# Cheap or free book covers that are halfway decent?



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

One of the things that hurts me the most when I see it is a beginning author spending THOUSANDS on their book with no hope of getting the money back. I have seen that quite a bit in the local circuit. People spend because they feel they have to, and spend unwisely because their advice is flawed and the choice of services they're familiar with is too limited. One of the things I see happening is that they get awesome and really expensive covers... that are simply not right for the type of book and genre.

Often these people are slow writers, pensioners and others who can ill-afford the outlay. They become disillusioned and give up.

So I'm going to write a blog post (or two) about no-expense (or really cheap) self-publishing. I want to know where people can get covers for free or really cheap that are not going to blow. I'm not that interested in find-your-own designer at places like fiverr because most of the work I've seen coming from there is completely terrible. You have to have some skill in graphics to sift out the not-too-terrible from the utterly terrible. This advice will be for people without a clue about graphic design.

Who has actually used the Amazon cover designer? Can you link me some examples? What about Canva? Do they have templates? Give me some example books if you've used it.


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## TaraCrescent (Mar 21, 2015)

I've used the pre-mades at GoOnWrite.com for most of my books. They're very reasonably priced.


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## jesrphoto (Aug 7, 2012)

Some of my premades are $15, but it's a limited selection.  Maybe suggesting they purchase their own stock photos and then take those to Fiverr? 

Sent from my SCH-S968C using Tapatalk


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

The covers in my sig are from Mia Darien http://www.miadarien.com/

The covers start at $50 for custom covers if you supply the stock photos, or she adds the cost if she has to buy them. If you supply the pdf template from CreateSpace, the print cover is another $10-20.

Mia is an author with published books in fantasy and UF, also a good editor. She's easy to work with and will go through multiple iterations with you until you're happy with the work. I usually pay her double what she invoices because I'm a PITA, but she never complains.


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## scifi365 (Sep 12, 2014)

What do you consider 'cheap', Patty? For me, in the UK, everything bought from outside the UK is 'cheaper' than it could be. So, if I pay $100 for something, that's £60. The reverse, I know, is true if you are in Australia due to currency differences.

I know of one designer (that never gets mentioned here) who will do eBooks covers (plus a Facebook fan page graphic) for $30 USD and $60 for ebook and print. Not all their designs are exceptional, but they are certainly strong. They definitely don't blow and are good people to work with. Their designs tend to be bright and stand out well in thumbnail. I've used them. 

PM me if this fits with what you are intending to write.


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## Abderian (Apr 5, 2012)

Covers at The Book Cover Designer start at $10. https://thebookcoverdesigner.com/product-category/premade-book-covers/science-fiction-fantasy/?orderby=price


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## Thetis (Dec 23, 2015)

Go on Write has great covers and they are $45 for a single cover, less when you purchase series covers or multiple credits. Swoon Worthy Book Covers always has sale covers and some of hers are only $10 when they're on sale.

I just came across another site that had some cheap pre-mades that looked good but I can't remember what it is... they're here on KBoards so maybe they'll chime in. But a lot of them were less than $20.

I've seen some fellow authors in FB groups playing around with Canva and their finished products looked pretty good but they were going into it with far more design skills than someone like me would have. For a lot of us, designing our own cover really shouldn't be an option... because the finished product blows. I tried it. I can't even do decent teaser graphics. There should be a caveat on the DIY covers: if you know basic graphic design, give it a shot. Otherwise, go to one of these sites.

There are so many graphic artists out there that they can probably find someone willing to do customs for about the same price as a pre-made. My custom covers aren't that expensive.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Thanks for the replies. I just want to give people some low-cost/free options to get them started, with the understanding that it's a good idea to upgrade covers when they decide self-publishing really is for them.

No one used the Amazon cover creator? Too ashamed to fess up?


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

I made a prop cover using 2 public domain images in GIMP... obviously not the greatest cut and paste job and the title needs replaced but not all that bad for a blog post.


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## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

I played with the Amazon cover designer once and it's horrible. You'd have to be incredibly clever or lucky to get something that didn't look like it was made in PowerPoint circa 1990. 

I'd definitely go with Canva for DIY. I recently made a cover for a mailing list freebie (using a stock photo I'd got previously from Dollar Photos)and  had something usable within 5 mins. Obviously, I'd have gotten something better if I'd wanted to spend more time mucking around with typography. 

For premades, I also use goonwrite (and his mate's site). I've also got him to make additional covers for a series and it's been really reasonable.


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## spellscribe (Nov 5, 2015)

There wa a site mentioned here, the domain was like '10dollarcovers' or something. I'm eyeing off a premise from there for my next book. They seem to be on-genre and have a decent range. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

spellscribe said:


> There wa a site mentioned here, the domain was like '10dollarcovers' or something. I'm eyeing off a premise from there for my next book. They seem to be on-genre and have a decent range.


Here is one... probably not the one you were thinking of though. I hope they don't use those fonts.

http://cheapbookcovers.blogspot.com/p/10-pre-made-book-covers_27.html


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## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

I design covers because I love doing them and try to keep my prices affordable.  I have an Etsy shop (Bayou Cover Designs) for my premades, though I've haven't had much time to restock lately.

My custom prices are lower than many premade cover prices.... Single Cover $50, Series covers (order of 3 or more in series) $40 each, Paperback version (add-on) $20 per cover. More examples of my some of my custom & premade covers can be viewed here... Bayou Cover Designs Portfolio.


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## Heather Hamilton-Senter (May 25, 2013)

I also include a wide range of prices for premades with some as low as $19 - and I provide premades in fantasy and sci fi with digital over-painting included, something less common in the premade market.

Custom work is more expensive of course, but I charge on the comparative low end for the amount of digital painting each cover has.

I do this on the side to my writing so I have to limit my cover work, but I like to be able to offer genre covers at a reasonable price for other authors.

http://www.bookcoverartistry.com


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

http://authormarketingclub.com/members/pre-made-book-covers/

*A Gallery of a bunch of pre-made sites.*


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## RBC (Feb 24, 2013)

The only option for those who have no clue about design are Premade book covers then. DIY is not an option.. and there are very very very rare designers that charge less than $100 for custom design and that have decent design skills. Some foreign designers from more exotic countries can workout and charge that but its not easy to pick the right ones.. esp. if you don't know design which means you cant judge designer's skill. 

Many 'cheap' designers are amateurs who just do design because it's a way to earn a bit more money but its not main gig.. so it's hard to know with those.. some don't take it seriously, some do. 

So Premades are the best and very flexible option.


