I didn't pick up on was that the cover really should follow the prevailing look of other covers in its genre. I don't like this, but that's what the market likes, so I swallow that bitter pill.

If I ever do try my hand at a DIY cover again, I will run it by as many audience members as I can and as many fellow authors as well.

Hope that helps.

PJC



CarmenShea said:


> Everyone judges a book by it's cover, it's pretty much a fact of life. That doesn't necessarily mean you won't pick it up for a read if the summary is good enough, of course. But what I want to know- seeing as there are quite a few self-published authors on these forums (and quite a few of them with gorgeous covers!) *just how many of you designed your own covers?*
> 
> And if you designed it yourself, what skill level would you say you had?
> 
> ...


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## PJ_Cherubino (Oct 23, 2015)

James does great work and is a pleasure to work with. Had a really nice email exchange with him. Very reasonable prices and solid artwork.



JeanneM said:


> I bought stock images for The Nostalgia Cafe, Dual, and The Medium's Daughter. I did the lettering, and as you can see, my skill level is just about zero. But it was necessary.
> 
> I just recently bought two wonderful pre-mades for 45.00 each for upcoming stories, from James of Goon Write. His pre-mades are economical and really well done. So you don't have to spend a lot for a designer if you can't afford it. Sometimes pre-mades really fit the bill until you are able to hire a designer. Best of luck to you.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

belindaf said:


> This. I spend hours sifting through stock images. Keywords only go so far. I usually lurk istock photo while I'm watching television and keep a running list of things that catch my eye or may be in-line with a current or future project.


Okay this istock thing is amazing! They never came up during any of my previous image searches which is kind of annoying but I'm making up for lost time now!! ...have you actually bought images from them before? I'm actually considering it as I've found a couple good ones that fit with my novel


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Howietzer said:


> I'm a designer/illustrator in real life, so I did my own... illos, type, all that junk. Your cover looks good IMO. I'd say keep doing them yourself as long as it doesn't cut into your writing time too much.


Your covers look great! That's some impressive skill right there! Thanks for saying mine looks good  I'm attached to it but I might play around with some stock images and see if I can't make it more relevant to the genre(s) if not the story :/


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## Sara Whitford (Aug 18, 2015)

My day job is as a website designer so I'm always using stock imagery. *My go-to source is DollarPhotoClub.com* because their images are only $1 each. 

I did design my own covers, though I would love to have them redone at some point in the future when I can afford professional illustrations. Since they are unique colonial era settings, there just aren't many perfect photos to choose from.

The barrels on the cover of _The Smuggler's Gambit_ are an image from DPC and I manipulated it with Photoshop by using a wood burning effect to create the mark on the barrel heads, and then I added a parchment background. The cover of _Captured in the Caribbean_ is a DPC image, too. I've got all of $5.00 in graphics for both books (excluding the Photoshop that I also use for my dayjob.)


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Sara Whitford said:


> My day job is as a website designer so I'm always using stock imagery. *My go-to source is DollarPhotoClub.com* because their images are only $1 each.
> 
> I did design my own covers, though I would love to have them redone at some point in the future when I can afford professional illustrations. Since they are unique colonial era settings, there just aren't many perfect photos to choose from.
> 
> The barrels on the cover of _The Smuggler's Gambit_ are an image from DPC and I manipulated it with Photoshop by using a wood burning effect to create the mark on the barrel heads, and then I added a parchment background. The cover of _Captured in the Caribbean_ is a DPC image, too. I've got all of $5.00 in graphics for both books (excluding the Photoshop that I also use for my dayjob.)


Ill have to check them out! Are you aware of any restrictions with using them? aka- only so many prints/etc.

Great job on your covers! I adore the style you've gone for, and you've made the pictures fit perfectly with the era.

I'm considering changing up my cover but most of the stock images I've come across that I thought could fit for me are still pretty expensive but I like the sound of $1 images alot! XD


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## Sara Whitford (Aug 18, 2015)

CarmenShea said:


> Ill have to check them out! Are you aware of any restrictions with using them? aka- only so many prints/etc.
> 
> Great job on your covers! I adore the style you've gone for, and you've made the pictures fit perfectly with the era.
> 
> I'm considering changing up my cover but most of the stock images I've come across that I thought could fit for me are still pretty expensive but I like the sound of $1 images alot! XD


Thanks for the comment on my book covers. 

As for Dollar Photo Club restrictions, the main thing is the normal, royalty-free license is for no more than 500,000 impressions. (Restriction does not apply for reproductions of the image used exclusively on a website.) I figure by the time my book covers appears that many times, I should be able to either afford the extended license or to have them redone. 

You can read the details here: https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/Info/RoyaltyFreeLicense

ETA: This is the actual verbiage on image use restrictions:



> (b) Run limit: The Member may not cause or allow any given Work (including modifications thereof) to be reproduced more than 500,000 times, in total. For example, a Work may not appear on more than 500,000 flyers, magazine advertisements, book covers, product packages, etc. Likewise, the Member may not cause or allow any given Work (including modifications thereof) to be incorporated into a television program, advertisement, video, film, or other production if the audience is (or is anticipated to be) greater than 500,000 viewers, in total. However, such restriction shall not apply to reproductions of the Work which are only displayed on a website, social media platform, or similar media.


I believe extended licenses can be purchased from the parent company, Fotolia.com.


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## G. (Aug 21, 2014)

belindaf said:


> This. I spend hours sifting through stock images. Keywords only go so far. I usually lurk istock photo while I'm watching television and keep a running list of things that catch my eye or may be in-line with a current or future project.


I do the same at Shutterstock. The lightboxes make it really convenient to save images I might use later.


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## Guest (Jan 23, 2016)

I've done the Forever Girl series myself, but currently having it redone by a cover designer whose work I like more. For some reason, I can't seem to make good covers for myself, though I've made some great ones for other authors. I did the typography on the Conduit series, but I had someone do the rest of the cover on those.


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## My Dog&#039;s Servant (Jun 2, 2013)

Sara Whitford said:


> My day job is as a website designer so I'm always using stock imagery. *My go-to source is DollarPhotoClub.com* because their images are only $1 each.


Regrettably, they're now closed to new subscribers. You have to go to Adobe Stock, which still has pretty decent rates.


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## Sara Whitford (Aug 18, 2015)

My Dog's Servant said:


> Regrettably, they're now closed to new subscribers. You have to go to Adobe Stock, which still has pretty decent rates.


