DYI Covers

A few years ago for Christmas I asked for art supplies, like sketch pads, pencils, watercolors, and books on how to be an artist. I spent time learning some basics and had a good time, making some progress in those basic concepts.

Am I an artist? Ha. Not even close. I tell this little story because it relates to covers for my books. I know conceptually what I like and don’t like, but I feel like I should leave the art itself to someone who knows a bit more than my simple sketches.

With my first three books that I self-published I created the covers myself. I’ve mentioned how I did those in a previous post and I won’t re-hash it here. In summary, the covers I made were free and for two of them I used photos I took. Are they great designs? Debatable. They served their purpose and if I re-publish them I will have a pro re-design the covers.

WIth First and Next Time I plan on having someone else do the artwork. I think I’ve made it clear I’m not an artist and I’m not a pro at design or marketing.

Can you judge a book by its cover? No, but you can certainly do things that make people want to pick up your book and give it a try. I want something that pops out at the reader and says, “Pick me up and take a look inside.”

The cover is part of marketing the book. I want to give it the best shot possible and I know myself well enough to realize a professional should do the design work. Just like everything else in this business it will come with a cost, but I feel like it’ll be worth it.