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## Marti talbott (Apr 19, 2011)

http://www.selfpubbookcovers.com/

Hundreds of covers starting at $69.00. Different authors and all genre. I buy most of mine from them because they let me chose the font and put the title, etc., on myself. You get both an ebook size and a print size for that amount. Changes are free, plus you can try it out before you buy. I bought the cover below from them. See the rest of my covers at www.martitalbott.com

Marblestone Mansion covers came from somewhere else.


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## kevin armstrong (May 6, 2015)

I could recommend selfpubbookcovers. They are a pre-made site and they have thousands of designs to choose from. You can choose your own fonts and effects etc. Prices are around $70 US.


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## Guest (May 3, 2016)

I tried Canva a few times, but finding images was a pain (and no filter for free), and since I have both Photoshop and Adobe Fireworks, I just stuck with those.



Patty Jansen said:


> No one used the Amazon cover creator? Too ashamed to fess up?


I've used it, though only for my initial print that I use to do my alpha reading. They aren't super gorgeous, but they are functional for that purpose. 

I don't think it's is completely hideous and overall it is pretty easy to use. The biggest issue with it is that every last one of those stock designs have been done so many times that none of them are particularly good for publishing with anymore. And I don't think Amazon has added new designs in a long long time.

The custom image options that let you change out the cover image with your own are a little more workable. The ones called The Palm, the Pine, and the Spruce can be fairly usable options for anyone who doesn't have the ability to do the necessary PDF conversion from a front and/or full wrap image they made.


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## FireBadTreePretty (May 24, 2015)

One thing to add to your entry is that authors need to be willing to request a marketable cover. I used to do freelance web and graphic design and I would have client want design elements of well, dubious appearance even after I would try to talk them out of it. You can get a top notch designer to produce crap if that is what you ask them to make.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

FireBadTreePretty said:


> One thing to add to your entry is that authors need to be willing to request a marketable cover. I used to do freelance web and graphic design and I would have client want design elements of well, dubious appearance even after I would try to talk them out of it. You can get a top notch designer to produce crap if that is what you ask them to make.


SO true!

A lot of the very expensive but non-effective covers came about because the author wanted an illustration of a particular scene.


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## spellscribe (Nov 5, 2015)

Got it! http://10dollarcovers.com/ 
They do custom from $30 too.


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## cecilia_writer (Dec 28, 2010)

I've used the cover thing in Create space with my own and my late brother's photographs, usually of Scottish settings, for my print editions. For ebooks I usually now use Gimp with the same photographs but I am guessing some of my contemporaries would find the learning curve too much. Weren't there some people starting off in PowerPoint a while ago?
It's actually quite hard / impossible to get premades that are appropriate for my books, so it isn't because I haven't looked that I have done it myself!


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## 555aaa (Jan 28, 2014)

I would love it if Amazon had one day a week where they blank out the covers on book pages.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> One of the things that hurts me the most when I see it is a beginning author spending THOUSANDS on their book with no hope of getting the money back. I have seen that quite a bit in the local circuit. People spend because they feel they have to, and spend unwisely because their advice is flawed and the choice of services they're familiar with is too limited. One of the things I see happening is that they get awesome and really expensive covers... that are simply not right for the type of book and genre.
> 
> Often these people are slow writers, pensioners and others who can ill-afford the outlay. They become disillusioned and give up.
> 
> ...


I have got premades from TellTaleCovers at a reasonable rate, $35 or so, although I think she is more expensive now. However, for a beginner and really cheap, you can often find something on the stock photo sites that needs only the text added and work out at only a few dollars. I think that is the cheapest way to start with and perfectly acceptable. In fact, there is one cover designer who does just that and sells on for $50 or so.


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## kcmorgan (Jan 9, 2013)

Amazon cover creator is worse than Fiverr. Canva isn't too bad. They have some decent looking templates you can use if you're writing in a genre that lends itself to simple covers. If you write paranormal romance or scifi, Canva's not going to be of much help.


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## Can neither confirm nor deny that I am W.R. Ginge (Oct 12, 2014)

Patty, my SHARDS OF A BROKEN SWORD trilogy covers in my sig were all done by a lovely Fiverr person for just a smidge under $40 AUD, which I thought was great--and I LOVE the covers. Maybe I just got lucky 

This is where I went to get them: [URL=https://www.fiverr]https://www.fiverr.com/nirkri/do-lovely-ebook-cover[/url]


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## Melody Simmons (Jul 8, 2012)

Some authors publish all their books with premade covers - especially if you are lucky to discover a site that posts covers in your specific genre on a regular basis.

Over the past year or two I have seen the average premade cover price increase though. A couple of the big premade cover sites ask $69, $80 or even above $100 for premade covers now. I guess it is just due to the general increase in the cost of living and inflation.

With lots of competition authors are also expecting a much higher standard in the quality of premade covers, which becomes more time-consuming (about five years ago most premade cover sites were just selling single images with standard text on top, but now many sell complicated combined images with digital effects added and purchased designer fonts).

My premade covers are still between $40 - $60, though most of the new ones are $60. Please have a look here (and yes, they are quality combined images with designer fonts):

https://ebookindiecovers.com/premade-ebook-covers-2/


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## Can neither confirm nor deny that I am W.R. Ginge (Oct 12, 2014)

Oh! And I should point out that my SHARDS covers were NOT premade: they were ones for which I picked out the elements (stock pics, etc) and the artist made it up and sent a few comps with different fonts etc. So totally worth $40 AUD, as far as I'm concerned.


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## TheLemontree (Sep 12, 2015)

I made the cover in my sig in canva with a photo I bought from istock.

If you click through to the Amazon listing and look at the print version you can see my original cover, which I made using CreateSpace's cover creator and a photo I sourced from morguefile.

The Create Space cover creator is easy to use, and the cover was functional enough for a book which sells on average less than a copy per day   but I think the non-fiction market might be less governed by the aesthetics of a cover than the fiction market. 

Having said that, although I only changed the ebook cover to match an upcoming release - so the series would look all matchy - I have seen a slight uptick in sales. 

So the canva cover is performing better than the create space one.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Very interesting stuff here.

I think I'll go with recommending some sites where the covers don't hurt my eyes too much.

I think I might also point them to stock photo sites and the fact that they carry artwork. It's hard to find images for fantasy and SF. You can buy a single image and an ebook on basic typography for under $50 (which is where I want the cut-off). It's probably even easier if you have the image and want to get just typography done.

Personally, I've never spent that little on a cover that I didn't make myself from scratch


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Derek Murphy's DIY Cover Creator is another option. Not sure if it's as good as Canva, but it's another option.