Oh no! I did not realize that! I'm always logged in there so I never have any reason to see if they are still signing people up.

I'm surprised that they aren't taking new subscribers now though because they're always adding new images.


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## Elidibus (May 13, 2015)

I didn't read all of the thread here, but am I the only person that's used Fiverr.com to get their covers?

It's been an overall pleasant experience using that site. My wife is a graphic designer, but regrettably, her style is more towards illustration and less towards action/survival books, which I'm currently writing right now. Besides, she's super busy with her day job, and it was just easier outsourcing these covers. However, when we actually do start writing graphic novels, she's gonna do the art. We've even talked about turning my novels into graphic novels and stuff.

My particular guys goes by mnsartstudio and he does amazing work. Each cover only cost 15 bucks, was delivered in three days, and came with a 3d image and a front, spine and back to use on Createspace. Things may have changed since I last ordered, but that was just for five bucks. The extras include the stock image and licensing fee to use the picture. He offers a lot more stuff too. Of course, there were a few minor issues my wife saw with the covers that she was able to clean up, but for that price, it just couldn't be beat.


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## KGorman (Feb 6, 2011)

Elidibus said:


> I didn't read all of the thread here, but am I the only person that's used Fiverr.com to get their covers?


I used Fiverr once and got a terrible cover, so I kind of have the "once bitten, twice shy" reaction now. Not that I'd never go back to Fiverr again for a cover, as I recognize that sellers on Fiverr are not all what I experienced.

I've done all the covers in my sig except for Twelve Worlds. As a teen, I spent a large portion of my time manipulating photos for role-playing characters, and I feel like I can do an all right job with covers. Need to work on my typography and watch a few more tutorials, though.

I like tooling around in Photoshop  Especially now that I have a newish computer and can run the program with a modicum of speed.


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## UnicornEmily (Jul 2, 2011)

belindaf said:


> This. I spend hours sifting through stock images. Keywords only go so far. I usually lurk istock photo while I'm watching television and keep a running list of things that catch my eye or may be in-line with a current or future project.


Ha ha ha! That's me on DaFont!

I'm all about illustrated covers, so stock photo sites don't excite me that much. But I WANT pretty fonts. I LOVE pretty fonts. I have folders and folders and folders of fonts for covers and chapter headings and page numbering and everything, filed away according to which story I think it's perfect for (and labeled by which element I think it's perfect for).

When I start a new book, the thing that takes me the longest on day one is picking the font for the text. (Makes series easier, because that part is already done when I start the second book.) For me, the font for the main text is actually a very important part of the atmosphere of the story. If it doesn't set the right mood, I can't write the story. My brain rebels.

So stock photos? Meh. Whatever. But I'll spend hours browsing and experimenting with fonts.


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## Mxz (Jan 17, 2015)

I've done both but now stick to making my own.  My starting level was intermediate until I learned more about using photo manipulation.  Youtube videos are extremely helpful.  I also have PhotoElements, which has enough tools to design a great cover.  I know you can rent Photoshop for per month for $10 (don't know if they require a year commitment though).

I think your genre will determine the amount of skill you need to design your own.  The genre was the problem I had when I began with my own cover.  It  completely missed the genre because I didn't carefully look into the sub-genres.  It helps to pull up the top 100 best seller list in your genre/sub-genre and find the common themes. 

When I got the designers, I still wasn't clear on the cover design and the genre links.  In the end, hiring the designers just made me see that I could learn a little more and keep designing my own covers, have creative control, and keep the costs down.  

For around $50 there are a few different graphic designers that have premades. The only draw back is to get a design for the physical copy, you have to pay more.  And if you write another story in the series you would probably need to use the same cover designer.  If you want to make bookmarks, business cards, etc, they may charge for that.  And you may have to pay (or not be able to get) the original file they used to design your cover if you want that.  In general, if you want something custom made it gets very expensive.


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## Gina Black (Mar 15, 2011)

I hire my covers out. I considered doing them myself since I once did graphic design, but I just don't have the skill to make the sort of covers I need.
























The second two covers are for books in-progress.


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## Cactus Lady (Jun 4, 2014)

I do my own typography (some experience in that with a fan website I've been running since 2001, I do all the graphics for that myself, and scrapbooking). Nothing fancy; my main focus is keeping it simple enough to read at thumbnail size.

As for cover images, I use a mix of stock art and custom. I can do some basic photomanip with stock art (what I do/plan to do for short story collections), but the cover for Lost Book of Anggird (in signature) I used as-is because it's perfect for the book as if it had been custom-made. I got paid photomanip covers for Chosen of Azara and Sarya's Song because the artist and I were able to find good stock images for the base. The rest of my books, I hired an artist because I wanted custom images of the characters. (If you search "western fantasy" on the stock art sites mostly what you get are shirtless cowboy torsos and cowgirls in Daisy Duke shorts  ) My own drawing skills are, um, less than stellar. I'm about to order up a new round of covers for some upcoming books from the same artist (hopefully he's still working; haven't been in touch with him for a while) and I'm planning to get Chosen re-done because they're all in the same world (the same world as Warrior and Holy Man; the same artist also did that cover) and I want to brand them the same.


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## Cactus Lady (Jun 4, 2014)

erm accidentally quoted myself


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## CarolynVMurray (Mar 13, 2015)

CarmenShea said:


> I wouldn't say you have zero skill- The Medium's Daughter at the very least looks professional to me!
> 
> My other problem was not being able to find pre-made covers that fit my image for the story :S I was hoping for some kind of beach or surf themed cover but I barely found a handful and none of them were all that great.
> 
> I may just have to stick with this one until I make my millions (snort) and then I can pay someone to redo it for me


There's no guarantee the book will sell well, just because it has a better cover, especially if it's not part of a series. That said, you do need a better cover! Something with an identifiable image (I can't tell what that is) a lot of good color, and perhaps the figure of the protagonist.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Mxz said:


> I've done both but now stick to making my own. My starting level was intermediate until I learned more about using photo manipulation. Youtube videos are extremely helpful. I also have PhotoElements, which has enough tools to design a great cover. I know you can rent Photoshop for per month for $10 (don't know if they require a year commitment though).
> 
> I think your genre will determine the amount of skill you need to design your own. The genre was the problem I had when I began with my own cover. It completely missed the genre because I didn't carefully look into the sub-genres. It helps to pull up the top 100 best seller list in your genre/sub-genre and find the common themes.
> 
> ...


