There’s an old saying: never judge a book by it’s cover. While applicable in the metaphorical sense, when it comes to actually publishing a real book, people do judge books FAST based on the cover. Having a good book cover is a must.

When deciding on a book, what do you do? If you have stepped foot inside a physical bookstore and found a section you’re interested in, you probably browse. Waltzing across the isles, I’ll guess you stop based on some snazzy title. Pull out the book, glimpse at the cover, and read the copy on the back. Whether or not you open the book and look at a single page is governed by two things: the cover and the description on the back.

Indie publishing demands a well designed cover

Listening to Ste ve Womack last week talk about the huge changes in the publishing industry, becoming an indie author is a popular move. But one thing you MUST do is invest some decent money in a top notch cover.
Ever publish a book through someone else? You may have learned through brutal means that you are NOT in control of the cover. Whoever is betting money on selling your story will often leave you out of the entire process. Instead, your publisher’s marketing team makes such choices.

Finding a good graphic artist

If you self publish, you are in control. Spending $100-$200 on a good graphic artist to produce a cover is money well spent. Assuming you have a decent story, you should be able to make that back.

Don’t do this the wrong way. If you think snagging a handful of images from Google Images and pasting them together will do the trick, forget about it. First of all, you are probably running into gobs of copyright violations. I’ve created decks using such means, but actual commercial work requires properly vetted sources of art.

A good graphic artist can also take stock images and blend them together, making professional grade edits (like altering hair color, facial hair, etc.) and has better access to fonts. The graphic artist also has a keen thing you don’t: artistic experience. When putting together a title’s cover, your artist will have a better feel for what fonts work, how to position the elements, and can put in the small touches you have never thought of.

If you find a good graphic artist, my suggestion is to continue going back for future projects. Your artist will grow to know you, and your titles can take on a certain signature. And of course, there’s the implicit vote of confidence if you like that artist’s work.

Keep on writing!