I'd mention that studying the covers of the best-sellers in the you're writing is crucial if you go the DIY route. Fantasy and space opera can be a lot more difficult to do on the cheap because it seems that illustrated covers work best for those. Mystery/thriller/suspense seem to get by just fine with a good, solid font and a well-selected image--I see a lot of setting covers (cityscapes, houses, etc), or sometimes close-ups of objects significant to the plot.

Typography is a lot more essential than many people realize. Don't just choose a font that you think looks good, study the genre and you'll see there's a consistency in the fonts used on the best-sellers. Fonts also don't have to break the bank, there are a lot of great picks on DaFont and that site has an option to limit your searches to fonts that are free to use for commercial projects.

Read/watch Gimp/Photoshop tutorials, too. Learn how these programs work and what they can do. Look at some of the best covers in your genre and see if you can figure out how they were made and if you can make something similar.


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## SophieStern (Mar 7, 2015)

I've used Canva.com for nonfiction covers with positive results, but for fiction I like Fiverr or ebookindiecovers.com. In my experience, the key to finding a great designer on Fiverr is to provide your own stock images. (I use depositphotos.com.)


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## NicolaSDorrington (Apr 18, 2016)

Are DIY covers really such a bad thing? I know you might not get quite up to the standard of a great cover designer, but when talking about new authors not wanting too much of an outlay before they know if indie publishing will work for them I would have thought that DIY was still an option for those who have some creative skill.

Besides, you can always update a cover to something better once you know you are in it for the long hall.

Admittedly, I am biased, I DIY'd all my covers. I know they aren't amazing, but I don't think they are terrible either...

I know when I was working on them I found some great blogs that gave tips on layout, design and typography that really helped.


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## Abderian (Apr 5, 2012)

NicolaSDorrington said:


> Are DIY covers really such a bad thing? I know you might not get quite up to the standard of a great cover designer, but when talking about new authors not wanting too much of an outlay before they know if indie publishing will work for them I would have thought that DIY was still an option for those who have some creative skill.
> 
> Besides, you can always update a cover to something better once you know you are in it for the long hall.
> 
> ...


I love your covers. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I've seen some amazing DIY covers by writers who could easily do that for a living instead. I tried making my own covers and found I lack both the technical and creative skills needed. Hell, I even lacked the skill of judging what makes a good cover for a long time. This is so essential to being a successful indie author, and I've spent hours and hours looking at covers to try to understand them better.

Another thing I misunderstood was that when you commission a cover you have to give the artist a detailed explanation of what you want. I'd think, I don't know what I want, just make me an awesome cover! But it's a collaborative thing, so you have to know what works even though you can't design it yourself.

TLDR: Choosing covers is hard and I still have lots to learn.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

NicolaSDorrington said:


> Are DIY covers really such a bad thing? I know you might not get quite up to the standard of a great cover designer, but when talking about new authors not wanting too much of an outlay before they know if indie publishing will work for them I would have thought that DIY was still an option for those who have some creative skill.
> 
> Besides, you can always update a cover to something better once you know you are in it for the long hall.
> 
> ...


DIY covers may or may not be a bad thing.

You said you spent some time learning about design. I did this, too.

But I'm not talking about people like us. I'm writing this blog post for absolute beginners who, in 99% of the cases, should not be allowed anywhere near a graphics program, because they don't have a clue about cover design. For those people, I like the idea of a template designer that at least doesn't have Comic Sans in magenta as font option.


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## NicolaSDorrington (Apr 18, 2016)

Ah, I see what you're saying.

Perhaps just at the end of your blog post a few links to some of the better websites/blog posts about designing your own covers for those who are determined to go it alone?


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## martyns (May 8, 2014)

I paid a lot for my fantasy book covers. They were NOT cheap at all. However fantasy is a tricky one. I don't think 'Good' fantasy covers are ever going to be cheap. Cagnes, I can vouch for. She did a great job sorting out my Lambton Worm cover and her portfolio is full of great looking covers. I will always stick to Isis Sousa for my Deathsworn Arc Novels, but for me other WIP's, Cagnes will definitely be my first port of call. Partly because her style is probably a better fit for these other WIPs too.


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

Patty Jansen said:


> Very interesting stuff here.
> 
> I think I'll go with recommending some sites where the covers don't hurt my eyes too much.
> 
> ...


I agree with the other posters regarding the KDP Cover creator -- terrible results with it for me.
For making my own covers, I use the version of Microsoft Publisher that is included in my Office 365 subscription. I've tried multiple other programs with tons of bells & whistles that I didn't need. I think if you are an author wanting to make your own covers, you should stick to basics at first and avoid trying to do too much until you develop an eye for it. Going for a bunch of complicated advanced effects when you are not skilled at it will just look shoddy. A good stock photo with minimal tweaking can end up quite decent.


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## Digiterium (Feb 28, 2016)

I've currently got 8 premade covers available for $39 until the start of June. Here's the link http://starbookcovers.com/pre-made-covers/


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

spellscribe said:


> Got it! http://10dollarcovers.com/


  

*Thank You!!*


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## renahobie (Feb 10, 2016)

NicolaSDorrington said:


> Are DIY covers really such a bad thing? I know you might not get quite up to the standard of a great cover designer, but when talking about new authors not wanting too much of an outlay before they know if indie publishing will work for them I would have thought that DIY was still an option for those who have some creative skill.
> 
> Besides, you can always update a cover to something better once you know you are in it for the long hall.
> 
> ...


You did your covers yourself? Wow. That's impressive.


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

NicolaSDorrington said:


> Ah, I see what you're saying.
> 
> Perhaps just at the end of your blog post a few links to some of the better websites/blog posts about designing your own covers for those who are determined to go it alone?


Very nice


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## ShayneRutherford (Mar 24, 2014)

NicolaSDorrington said:


> Are DIY covers really such a bad thing? I know you might not get quite up to the standard of a great cover designer, but when talking about new authors not wanting too much of an outlay before they know if indie publishing will work for them I would have thought that DIY was still an option for those who have some creative skill.
> 
> Besides, you can always update a cover to something better once you know you are in it for the long hall.
> 
> ...


DIY covers aren't a bad thing if, as you say, the people doing them have some creative skill. Unfortunately, most people don't have the level of skill required, especially when it comes to the typography.

Your covers are very nice. I would never have guessed they were DIY if you hadn't said.


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## LeahEmmaRose (Mar 16, 2014)

My husband makes my nonfiction covers using Photoshop and pictures that I've taken. For fiction (Romance), I buy premades from Melody at EBookIndieCovers.