Yeah, the prices all start adding up pretty quickly. I'd love a professionally made one but that's not going to happen for a few years at the very least. And I haven't found a pre-made that fits with my vision. That said, since started this thread I've been looking at stock images- my problem is that I'm really too attached to the image I've got and hadn't thought about trying something else once I got it into my head to use it, so going to play around and hopefully come up with something more eyecatching. Esp, as you say, so that will work with my genre(s).


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

CarolynVMurray said:


> There's no guarantee the book will sell well, just because it has a better cover, especially if it's not part of a series. That said, you do need a better cover! Something with an identifiable image (I can't tell what that is) a lot of good color, and perhaps the figure of the protagonist.


Thanks for the input! Since starting this thread I definitely agree. My book is part of a series but you're right in that the image itself isn't identifiable/eyecactching and (as everyone else has said) doesn't fit with any of my genres. I've been playing around with some stock images of surfer guys (as it's set mostly on a beach in South Africa) so hopefully I'll find something a bit better  even though I am ridiculously attached to the one I have XD


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## LFGabel (Nov 28, 2015)

I have a graphic design / illustration background, so I created my own cover for my first book (my avatar). If I didn't, it would have no problem paying a professional to do it. I did pay for the professional photos.

As a designer, I never understand why people think they can get good design cheaply. Good design takes work, just like writing books. It's like saying "I'd love to buy your book, but I my budget is $0.05."


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## Psychorase (Dec 7, 2015)

The majority of DIY covers really shouldn't be. There's a smattering of impressive DIY covers in this thread and an equally large smattering I recognize from the Lousy Book Covers website.

I have a strong image of the cover I want for Closer to the Sun and it's a watercolour, which I can't do on any level. Better pull some money out of somewhere.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Okay so I've been having a look around and I still defo can't afford a custom design, can't find a pre-made I like/fits my story, but I did find a few stock images that might actually work, so if you guys don't mind giving me your opinions?

My novel is a coming of age story set in South Africa which deals with lgbt issues amongst other things. And the beach/surfing theme is a big part of the story too.
























Current Design - New Design 1 - New Design 2.
(Ignore the watermarks for now, I haven't decided if I'm going to use the stock images yet or not.)

I'm leaving more towards option 1 as it goes with the style of my original design, (and I might end up using it for book 2 in the end) but yeah. Opinions? :/


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## belindaf (Jan 27, 2011)

CarmenShea said:


> Okay so I've been having a look around and I still defo can't afford a custom design, can't find a pre-made I like/fits my story, but I did find a few stock images that might actually work, so if you guys don't mind giving me your opinions?
> 
> My novel is a coming of age story set in South Africa which deals with lgbt issues amongst other things. And the beach/surfing theme is a big part of the story too.
> 
> ...


I don't get any LGBT vibe here. It's not my genre so I'm not sure how to go about conveying that. Surfing I get loud and clear, but only the third indicates anything like "coming of age" since the model looks young-ish. I like the banner at the bottom. The two are an improvement on the first since it's really hard to tell what that image is. Of them, new design 2 is my favorite.


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## Ros_Jackson (Jan 11, 2014)

I pay for my covers rather than going DIY. That's mostly because I can't do illustrations, and the type of fantasy I write often calls for them. Even if the design calls for a photo-manipulation (my skills here are medium) I prefer to leave it to a professional.



CarmenShea said:


> My novel is a coming of age story set in South Africa which deals with lgbt issues amongst other things. And the beach/surfing theme is a big part of the story too.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


New design 2 is my favourite. It's not just because it has a surfer, it's also because the contrast is slightly better. With the original image you pretty much have a lot of muddy brown and beige which blends together, so nothing stands out. It's the kind of cover that fades into the background, so people will just pass over it.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

#3 is the only one that looks coming of age to me. #2 is nice, but looks almost thriller-y.


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## noirhvy (Dec 29, 2015)

For my first book (out of print) I contracted with a cover design firm that said they'd do a cover for $99. The resultant cover, which I was quite pleased with, cost me $300. I thought that was a fair price and never believed the $99 price anyway. (It cost extra because the designed had to draw two people in addition to other stuff.)
For my next epic I suspect I will sped $300 to $500 for the cover. I of course think I'm writing a great story that will have lots of appeal. But the cover is critical. Without a great cover nobody will "get" what it is all about. I believe I can't afford to NOT spend some pretty good bucks on a cover designer.
By the way, having been a professional photographer over a span of 50 years, I applaud your using a photo from where the action takes place. Good luck.


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## angela65 (Oct 8, 2014)

I like #3 best for a coming of age story. You can tell the surfer is young. You can't really determine the age in the second. And the first is, to me, kind of bleh. At thumbnail size, I think it would just be a hazy gray blur.


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## Mxz (Jan 17, 2015)

I'd say #3 too it goes more with YA and Coming of Age.  If the picture is in color, I would choose color over gray scale too.


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## dgrant (Feb 5, 2014)

We (my husband and I) find the stock art. Then I winnow through it based on what I've seen show up in covers lately. We take it to a friend who is a professional photographer and graphic designer, and then sit next to him and I say things like "Okay, let me pull up a browser and show you six books. The font needs to be close to something like these. Um, can we make there be more explosion, and take that extra ship out of the picture?" 

He doesn't know the genre signalling, so I tell him what I want, and let him work out the how, then adjust from there.

Coming of age usually have the protagonists on the cover, and of the three, #3 is the only one that has a recognizable person at thumbnail for me. (Surfers would probably recognize the silhouette in #2 in an instant, but I'm afraid I'm not a surfer.)


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

belindaf said:


> I don't get any LGBT vibe here. It's not my genre so I'm not sure how to go about conveying that. Surfing I get loud and clear, but only the third indicates anything like "coming of age" since the model looks young-ish. I like the banner at the bottom. The two are an improvement on the first since it's really hard to tell what that image is. Of them, new design 2 is my favorite.


I'm now leaning more towards new design 2 after all the feedback! I don't need the novel to have the lgbt vibe so I'm not too worried about that, but if I can at least get the ya/coming of age across I think it'll work. It's definitely more eye catching than my initial design :/


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

dgrant said:


> We (my husband and I) find the stock art. Then I winnow through it based on what I've seen show up in covers lately. We take it to a friend who is a professional photographer and graphic designer, and then sit next to him and I say things like "Okay, let me pull up a browser and show you six books. The font needs to be close to something like these. Um, can we make there be more explosion, and take that extra ship out of the picture?"
> 
> He doesn't know the genre signalling, so I tell him what I want, and let him work out the how, then adjust from there.
> 
> Coming of age usually have the protagonists on the cover, and of the three, #3 is the only one that has a recognizable person at thumbnail for me. (Surfers would probably recognize the silhouette in #2 in an instant, but I'm afraid I'm not a surfer.)