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## Jim Johnson (Jan 4, 2011)

I'll echo the recommendation for James at goonwrite.com (and his fellow site at vamoswrite.com). Sign up for the mailing list and get in on his occasional discounts below his current prices; I got a few pre-mades for great prices that way. Might even get around to using them too!


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## Victoria J (Jul 5, 2011)

I too can recommend goonwrite.com for good cheap covers.


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## Jarrett Rush (Jun 19, 2010)

Another vote for goonwrite.com. He has great stuff at a good price. And he runs frequent sales for members of his newsletter.

I'll also throw another vote in for Canva. They have a ton of templated covers that require you to only change the title and author name. If you have a bit of design skill you can create your own there. I've been using it to build covers for a couple different series. I will agree that the features there don't necessarily lend themselves easily to some of the expectations people have for a genre cover. But if you can find a photo you like you can make something that works, I think.

I don't know how to insert images here (my one complaint about this forum), so I'll just add links to my books on Amazon as examples.

Chasing Filthy Lucre:http://bit.ly/CFLBookOne

Reunion: http://amzn.to/1Dy6NrT


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## Gentleman Zombie (May 30, 2011)

Here's some cover suggestions:

- Fiverr isn't so bad. An OK cover can be bought there. I'm not saying those covers are excellent. But they are good enough. 
- Book covers can be reasonably made using MS-Word or PowerPoint and public domain images. Or even purchased stock.

*Make a Stunning Book Cover in Powerpoint*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og64KzmZ7mo

*How to Make Your Own Book-cover In Word*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxrhP8wOg_0


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## Darius Brasher (Feb 6, 2015)

Jim Johnson said:


> I'll echo the recommendation for James at goonwrite.com (and his fellow site at vamoswrite.com). Sign up for the mailing list and get in on his occasional discounts below his current prices; I got a few pre-mades for great prices that way. Might even get around to using them too!


Jim, have you (or anyone else who happens to read this, for that matter) used the $80 custom made option GoOnWrite offers? For that price, he will design a cover for you based on a photo you pick out from Shutterstock. I have the perfect Shutterstock photo in mind for an upcoming book, but I have never worked with GoOnWrite before.


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## klagodzki (Apr 26, 2016)

Patty Jansen said:


> One of the things that hurts me the most when I see it is a beginning author spending THOUSANDS on their book with no hope of getting the money back. I have seen that quite a bit in the local circuit. People spend because they feel they have to, and spend unwisely because their advice is flawed and the choice of services they're familiar with is too limited. One of the things I see happening is that they get awesome and really expensive covers... that are simply not right for the type of book and genre.
> 
> Often these people are slow writers, pensioners and others who can ill-afford the outlay. They become disillusioned and give up.
> 
> ...


I have used Canva. The example is going through Kindle Scout right now. It is not the final final version, but close. Here it is: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/L263HQKY8C4R


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## A J Sika (Apr 22, 2016)

I used a combination of http://www.picmonkey.com and Picasa for my first covers. The books sold well enough but now that I'm changing to better covers there's been a noticeable heightening in sales.


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## Heather Hamilton-Senter (May 25, 2013)

SerenityWoods said:


> Hi Patty,
> 
> I make all my book covers on Powerpoint and there's a post on how I do it here if it's helpful to anyone. I had no budget for covers when I started out, and it just takes a little know how sometimes. Anyway, it might help someone.
> 
> http://www.serenitywoodsromance.com/publishing.html


Serenity, I am absolutely amazed at what you've been able to do with Powerpoint of all things! I would never have thought that program could produce good covers. Well done!

It just goes to show that it's the maker, not the tools.......


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I wrote the post late last night, but because that is a bad time for the internet in terms of people being awake, I didn't press publish. Now I'm glad I didn't, because I'll be including those instructional posts/videos.

I have included some sites that have a decent number of premades.

I'd also like to add http://www.thecovercollection.com/ a site I stumbled upon on Twitter.

It's the maker, not the tools is a mantra that should be given more emphasis.


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## Jim Johnson (Jan 4, 2011)

Darius Brasher said:


> Jim, have you (or anyone else who happens to read this, for that matter) used the $80 custom made option GoOnWrite offers? For that price, he will design a cover for you based on a photo you pick out from Shutterstock. I have the perfect Shutterstock photo in mind for an upcoming book, but I have never worked with GoOnWrite before.


I have used his custom option and I was impressed with the end result as well as his speed in delivery and communication. I'd definitely use his services again once I've budgeted the scratch for it.


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## Nancy_G (Jun 22, 2015)

geronl said:


> http://authormarketingclub.com/members/pre-made-book-covers/
> 
> *A Gallery of a bunch of pre-made sites.*


Thank you for this site!  I just found the perfect cover for my contemporary romance for $40, and I've been searching forever - considered using Canva. I was tired of seeing covers that were already on books. I'm *in love* with this cover as it nailed the emotion of my couple/story. She's working on it now.


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

Nance Writes said:


> Thank you for this site!  I just found the perfect cover for my contemporary romance for $40, and I've been searching forever - considered using Canva. I was tired of seeing covers that were already on books. I'm *in love* with this cover as it nailed the emotion of my couple/story. She's working on it now.


Cool!


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

NicolaSDorrington said:


> Are DIY covers really such a bad thing? I know you might not get quite up to the standard of a great cover designer, but when talking about new authors not wanting too much of an outlay before they know if indie publishing will work for them I would have thought that DIY was still an option for those who have some creative skill.
> 
> Besides, you can always update a cover to something better once you know you are in it for the long hall.
> 
> ...


My covers are all DIY, too (except for my work published by small presses). But I've also gone through a lot of trial and error with them, researched what works in the genre, and gotten feedback on them from designer friends. If you're willing to put in the work to figure out how to design covers, it can definitely be done. Seems like you've done that yourself.

It does take a lot of work, though. And you have to be pretty merciless with yourself in order to get something decent. Some people just aren't willing to do that and for them, even getting something on Fiverr might be better than DIY.


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

Perry Constantine said:


> My covers are all DIY, too (except for my work published by small presses). But I've also gone through a lot of trial and error with them, researched what works in the genre, and gotten feedback on them from designer friends. If you're willing to put in the work to figure out how to design covers, it can definitely be done. Seems like you've done that yourself.


The Vanguard covers are excellent


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## martyns (May 8, 2014)

ShayneRutherford said:


> DIY covers aren't a bad thing if, as you say, the people doing them have some creative skill. Unfortunately, most people don't have the level of skill required, especially when it comes to the typography.
> 
> Your covers are very nice. I would never have guessed they were DIY if you hadn't said.