That's a pretty smart way to do it! And it's great that you get so much input and control over the design too.

Yeah I'm leaning for #3 too. It just pops a bit better than the other two and at least it's not going to break the bank to pay for the image XD


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

I did design as a part of my day job (and as a freelancer) for 25 years, but not specifically in cover design. I'd call myself a semi-pro.

When I started I did my own covers as a short cut while I looked for a pro to do the work, but I soon discovered that matching art to my rather quirky work is not cost effective. That is, the kind of artist who could do work that reflects the book properly would cost more than the quirky book would be likely to take in.  So I decided to go all in and make my art a part of my overall branding.  This is not something that anyone should do lightly and I don't particularly recommend it.

How to know what makes a good cover for you is a matter of knowing who you are writing for. 

To me, your covers are good, and do scream YA of a certain kind.  And that's good because it's the kind of YA that is open to indies. (Most YA isn't really -- it's very corporate and has to appeal to libraries and schools and educators as well as teens, and as yet, nearly all of the educational part of the market is closed to indies.)  Your covers have the "look" of direct-to-teen stylings.  Whether they are currently fashionable or appealing in that market, I can't really tell you.  (Although I can say that that market is often happy with anything that doesn't look like it came from the education market.)

However, while the style may suit the market, the image and title together doesn't convey much to me.  It might if your market is niche --that is, if your audience is people for whom the title and image have meaning outside your book.  Is Amansimtoti a place or thing relevant or meaningful to your audience?  Are the pictures of a place relevant or meaningful to your audience?

If you're going for an audience of mainstream American teens, you need a stronger signal as to what the book is about.  If you're going for an audience of South African LGBT kids, and your title and images mean something to them, those could be very powerful covers.  I simply don't know I don't have the reference, and there probably aren't many here that would. (And furthermore, you may have trouble hiring a cover designer who would do better.)

Camille


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## Talbot (Jul 14, 2015)

I did mine, art and layout. They both need tweaking and I'll be overhauling them soon but they get my point across. I used Phoxo (a small download for netbooks without space to spare) and Ribbet online which is for children and people like me who aren't Photoshop wizards. 

I do them myself at this juncture because my writing is for kids (they'll forgive crayons) and I HAVE NO MONEY. I'll also be doing the covers for my upcoming YA series using mixed media (no crayons.) Because, again, NO MONEY. Should money magically appear I'd have no problems buying inexpensive pre-mades for stand-alones but I just don't see myself using a designer.


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## klhynds (Apr 7, 2015)

To answer your question, I really think it's just a matter of preference. Some authors like to have complete creative control over their work and how it looks. If you have the time to put into learning software such as photoshop, then I'd say go for it. I find design to be a really rewarding experience--but I could be biased since it's what I do for a living.

There's a lot of things to consider though about designing your own covers. You have to legally purchase stock images, which can sometimes be pricy for the images you want--especially if you need multiple images to get the desired cover (think fantasy and sci fi and such, that might need serious photocomposition). Professional designers will usually have a stock image subscription, so more than likely paying for a professional cover will allow you to experiment with numerous stock images all under the same price. The same goes for fonts--you have to make sure you are using a font that is commercially licensed. If it is not, you have to purchase one.

Weighing cost of elements and the time it may take you to learn to do the cover yourself may be more than what it would be to just work with a professional.



Anma Natsu said:


> Deviations cover was designed by Kerry Hynds of Hynds Studio (a regular poster here too  ) after she came up with a great concept in my thread on "OMG I have no idea what to put on this darn thing"  You can see her prices on her site, but it's under $300 for eBook and print. She is great to work with and the cover is gorgeous. Well worth the money! I'm now waiting for my first proof from CS so I can drool at it in person :-D I plan to work with her on the cover for the next novel as well. I've also considered having her redo Aisuru's, but most likely for now I'm going to focus my money on upcoming works.


You are just so danged sweet.  Thanks for the kind words.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

A couple of years ago I started to do a blog series on Typography. I personally think that typography is the most important element an amateur should learn to make their covers look more professional. (It's also a subject that a lot of art students lack.)

Since so many people do their own covers, would people be interested if I did a blog series on this? (You can check out the only post I did here.)

Camille


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## jasonbladd (Dec 22, 2015)

A picture is worth a thousand words. The first pic is my concept sketch. I drafted it once I started writing the book. It served to motivate and inspire me. The second is what I did myself on Photoshop and am completely embarrassed to confess that at one point I thought it might actually be good enough.

The third was done by a professional on 99Designs.com. I went into the service blind. I had a great experience, found a great artist, and had FUN.

I would say never do the cover yourself unless that is already your profession


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## JTriptych (Aug 23, 2015)

I use professionals for my book covers. Since my books are available in print it makes a huge difference there as well, I believe. However, I'm giving away my fanfiction stuff for free to my mailing list subscribers so I will be doing the covers by myself since Ive got photoshop.

My skills in PS kinda sucks and this is the best I could create so far:


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## MarkDaly (Jan 25, 2016)

I've done one of my own covers, using stock photos, and for some of the others I've bought online and the rest by a professional designer. Sales don't seem affected by which covers I use, but then I probably need to improve my writing.

Oh, and I's go for cover three, it suggested much more to me than the other two. Anyway good luck, and hope you have success with the book.


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## Eva Chase (Aug 8, 2015)

I did my own covers for my Glower Chronicles series (see signature). I have some experience with graphic design and thought I could make something I liked that fit the books. I'm debating going with a pro designer for my next series, though, as I'm going to be making a shift in genre and the cover expectations there might be beyond my abilities.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

MarkDaly said:


> I've done one of my own covers, using stock photos, and for some of the others I've bought online and the rest by a professional designer. Sales don't seem affected by which covers I use, but then I probably need to improve my writing.
> 
> Oh, and I's go for cover three, it suggested much more to me than the other two. Anyway good luck, and hope you have success with the book.