I'll second that! Nicola's covers look VERY professional, at least to my untrained eye!


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I hope I've taken a bit of the work out of finding a couple of premade sites that actually do GOOD covers. 

@cagnes, I would have loved to have added yours, too, but I really wanted a bit more inventory

I might revisit these recommendations later


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## NicolaSDorrington (Apr 18, 2016)

martyns said:


> I'll second that! Nicola's covers look VERY professional, at least to my untrained eye!


Thanks!


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## Kenson (Dec 8, 2014)

I have just discovered what I hope is not going to become an embarrassing situation. I make my own book covers using stock photos that I've bought. I was skimming through the covers in http://www.thecovercollection.com and I found the same stock photo that I published last November being offered as a pre-made. I've written to them asking them to withdraw that particular image and I'll wait to see what happens.

Awkward, but there are not that many good stock photos of spaceships.


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## foxprorawks (Jul 19, 2015)

Kenson said:


> I have just discovered what I hope is not going to become an embarrassing situation. I make my own book covers using stock photos that I've bought. I was skimming through the covers in http://www.thecovercollection.com and I found the same stock photo that I published last November being offered as a pre-made. I've written to them asking them to withdraw that particular image and I'll wait to see what happens.
> 
> Awkward, but there are not that many good stock photos of spaceships.


I'm not sure how this works - if you buy a stock photo, are you buying exclusive use of the photo or merely a licence to use the photo (while it is still available for others to purchase a licence)?


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Kenson said:


> I have just discovered what I hope is not going to become an embarrassing situation. I make my own book covers using stock photos that I've bought. I was skimming through the covers in http://www.thecovercollection.com and I found the same stock photo that I published last November being offered as a pre-made. I've written to them asking them to withdraw that particular image and I'll wait to see what happens.
> 
> Awkward, but there are not that many good stock photos of spaceships.


If you buy a stock photo, it can be used by other designers, in other words, the site can re-sell the image. If you want to buy an exclusive image, it will typically costs hundreds.


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## martyns (May 8, 2014)

Kenson said:


> I have just discovered what I hope is not going to become an embarrassing situation. I make my own book covers using stock photos that I've bought. I was skimming through the covers in http://www.thecovercollection.com and I found the same stock photo that I published last November being offered as a pre-made. I've written to them asking them to withdraw that particular image and I'll wait to see what happens.
> 
> Awkward, but there are not that many good stock photos of spaceships.


I don't think you can copyright a stock image. Here, had a look on Fiverr for you. This guy can probably make you a unique ship and put it against a backdrop. He might even be able to take some instruction as to what the ship should look like:-

https://uk.fiverr.com/mehmetpinarci/model-3d-spaceships-and-scifi-props?context=advanced_search&context_type=auto&context_referrer=search_gigs&pos=1&funnel=67994135-5481-486f-ae90-646afe095952


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## Kenson (Dec 8, 2014)

Patty Jansen said:


> If you buy a stock photo, it can be used by other designers, in other words, the site can re-sell the image. If you want to buy an exclusive image, it will typically costs hundreds.


This is true. I can't stop them from selling their pre-made with the same stock image but Zon might get upset about two books with similar covers and the purchaser of the pre-made might be very upset to find virtually the same cover already in the marketplace.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Kenson said:


> This is true. I can't stop them from selling their pre-made with the same stock image but Zon might get upset about two books with similar covers and the purchaser of the pre-made might be very upset to find virtually the same cover already in the marketplace.


I don't see the problem. Two designers used the same stock image. Happens all the time, even in tradepub. There are even websites devoted to this.


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## kcmorgan (Jan 9, 2013)

Kenson said:


> This is true. I can't stop them from selling their pre-made with the same stock image but Zon might get upset about two books with similar covers and the purchaser of the pre-made might be very upset to find virtually the same cover already in the marketplace.


Stock photos are used over and over. There are probably dozens, if not hundreds of covers using that image if it's one of the few spaceship stock photos available. And no, Amazon only has a problem with that if you attempt to make your book indistinguishable from a bestselling novel so that people might buy yours by mistake. But other than that, similar covers are fine. Even the big publishing companies use the same stockphotos for different covers: https://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/19-book-cover-cliches

The reason they do this is because seeing a similar cover to a book we've read and liked increases the chance of us clicking that cover and seeing what the book is about. That's why the 50 Shade covers look like the Twilight covers and the 3000+ BDSM romances written ever since look like the 50 Shades covers.


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## Jennifer Lewis (Dec 12, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> I don't see the problem. Two designers used the same stock image. Happens all the time, even in tradepub. There are even websites devoted to this.


In romance you see the same image being used all the time. It's quite hard to find stock that is really good that hasn't been overused.

Patty, I love your idea of helping new authors publish on the cheap. I'd been thinking about this recently after hearing several people who were sitting on books they couldn't afford to publish. I was asking around for ways to do formatting totally free, as that seems to be another intimidating stumbling block for new authors.


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## Gentleman Zombie (May 30, 2011)

SerenityWoods said:


> I make all my book covers on Powerpoint and there's a post on how I do it here if it's helpful to anyone. I had no budget for covers when I started out, and it just takes a little know how sometimes. Anyway, it might help someone.
> 
> http://www.serenitywoodsromance.com/publishing.html


Hooray so happy to see another PowerPoint addict on Kboards!! 
I use PPT as well. I didn't have the patience to learn Photoshop - and I had years of PPT experience creating presentations at work. PowerPoint is a really powerful visual software. You can make ebooks, covers, and even short animated movies in PPT.

These covers won't win any awards.. They were made just for fun to show how quick and easy PPT is. I think they took two hours total. And most of that was just searching for random images.

*(DO NOT USE THESE COVERS --- for educational purposes only). *


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Jennifer Lewis said:


> In romance you see the same image being used all the time. It's quite hard to find stock that is really good that hasn't been overused.
> 
> Patty, I love your idea of helping new authors publish on the cheap. I'd been thinking about this recently after hearing several people who were sitting on books they couldn't afford to publish. I was asking around for ways to do formatting totally free, as that seems to be another intimidating stumbling block for new authors.


If you read the post on my blog, you'll see that I cover all three: editing, covers and formatting.