Thanks very much! And good luck with the rest of your books. I'm glad you think your sales haven't been too affected by your covers. Gives me a bit of hope! heh. Yeah I'm leaning towards the third one too. Defo fits my genre(s) better.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

JTriptych said:


> I use professionals for my book covers. Since my books are available in print it makes a huge difference there as well, I believe. However, I'm giving away my fanfiction stuff for free to my mailing list subscribers so I will be doing the covers by myself since Ive got photoshop.
> 
> My skills in PS kinda sucks and this is the best I could create so far:


I'm going to be releasing mine in print too, so I'll look into that and see what changes I have to make.

I think the picture for your fanfiction one is neat, but I'd just work on the font. The big bold lettering just personally reminds me of working with mspaint back in the day  but that's just my opinion!


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Jessie G. Talbot said:


> I did mine, art and layout. They both need tweaking and I'll be overhauling them soon but they get my point across. I used Phoxo (a small download for netbooks without space to spare) and Ribbet online which is for children and people like me who aren't Photoshop wizards.
> 
> I do them myself at this juncture because my writing is for kids (they'll forgive crayons) and I HAVE NO MONEY. I'll also be doing the covers for my upcoming YA series using mixed media (no crayons.) Because, again, NO MONEY. Should money magically appear I'd have no problems buying inexpensive pre-mades for stand-alones but I just don't see myself using a designer.


I think they're cute! I especially love the second one XD but yes, for kids they'd work perfectly! That's my problem too- money. I'd love to just say to hell with it and go in for a pro but at this point it's just not possible. I like my new cover designs though so I'll get them sorted and stick with them for now. Maybe one day I'll be able to do a cover relaunch or something! At the moment I'm just using an online photo-to-sketch converter and canva XD


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

daringnovelist said:


> I did design as a part of my day job (and as a freelancer) for 25 years, but not specifically in cover design. I'd call myself a semi-pro.
> 
> When I started I did my own covers as a short cut while I looked for a pro to do the work, but I soon discovered that matching art to my rather quirky work is not cost effective. That is, the kind of artist who could do work that reflects the book properly would cost more than the quirky book would be likely to take in. So I decided to go all in and make my art a part of my overall branding. This is not something that anyone should do lightly and I don't particularly recommend it.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for the feedback! You make some very great points and I'm happy for the input. I'm glad I seem to have the YA down with the new design now (just need to finish it and get it out there now). I don't want the cover to be particularly mainstream- I hate that so many of them these days look the same with the same theme/feel. I didn't want that for my own which is another reason as to why I chose to do it myself- can't afford a pro and the premades weren't what I needed.

The title is the name of the place the novel is set- I agree it won't be immediately obvious from just the cover, but hopefully if they go on to read the blurb it'll make sense as it's explained there. I'm not looking to hit the mainstream market per-se, of course that would be lovely, but for now I'm happy with my choice to use a South African word as the title.

I like the style or your own artwork. It's very quirky and I love that in a book cover- those kinds always stand out more for me when you're scrolling through a genre of covers that all look the same. It also helps infer that your story will be different to the rest of them out there.

Thanks again!


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Eva Chase said:


> I did my own covers for my Glower Chronicles series (see signature). I have some experience with graphic design and thought I could make something I liked that fit the books. I'm debating going with a pro designer for my next series, though, as I'm going to be making a shift in genre and the cover expectations there might be beyond my abilities.


They're so pretty!  I think the new designs I'm playing with are definitely a better bet than my original one and I think they fit with my genre so I'm going to stick with doing them myself for now, but yeah I think when I get into other genres I'll look into saving up for either pre-mades or an actual designer depending on the look I need to go for.


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## Lucas (Jul 15, 2014)

I did all of my covers. I would like to hire someone more capable but I'm afraid I might not like the result, and I'll definitely hire someone if I can finally afford it without hurting the pocket. I never used stock photos (an unnecessary addition to this comment).


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## Shanna Moncuse (Jan 26, 2016)

My dad did the cover for the short story in my signature. He is also drawing the cover for the novella I plan to release soon. I'm very blessed to have such a talented artist related to me or I would have had no idea what to do. Thankfully, I don't have to think about it, but still...*shudders* I wouldn't have been happy trying on my own.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

I do all my own covers. Self-trained with Photoshop and can't draw. My first were pretty bad. After 40 or so covers, I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. This is my latest, published this week:


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

I do my own covers. If you look at the books in my signature, they're done by me. The exceptions being The Dame Did It, Asian Pulp, and Moose and Skwirl--those were anthologies I contributed to, so the publisher obviously handled those covers. A friend designed The Myth Hunter logo for me and gave me some guidance when I was getting started, but everything else was done by me.

I'd say I'm at an intermediate level of cover design. I can make a good cover that's appropriate for the genre and I've been hired to design covers for other people, but I'm by no means an expert designer. I can't design my own fonts and there's only so much I can do in Photoshop without needing to look up a tutorial.


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## E.M. Cooper (Feb 27, 2015)

My covers are DIY. I use multiple Shutterstock images and Photoshop tools and then compose the final cover with fonts in InDesign. 

When I get stuck with writing, I turn to designing covers, maps etc while listening to music. It can be a great distraction and pleasure.

Yesterday I finished the final cover for my five book series which was pretty exciting. Now I just have to wait for my writing and editing to catch up.


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## Azalea (Mar 22, 2014)

Did my own.



Lucas_Alpay said:


> I did all of my covers. I would like to hire someone more capable but I'm afraid I might not like the result, and I'll definitely hire someone if I can finally afford it without hurting the pocket. I never used stock photos (an unnecessary addition to this comment).


Also, I really like your cover art! Your book images have a distinct feel that's not replicated among the masses, yet is still aesthetically appealing and gives a moderate sense of genre.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Lucas_Alpay said:


> I did all of my covers. I would like to hire someone more capable but I'm afraid I might not like the result, and I'll definitely hire someone if I can finally afford it without hurting the pocket. I never used stock photos (an unnecessary addition to this comment).


TBH I don't think you need to hire someone. Ever. Your covers are amazing, I'm absolutely loving the style!


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Shanna Moncuse said:


> My dad did the cover for the short story in my signature. He is also drawing the cover for the novella I plan to release soon. I'm very blessed to have such a talented artist related to me or I would have had no idea what to do. Thankfully, I don't have to think about it, but still...*shudders* I wouldn't have been happy trying on my own.


I said this in an earlier reply, but I have to say it again: I really need to upgrade my friends and family! XD You're definitely lucky to have someone so talented helping you out! And it not only gives you something uniquely original, but you also get that personal connection with it. Lovely!


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Perry Constantine said:


> I do my own covers. If you look at the books in my signature, they're done by me. The exceptions being The Dame Did It, Asian Pulp, and Moose and Skwirl--those were anthologies I contributed to, so the publisher obviously handled those covers. A friend designed The Myth Hunter logo for me and gave me some guidance when I was getting started, but everything else was done by me.
> 
> I'd say I'm at an intermediate level of cover design. I can make a good cover that's appropriate for the genre and I've been hired to design covers for other people, but I'm by no means an expert designer. I can't design my own fonts and there's only so much I can do in Photoshop without needing to look up a tutorial.


Very nice! I love being able to see that books in the same series actually belong together (it annoys me to no end when they don't match up on my bookshelves XD) so I think you've done a great job just on that alone. And it's obvious that you have skill with designing too. They look very professional.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

CarmenShea said:


> Very nice! I love being able to see that books in the same series actually belong together (it annoys me to no end when they don't match up on my bookshelves XD) so I think you've done a great job just on that alone. And it's obvious that you have skill with designing too. They look very professional.


I hate it when traditional publishers decide to "rebrand" a favorite series, and all my collectible hardbacks look different. Some of my favorite series (such as Archer Mayor's Vermont police procedurals) had really brilliant covers for a while, but the earliest books sucked, and then they changed them all anyway. I swear it lowers the collectabilty of the series when they do that.

Camille


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

CarmenShea said:


> Very nice! I love being able to see that books in the same series actually belong together (it annoys me to no end when they don't match up on my bookshelves XD) so I think you've done a great job just on that alone. And it's obvious that you have skill with designing too. They look very professional.


Thanks!


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

daringnovelist said:


> I hate it when traditional publishers decide to "rebrand" a favorite series, and all my collectible hardbacks look different. Some of my favorite series (such as Archer Mayor's Vermont police procedurals) had really brilliant covers for a while, but the earliest books sucked, and then they changed them all anyway. I swear it lowers the collectabilty of the series when they do that.
> 
> Camille


Ugh, this! Especially if the series isn't finished and they keep rebranding every few books- you either have to repurchase the entire series each time, refuse to buy anymore until it's officially finished, or live with mismatched books as much as it pains you XD


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## PB2016 (Jan 14, 2016)

I just cannot manage paying big bucks for th cover. Especially because I would want to go to and fro with the designer and people who do that charge mucho dinero.

I did my cover myself, but the base is a photo so the text was the only thing I added on top. I wouldn't be able to do the type where a partial person is superimposed on another background.

I did have another cover before when I had done a landscape cover. Then I had to change the photo for the Portrait format.

I guess you guys will have to tell me where this cover stands 😀...hopefully at least average!


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## mythsnake (Oct 22, 2014)

All of the covers in my signature are diy, though I actually started out paying for cover art. I had a beautiful cover for Bone Flower Throne that I inherited from my publisher, and I paid a pretty penny to have the artist do the second cover. I love both pieces of art, but in the end, I made the tough decision to pull the covers because they were completely wrong for my genre. I'm not entirely happy with the new covers for my Bone Flower books, but they are selling better now, and I'm not getting confused reviews from readers who thought they were getting YA when the books most definitely aren't (they're adult epic fantasy in the vein of A Game of Thrones).

The Hearts of Men cover was the first one I did on my own, and I loved the process and result so much that I decided to put together a couple more. I had been doing some digital art before then, but had never messed around with photo manipulation, but I learned a ton of cool techniques doing those Aztec West covers. The one cover I'm really disappointed with is the one for Fugitives of Fate, and hope to someday either have that one professionally done or at least pay someone for a photo shoot with actual native models, since it's pretty much impossible to find good stock photos of one let alone two in the same photo. I think the cover has really killed the book's sales potential, because no one can tell its historical romance. But right now I can't justify the financial investment, since I'm still digging my way out of the hole I made for myself with the second Bone Flower book.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

SO I went ahead and contacted Kindle Scout to replace my book cover and they've just approved it! 

You can check it out in all it's shiny glory via my campaign page! And, you know, if you want to spare a vote whilst you're over there, I'd be much obliged! 

I'm really happy with this one and glad I decided to change it. It'll be interesting to see if the change affects my stats at all, especially mid way through the campaign, but if anything I'm hoping it'll help!

Thanks to everyone who gave me their input, and helped me make the final decision, you guys have been awesome!!
- Carmen-Shea Hepburn


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

I did my own. The box set was my design, but I paid someone to turn it into 3-D because I don't know how to do that. Otherwise they are all mine. I still need to fix the text on March Into Hell. I want to make March larger, but have been too busy writing to deal with it. I just re-did them all last fall. 

Are they perfect? Nope. Of course not, but they've been doing well for me.


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## SCapsuto (Dec 11, 2015)

I'm designing the covers for my imprint's first two titles, which are nonfiction. I used to work as a desktop publishing specialist and digital photo retoucher, and know enough about layout to handle those. However, the third title will be fiction, and I'll probably hire someone for that.


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## Shanna Moncuse (Jan 26, 2016)

CarmenShea said:


> I said this in an earlier reply, but I have to say it again: I really need to upgrade my friends and family! XD You're definitely lucky to have someone so talented helping you out! And it not only gives you something uniquely original, but you also get that personal connection with it. Lovely!


Yes, you do, haha! 
But, really, thank you! I am very blessed to have such a talented person in my family! I'm really not sure what I would have done without him. The personal connection definitely helped because I got to see him make it every step of the way (from the thumbnail sketch, to taking a pic of my sis for the pose, to drawing it all up, and to inking it up and finishing it). It turned out even more amazing than I could have imagined so I'm one happy girl!


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## Indecisive (Jun 17, 2013)

Have not read the whole thread. 

I design my own. I have some visual sense, and learned basic photoshop and web design during my year of architecture school. I also used to make pottery. My photoshop skills are not advanced, but I LOVE looking at book covers. I could study book covers all day long. I have spent some money on fonts and stock photos, though the first one I did was all free stuff.

I might consider hiring a pro in the future, but I enjoy doing it myself, so for now I'll probably stick with DIY.


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## Kay Bratt (Dec 28, 2011)

My few indie book covers were designed by freelance artists picked by me. But most of them are done by the creative team picked by my publisher. I wish I had design skills but alas, I'd do best sticking to writing.


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## Viv Phoenix (Dec 19, 2015)

DIY. I had limited experience, so it's been a long learning curve. I have another much larger line of books, so I've been getting a lot of practice! The early ones were worse than I realized.