Most of the post is about covers, because this is where you can save or spend the most money, but it does include a 100% free way to format your book that is super easy


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## Abderian (Apr 5, 2012)

Jennifer Lewis said:


> In romance you see the same image being used all the time. It's quite hard to find stock that is really good that hasn't been overused.
> 
> Patty, I love your idea of helping new authors publish on the cheap. I'd been thinking about this recently after hearing several people who were sitting on books they couldn't afford to publish. *I was asking around for ways to do formatting totally free*, as that seems to be another intimidating stumbling block for new authors.


I've never paid for formatting, and when I read comments like this it always makes me wonder if I'm doing something terribly wrong. But I've published five books on Kindle and Createspace and never had a complaint. The formatting needed for a clean text is very easy to find out about and learn, and I say that as the most computer illiterate person I know. I use Libreoffice with Heading 1 and First Line Indent styles and save as a doc before uploading to KDP. Createspace is a bit more tricky, but completely learnable with a little Googling. I don't think formatting should be a barrier to publishing if you're on a budget.


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## Ros_Jackson (Jan 11, 2014)

I think there's something to be said for browsing DeviantArt until you find several artists whose style you like, and looking for quotes. Many will post their rates and whether they're open for commissions.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Abderian said:


> I've never paid for formatting, and when I read comments like this it always makes me wonder if I'm doing something terribly wrong. But I've published five books on Kindle and Createspace and never had a complaint. The formatting needed for a clean text is very easy to find out about and learn, and I say that as the most computer illiterate person I know. I use Libreoffice with Heading 1 and First Line Indent styles and save as a doc before uploading to KDP. Createspace is a bit more tricky, but completely learnable with a little Googling. I don't think formatting should be a barrier to publishing if you're on a budget.


I never saw the need to pay for formatting either, until I had a formatting emergency, I couldn't work out how to fix it and I needed it fixed yesterday.

I paid someone to re-format a series, and the next month, when I did my random toss-up to Bookbub, they accepted me for the first time, after a lot of rejections.

Good formatting is actually more important than people give it credit for.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Ros_Jackson said:


> I think there's something to be said for browsing DeviantArt until you find several artists whose style you like, and looking for quotes. Many will post their rates and whether they're open for commissions.


I would not recommend a new writer to do this. Many artists are great artists but don't know typography from a bar of soap. As new writer, you are unlikely to know anything about it either. Typography is at least 50% of cover design. I've seen many great covers ruined by poor typography.


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## Heather Hamilton-Senter (May 25, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> I don't see the problem. Two designers used the same stock image. Happens all the time, even in tradepub. There are even websites devoted to this.


This!

And for the DIYers, honestly, it's what you do with the image which makes the difference. On another thread, I shared that you can change an image and make it unique with masterable techniques. Yes, I'm doing a lot of digital painting, but aside from that, there are 4 tools that someone new to photo manipulation can still master with just a little practice - and you can find them on free software such as Gimp:

1. Cutting a figure out of a background - learning to do this properly (hint, it's not actually hard) makes all the difference. Do a search on deviantart or google for a tutorial for whatever program you have
2. Matching the color toning of the figure to the new background and increasing brightness and contrast. Again, this varies depending on what program you are using, but it only takes a google search.
3. Learn how to mask - take out the parts of your image you don't want
4. And then my secret sauce  (which I've shared before) - use the smudge tool or whatever your program's equivalent is to blend the edges of the figure to the new background, and then to essentially paint with the colors of the stock image by stroking over large areas, pulling tendrils of hair out, smoothing the skin, etc.

Of course, if you have Photoshop, there all kinds of filters you can add, actions you can run - which I freely admit that I've done below - but the basics above will ensure that even if someone uses the same stock figure as you, there is no way for their cover to look the same. Here's an example of how different a stock can be made to look. This image actually used 8 stock images blended together - I took the jeans from one stock, the corset from another, etc and just masked out the parts I didn't want and blended the final product with smudge. Yes, I did other stuff, but not as much as you might think. I rely on the steps above for the main part of the work.


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## Abderian (Apr 5, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> I never saw the need to pay for formatting either, until I had a formatting emergency, I couldn't work out how to fix it and I needed it fixed yesterday.
> 
> I paid someone to re-format a series, and the next month, when I did my random toss-up to Bookbub, they accepted me for the first time, after a lot of rejections.
> 
> Good formatting is actually more important than people give it credit for.


I'll take your word for it. But if a writer really can't afford to pay for formatting, I just want to point out that they don't have to in order to publish. I had an interesting discussion with a moderator on another writing website, who was advocating paying for professional formatting for a Createspace book. She cited one of the early, massively popular self-published writers who she stated had used professional typesetting for her print books. It turned out the writer's husband had actually done the formatting on a home computer in Word.


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## Guest (May 4, 2016)

Patty Jansen said:


> SO true!
> 
> A lot of the very expensive but non-effective covers came about because the author wanted an illustration of a particular scene.


Oh ye gods, this.

The purpose of a book cover is to serve as a movie poster for your book. It should serve as a form of shorthand for the theme and mood of the book. Recreating a specific scene often means nothing to a reader because that scene is without context.

Sometimes, simple is better. People keep telling me how much they love the cover for _The Great Tome of Forgotten Relics and Artifacts_. It's just a background with text on it. No actual fancy images or anything. It is a stock art image that I cropped and recolored and added a filter to, and then put the text on it. That stock art image costs me $4 I think at RPGNOW. But it conveys the idea behind the book and people respond to it.


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

Heather Hamilton-Senter said:


>


Wow. Good job.


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## Heather Hamilton-Senter (May 25, 2013)

geronl said:


> Wow. Good job.


Thank you 

Urban fantasy is one of my favorites to make, so when I have some downtime, I look for any stock I can find of a girl holding a sword!


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## Nancy_G (Jun 22, 2015)

Abderian said:


> I've never paid for formatting, and when I read comments like this it always makes me wonder if I'm doing something terribly wrong. But I've published five books on Kindle and Createspace and never had a complaint. The formatting needed for a clean text is very easy to find out about and learn, and I say that as the most computer illiterate person I know. I use Libreoffice with Heading 1 and First Line Indent styles and save as a doc before uploading to KDP. Createspace is a bit more tricky, but completely learnable with a little Googling. I don't think formatting should be a barrier to publishing if you're on a budget.


I've also done my own formatting just by watching YouTube videos, but I initially saved as a doc and then saved as an html to upload to KDP from what they said to do. Also same for CreateSpace but need to save as a pdf to upload. Have never had any problems. No need to pay someone unless you have an issue like Patty discusses in a post.


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## martyns (May 8, 2014)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Oh ye gods, this.
> 
> The purpose of a book cover is to serve as a movie poster for your book. It should serve as a form of shorthand for the theme and mood of the book. Recreating a specific scene often means nothing to a reader because that scene is without context.
> 
> Sometimes, simple is better. People keep telling me how much they love the cover for _The Great Tome of Forgotten Relics and Artifacts_. It's just a background with text on it. No actual fancy images or anything. It is a stock art image that I cropped and recolored and added a filter to, and then put the text on it. That stock art image costs me $4 I think at RPGNOW. But it conveys the idea behind the book and people respond to it.


I like the movie poster analogy. I know some say my covers aren't the best but I like them! They have a movie poster consistent theme - 2 key characters in the foreground, antagonist or major event in the background. Each book will have a different colour tone. First is yellow, then orange/brown, then red, then blue and then I think I'm going green!


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## writerbee (May 10, 2013)

Nance Writes said:


> I've also done my own formatting just by watching YouTube videos, but I initially saved as a doc and then saved as an html to upload to KDP from what they said to do. Also same for CreateSpace but need to save as a pdf to upload. Have never had any problems. No need to pay someone unless you have an issue like Patty discusses in a post.


 I took some webinars on different ways to format and got myself tied into knots and then a friend asked "If you're just uploading to KDP, hy don't you just format your Word doc? It's simple." 
And it was. :-D Just remove codes (page numbers, headers, footers, leftover editing notes) and put in page breaks and I use 2 styles for chapter headings and the front/back matter. 
Oh, and I add a ToC b/c it's a long book and also b/c when I realized how easy it was, I figured "Why not."

Maybe I'll hire a formatter when I go wide and different formats are necessary, but I wouldn't spend money on that now.


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## writerbee (May 10, 2013)

Heather Hamilton-Senter said:


> This!
> 
> And for the DIYers, honestly, it's what you do with the image which makes the difference. On another thread, I shared that you can change an image and make it unique with masterable techniques. Yes, I'm doing a lot of digital painting, but aside from that, there are 4 tools that someone new to photo manipulation can still master with just a little practice - and you can find them on free software such as Gimp:
> 
> ...


Wow, thanks for the tips! Your covers are gorgeous :-D

As for the OPs question about inexpensive covers -- my friend is putting out a bunch of short stories and couldn't afford even relatively low-priced pre-mades for each one. So he got free stock images from Bigstock (using their 1-time deal, 7 days 5 images = 35, x 2 b/c it was actually a 2 week deal)

And then searched Fiverr for cover designers who did horror/fantasy/s-f. 
Finalists were Max Covers and n_p design, Max was on vacation, so it was n_p design who made some really nice covers for him. For $5 each.

A couple of them are published now -- if you're curious you can see them on Amazon (sorry I tried to do the post a link with image thing here and it didn't work) -- Gordon Rothwell, "Beyond the Looking Glass" and "7th Bull"

DMac
w/a Victoria Hodge


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## writerbee (May 10, 2013)

Trying this linkmaker thing again, maybe it will work this time -- Oh, yay! 

OK, these are the covers Peter at n_p design on Fiverr made for Gordon Rothwell , from stock images Gordon provided.


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## klagodzki (Apr 26, 2016)

Does anyone have any experience using images from freeimages dot com? They come with an implied license, and I wonder if anyone has had any problems. Thanks!


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

writerbee said:


> And it was. :-D Just remove codes (page numbers, headers, footers, leftover editing notes) and put in page breaks and I use 2 styles for chapter headings and the front/back matter.


How do you know where to put in page breaks...


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## klagodzki (Apr 26, 2016)

geronl said:


> How do you know where to put in page breaks...


YouTube has a wealth of information on this. Just search the topic.


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## sugarhit (Feb 9, 2015)

SerenityWoods said:


> Hi Patty,
> 
> I make all my book covers on Powerpoint and there's a post on how I do it here if it's helpful to anyone. I had no budget for covers when I started out, and it just takes a little know how sometimes. Anyway, it might help someone.
> 
> http://www.serenitywoodsromance.com/publishing.html


Wow, all of your covers are gorgeous


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## tommy gun (May 3, 2015)

Great thread.  But I am out of time in reading and need to be writing and doing chores.

Non Fiction?  you can use fiverr if you are careful.  I did all my non fiction covers there and used the same person so the covers are consistent in all 5 books.  I will go to her for the next ones as well.

Fiction.  I have just used tendollarcovers myself and think I am falling on the side of liking them.  I just got my third cover back and it may need tweaking.  I will be getting another 3-7 off them by year end.

I think it would depend if series or stand alone.  If you are doing stand alone then pre mades are great.  Series are harder as the message you want to get across would need to be more focussed and there are lots of one offs I loved but the creator had nothing else that worked for me in that series.......

sorry just my 2 cents.  I have to go


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## writerbee (May 10, 2013)

geronl said:


> How do you know where to put in page breaks...


 I put page breaks between chapters, front matter pages [copyright - break - dedication - break .... etc.] and back matter.


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## Robert Dahlen (Apr 27, 2014)

Ros_Jackson said:


> I think there's something to be said for browsing DeviantArt until you find several artists whose style you like, and looking for quotes. Many will post their rates and whether they're open for commissions.


The catch to that is that most DA artists (such as my cover artist, Willow) will charge more for commercial use, which is their right; the rates they show are usually for personal use. When in doubt, ask.



Patty Jansen said:


> I would not recommend a new writer to do this. Many artists are great artists but don't know typography from a bar of soap. As new writer, you are unlikely to know anything about it either. Typography is at least 50% of cover design. I've seen many great covers ruined by poor typography.


Some cover designers will just do typography over cover art you provide, like the one I work with. Ask around, or check the Yellow Pages here. But I agree about not doing it yourself unless you have to or you already have skill and training.


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## ShayneRutherford (Mar 24, 2014)

klagodzki said:


> Does anyone have any experience using images from freeimages dot com? They come with an implied license, and I wonder if anyone has had any problems. Thanks!


What is an implied license?


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

Robert Dahlen said:


> Some cover designers will just do typography over cover art you provide, like the one I work with. Ask around, or check the Yellow Pages here. But I agree about not doing it yourself unless you have to or you already have skill and training.


I learned to Bevel in GIMP this week! I'll work cheap!


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## cecilia_writer (Dec 28, 2010)

geronl said:


> I learned to Bevel in GIMP this week! I'll work cheap!


I keep on finding new things in Gimp. I overdid the fuzzy borders for a while after discovering them, and last week I tried out something called (I think) gfig which turned to be exactly what I needed.


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

cecilia_writer said:


> I keep on finding new things in Gimp. I overdid the fuzzy borders for a while after discovering them, and last week I tried out something called (I think) gfig which turned to be exactly what I needed.