I like your cover. Never hurts to have a shirtless guy in view. 

One pointer I picked up from reading about cover design is to avoid crowding the edges when you size/position the type. Once I became aware of that, I noticed that pro covers tend to leave room all the way around. So if you decide to make changes, that would be my main suggestion, to resize the title and position the other text so none of it is butted so close the the edges of the cover.

The comments on covers here have been a great resource: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/


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## jillb (Oct 4, 2014)

DIY by my husband. I can appreciate a good book cover but can't design one myself!


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## Victoria LK (Jan 31, 2014)

Both. I was lucky to find a great cover artist on fiverr and she has done all of my Citrus Beach Mysteries. I used the Amazon cover creator tool for the Sister Station book, mostly because I ran into problems with someone I had hired and didn't want to miss the holiday season, since it is a Christmas themed book.  I will probably continue with the Amazon cover for this series.


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## Talbot (Jul 14, 2015)

CarmenShea said:


> I think they're cute! I especially love the second one XD but yes, for kids they'd work perfectly! That's my problem too- money. I'd love to just say to hell with it and go in for a pro but at this point it's just not possible. I like my new cover designs though so I'll get them sorted and stick with them for now. Maybe one day I'll be able to do a cover relaunch or something! At the moment I'm just using an online photo-to-sketch converter and canva XD


Aw, thanks! I like your new cover, too. Sometimes simple is best!


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## jennyperinovic (Oct 24, 2014)

I designed my own! But I also work as a freelance designer, so it made sense.


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## CarmenShea (Jan 18, 2016)

Viv Phoenix said:


> DIY. I had limited experience, so it's been a long learning curve. I have another much larger line of books, so I've been getting a lot of practice! The early ones were worse than I realized.
> 
> I like your cover. Never hurts to have a shirtless guy in view.
> 
> ...


It's definitely a learning curve! SO much to consider when you first start, I don't know where I'd be without these boards, honestly. I wish I'd found them before I put my novel up on KS but I'm glad being on KS gives me the chance to correct things.

Great info about the boarder, defo something I'll correct! Thank you.


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## Shanna Moncuse (Jan 26, 2016)

jillb said:


> DIY by my husband. I can appreciate a good book cover but can't design one myself!


Same! I'm blessed to have my dad because I would have had no idea what I was doing. His work is better than anything I could have come up with.
Kind of glad I'm not the only one with no clue how to design a book cover (as odd as that sounds to say...)


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## hannapeach (Oct 17, 2015)

I've tried both. It took me going through three other artists and a stint of (trying then giving up) to do it myself!!! I've had the "pretty cover" with horrible typography and was too detailed to be a good thumbnail and sales suffered. I've had the pretty but non-genre specific cover. I've had the cover that didn't fit with the rest of the series (seriously, wth?)... 

I wouldn't give up my current cover artist for the world!!! In fact, he's not allowed to retire until after I stop writing, haha! 
My artist is actually holding a Win your Next Cover comp for Feb if anyone is looking for a good one!
www.romacdesigns.com

ps. no, I'm not an affiliate or anything like that. Just a super happy customer!


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## Acceber (Oct 16, 2014)

DIY. I was in college for Graphic Design, then I quit. But I still have Photoshop on my computer. 

There are times I've thought about buying pre-mades, or hiring an illustrator, but then I remember how much $$$ I'm saving.


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## GrandFenwick (Aug 24, 2015)

I DIY'd the covers for the ebook editions of Leonard's books because the whole e-venture is DIY anyhow!


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

GrandFenwick said:


> I DIY'd the covers for the ebook editions of Leonard's books because the whole e-venture is DIY anyhow!


Oh, those are beautiful! I do think that in this modern age, people would mistake the Grand Fenwick books for (mere) children's books, but at the same time, I don't think the covers are misleading. I mean, you do pick up that satirical edge from the subjects. (And at least the first is famous enough from the movie, that people should catch on that these are THOSE mouse books...)

Great job.

Camille


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## GrandFenwick (Aug 24, 2015)

Thanks, Camille! I admit there was a moment of panic while designing the fifth cover when I sudden realized the covers had a children's book feel! But I think you are correct that since the books are classics we thankfully aren't relying as much on the covers selling the product.


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## Greg Dragon (Jun 10, 2014)

Both, but I would much rather pay. Paying for covers makes me concentrate on what I should be concentrating on instead of playing at Graphic Design.


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## Mari Oliver (Feb 12, 2016)

I made my own covers, but that's more out of poverty than desire. I studied other covers and learned how to make them. Hopefully someday when I have a bit more money then I'll have them done professionally.

As for my skill level...well...I've always enjoyed retouching photos and playing with photoshop. Been doing that for years, so I figured covers wouldn't be that hard to learn.


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## Taking my troll a$$ outta here (Apr 8, 2013)

I do my own. I do have an art and design background from years ago, but I learn a lot as I go.


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## ancaiovita (Feb 13, 2016)

I do all my book covers. Mainly for two reasons:
1. I love the challenge! Seriously now, I tried looking for a designer and explaining what I want and it just takes too much time, not to mention money given the average price I can sell an ebook for on Amazon. I love to tinker with different concepts, fonts and images. I use Canva for designing all my book covers and social media posts. 
2. I am a bookworm myself and I never, ever bought or not bought a book because of its cover. I spent serious money on books with horrible covers and I am not sorry at all. I don't buy books to display them at home. I buy books for the information and/or story between their covers. So what first attracts me to a book is its *title*. This is what I'm looking for on Amazon or at the library or in a bookshop. If the title seems interesting - and short enough! - then I'll browse the table of contents and then I'll check the price. I could care less for the reviews. Again, I read excellent books with no reviews and I'm not sorry. But again, reading is a not a social sport for me


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## ScottCarlson (Jul 23, 2015)

I'm playing with this one right now.










I love Canva and Gimp


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## T S Paul (Jan 6, 2016)

I got lucky. I published my first book last week. I had a self done cover ready to go that was, OK looking. My mentor here on Kindle did me one better. Much more Pro than mine. The new book, unpublished but soon. Is even better looking, I think.


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## eevalancaster (Nov 29, 2014)

Some Genres, like Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Horror, need to have a really good cover. To compete with the thousands of books published. To get attention. To look "Professional" - and therefore give the impression of High Quality.