I just still find it impossible to draw a circle, although I can cut one out.


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## Thetis (Dec 23, 2015)

Abderian said:


> I've never paid for formatting, and when I read comments like this it always makes me wonder if I'm doing something terribly wrong. But I've published five books on Kindle and Createspace and never had a complaint. The formatting needed for a clean text is very easy to find out about and learn, and I say that as the most computer illiterate person I know. I use Libreoffice with Heading 1 and First Line Indent styles and save as a doc before uploading to KDP. Createspace is a bit more tricky, but completely learnable with a little Googling. I don't think formatting should be a barrier to publishing if you're on a budget.


Yeah, the closest I've ever come to paying for formatting is the cost of Vellum  It's a one time fee, easy to use, and the end result is beautifully formatted ebooks. The only downside is that it's only available to Mac users. I'm not sure if there's a similar program for Windows (I know there isn't for Vellum, but a different company may make something just as good?)


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Thetis said:


> Yeah, the closest I've ever come to paying for formatting is the cost of Vellum  It's a one time fee, easy to use, and the end result is beautifully formatted ebooks. The only downside is that it's only available to Mac users. I'm not sure if there's a similar program for Windows (I know there isn't for Vellum, but a different company may make something just as good?)


I have Vellum, but still pay for formatting. Yes, I could easily make a MOBI and EPUB in Vellum, but for me, the point is that my formatter also gives me a pre-formatted Word file (which passes Smashwords standards, even if I sell very little there), but that I only need to drop into InDesign and I can format a print book in less than half an hour. He does things like making sure ellipses don't get split up and changing the directions of the quotes after an em-dash and all that fiddly stuff. I just copy and paste the file, and done!


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## PhilipColgate (Feb 11, 2016)

My cover (see below) for Bullets & Heels cost me $5 on Fiverr because I supplied two stock photos I already downloaded during a free trial to a site.  My cover for Cosenza was DIY on Canva.  Canva is the go-to for DIY unless you want to sacrifice hours of possible writing time to learn Photoshop (not that it's a bad thing--I know people who've been very successful at that--just know it takes a big investment of time to learn).


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## Thetis (Dec 23, 2015)

Patty Jansen said:


> I have Vellum, but still pay for formatting. Yes, I could easily make a MOBI and EPUB in Vellum, but for me, the point is that my formatter also gives me a pre-formatted Word file (which passes Smashwords standards, even if I sell very little there), but that I only need to drop into InDesign and I can format a print book in less than half an hour. He does things like making sure ellipses don't get split up and changing the directions of the quotes after an em-dash and all that fiddly stuff. I just copy and paste the file, and done!


Ah, now see... print is a different beast. I hate it. I have come close to giving in because of the frustration of it and just hiring someone to format it... but I'm stubborn and usually toil over the damn Word document for hours after which I claim I'll never do a print book again. Maybe it's kinda like labor... eventually, the memory of how painful it is wears off and we're willing to go through it again.


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## Rick D Hesperus (Sep 15, 2015)

I am a book cover designer who offers fully custom covers for a good price but I know that not everyone is ready for my service. I hate to cut my own throat here, but I advise those who seek super cheap book covers to search on fiverr:
https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?query=book covers
Search carefully, read the comments and look at the portfolios. There are some talented people on there but not all of them are native English speakers so you may have to exert a little extra patience during the process.

Oh, and for those of you who are ready for fully custom covers, consider https://myvisionpress.com. I have designed many award winning and best selling book covers. Also, I love almost every client that I've had the pleasure to work with. Authors in general are great people, and they make my life a living HEAVEN!

Cheers,

Rick


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## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)




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## ShayneRutherford (Mar 24, 2014)

Since this thread has been necro'd, I thought I would add a warning here for anyone who uses Fiverr. Please be careful about who you hire. There have been a lot of skeevey goings-on with designers on Fiverr, some of whom use unlicensed stock pics, or just plain steal pics from websites to use on the covers they sell. If you have any doubts about the source of the stock, don't be afraid to ask to see a stock license or other proof of purchase. Any legitimate designer will understand why you're asking, and provide you with proof. Or if they use Daz for rendering their own images, they'll be able to show you a proof of purchase for the assets used.

Also, while I'm on the topic, when you're looking for a designer, don't be taken in by extreme claims. Super high prices don't always equate to super high quality. I've seen designers make grandiose claims about being in the design field for twenty years and charging $500, $600, or even more for basic photo-manip covers that look as if they were done by a beginner. I've seen designers try to claim credit for a book being on the bestseller list, when it's far more likely that it was on the bestseller list because the book got a Bookbub, or the author threw a ton of ads at it, or simply because they were a bestseller already. Of course a good cover helps to get eyes on a book, but the cover won't make the book a bestseller if it's not a decent book in the first place.


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## RenginTumer (May 1, 2019)

This is a super interesting thread! I'm glad it's been necro'd just when I joined  So most books I'm seeing in the sigs here would be photographic/photomanip covers. Do most of you use photographic covers for your work instead of painted ones?


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## ShayneRutherford (Mar 24, 2014)

RenginTumer said:


> This is a super interesting thread! I'm glad it's been necro'd just when I joined  So most books I'm seeing in the sigs here would be photographic/photomanip covers. Do most of you use photographic covers for your work instead of painted ones?


This depends a lot on genre. Romance, thriller, mystery, and suspense will be almost exclusively photo-manip, because that's the current convention of those genres. While fantasy, SF, UF, horror, and cozy mystery can go photo-manip or illustration/render.


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## RenginTumer (May 1, 2019)

ShayneRutherford said:


> This depends a lot on genre. Romance, thriller, mystery, and suspense will be almost exclusively photo-manip, because that's the current convention of those genres. While fantasy, SF, UF, horror, and cozy mystery can go photo-manip or illustration/render.


Sure. I was mostly asking about personal preferences I guess, since I see a lot of SF/fantasy photo-manip covers at first glance in the sigs in the thread (though admittedly I haven't looked at every page).


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## HelenGet (Jan 6, 2021)

Hey! 

Our goal here, at GetCovers, is to deliver super affordable covers without sacrificing their professional look. 

Our lowest price for the cover with 1 stock photo is $5. We also offer packages for $15 and $25 with more stock photos included. In addition, we create illustrated covers starting at $390.

You can check out our covers here. 

We’re lucky enough that such prices are sustainable for our business, and the time we spend on covers is enough to make them look professional and attention-grabbing, which is super important for the competitive self-publishing niche.


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