I design affordable covers, to give authors an option if they don't have a design background. Check out my site some time.
http://www.thebookkhaleesi.com/p/customized-book-covers.html


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## NightWriterCT (Jan 4, 2016)

Both. 

For my nonfiction mini-memoir about Las Vegas, that was really an experimental foray into the world of indie-publishing - so I designed the cover myself. It's not great, but it's not an embarrassment (I hope!)

For my contemporary romance novel, I paid for a professional cover design. Alas it does not have the requisite bare six-pack but I really like it. 

(Both book covers are in my signature.)


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## Melody Simmons (Jul 8, 2012)

Viv Phoenix said:


> DIY. I had limited experience, so it's been a long learning curve. I have another much larger line of books, so I've been getting a lot of practice! The early ones were worse than I realized.
> 
> I like your cover. Never hurts to have a shirtless guy in view.
> 
> ...


Your covers look good but be careful of generalisations - some of the best bestselling covers do have text close to edges, like these:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Girl-Train-A-Novel-ebook/dp/B00L9B7IKE/ref=zg_bs_18_10










http://www.amazon.com/Bear-No-Loss-Werebear-Mail-Order-ebook/dp/B01C4ELTGI/ref=zg_bs_6190484011_41


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

ScottCarlson said:


> I'm playing with this one right now.
> 
> I love Canva and Gimp


I like the concept. I would like to see a little "rock" texture on the background. And maybe the figure could be a touch bigger. (The head in the same place, but the feet a little bit lower, so there is not that big gap. Or if you want the figure that size, try dropping him down to just above the text -- it would be more dynamic, creating a conflict between the title and figure. That is, the eye wants to look at the figure and at the largest text. By separating them, it creates natural tension, and makes the viewer see the whole image.)

Camille


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## L.T. Vargus (Jun 21, 2013)

DIY... I know Photoshop, and my "other job" is design-related (though not graphic design specifically).

With each new release, either my writing partner or I say, "Maybe we'll hire a professional to do the cover for this one." For him, it's about spending our time writing and not worrying about the covers. For me, it's feeling like I don't actually know what I'm doing. But I inevitably start making little mock-ups in Photoshop just for fun, and by then I'm usually too far gone to hand it off to someone else.


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## Shanna Moncuse (Jan 26, 2016)

Just released my first novel for the Kindle and once again, my dad drew the cover. I love how we can discuss what to add and what to take away. He comes up with the idea and I approve it. I approve it every step of the way, actually.

I feel like I said this all in my last post, for the cover of my short story. But, regardless, I'm so very happy I have such a talented father. I really love the work he does!


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## ShellPresto (Mar 1, 2016)

We do stories in the superhero genre, and cover-wise, it's a weird balancing act.

I'm an artist, and we have about one illustration per chapter in most of our books. (This may seem odd, since they aren't children's books, but a lot of people enjoy them, especially since many of our readers enjoy comic books.) I haven't even tried doing a true blue comic book-style cover for our books, since we're (rightfully) afraid people will think the book is a graphic novel and leave disappointed reviews.

We did get a very talented artists to do covers for us, but in the end those great-looking covers were met with confusion. The original After Dark cover had Torrent standing under the shallow ledge of a building in the pouring rain, using his powers to bend the water around him so he stayed dry. It looked great, but was too subtle, and most people said they didn't realize it was a supers book.

We changed the cover, but it had no effect on our sales. I chalk that up to my own artistic ability -- it's not a great cover, but I'm an ink-and-color comic book style-artist, and digital painting is new to me. My cover for the sequel, The Dismal Tide, is much better, and I intend to redo the first one when I get better still. I've got a good bit of time to practice before we're ready for the big promo sites, anyway.

For Population of Loss, we were trying for the look of an old book and we were able to incorporate my usual inked style as a 'clipping' inserted on the front of an old, leather-bound book.

Copper Knights and Granite Men has a real pulp feel to it, so we tried to mock the old, painted pulp book covers. I can't say that's helped much so far. To be honest, it almost feels like we should have a sexy pulp-style pinup of Chemistra surrounded by statues on the cover, but we wanted to try staying true to the story and characters for this cover. (Chemistra is short and not very chesty, so a pinup wouldn't be 'true' to her body type.) We had a much more polished, painterly cover that we commissioned from another artist as the cover previously. Changing to the more pulpy cover had no effect on sales.

I can do photo-manips, but somehow the image of the 'modern' book cover doesn't feel quite right. Our books are really about breaking with the modern conventions of do-anything heroes and extremely attractive young people. Also, I'm afraid if everyone looks too pretty and polished, it will seem like the books are aimed at girls. While women can surely enjoy the books (I do), I don't want them to lose their masculine appeal. Maybe one day I'll eat those words and switch to a photo manip cover, but I'm pretty determined to see how good I can get at digital painting before I take the photo manip route.

It's all experimentation for us right now.


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## T S Paul (Jan 6, 2016)

Got my new cover back from my designer. It is for my new book The Ghost ships of Terra


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## JamesOsiris (Mar 23, 2014)

I do all my own covers, and I also design for others.


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## JV (Nov 12, 2013)

All of my covers are professionally done. I'm a hybrid (with a majority of my books being through my publisher). On the rare occasion that I do indie publish I use Cormar Covers, exclusively. I believe covers are important and since I possess zero talent in that department, I always turn to those that do. Covers are the first impression and it's important to make a good one. As a reader, I usually won't bother opening a book if the cover looks like crap. Right or wrong, that's me.


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## Natasha Holme (May 26, 2012)

I DIY-ed mine--three times. ... Very happy with current version.


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## renamed (Nov 27, 2015)

JV said:


> All of my covers are professionally done. I'm a hybrid (with a majority of my books being through my publisher). On the rare occasion that I do indie publish I use Cormar Covers, exclusively. I believe covers are important and since I possess zero talent in that department, I always turn to those that do. Covers are the first impression and it's important to make a good one. As a reader, I usually won't bother opening a book if the cover looks like crap. Right or wrong, that's me.


JV, your RABID covers are awesome. As a reader I'm a bit of a cover snob, too. All mine are pro. Wouldn't have it any other way. Some people have the talent and time to both write and design, but not me, and I work way too hard and long on my books to put anything but pro covers on them. If I can't afford it I just stop feeding my children until I can. Priorities! Right? (Of course I'm kidding.)


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Natasha Holme said:


> I DIY-ed mine--three times. ... Very happy with current version.


Oh, those are very nice. Of course, the text-based design is very suited toward diaries. (Real or fictional.)

Camille


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