Book Cover Designer Suggestions

Maybe if you claimed to be a professional cover artiste who normally charges $3000 but as a special, just for folks here, you will do their first cover for a mere $300, then you would be overwhelmed with people asking you to do their covers.

 

I state a lot of facts that are also my opinion.

 

The only way to confirm that a certain cover would deprive a certain book of sales would be to run two concurrent books with the exact same everything, bar the cover. Maybe I'm one in 6 billion who doesn't care about what the cover looks like, although I suspect not.

Also, well done for winning awards at some top photo clubs and being trained as a judge for a competition. I once had my drawings stuck up on my parents fridge, so I'm pretty proud too. This still doesn't mean that not having won awards means you can't do a thing. I've never won a grammy, but my music isn't trash.

 

Do you have data that shows the effect of a cover on sales or is this just your small sample statistics anecdotal impression.

 

True.

But if you are not an artist then how can you know what a good cover artist is and who could do one?

More importantly , if you are not a salesman then how can you know if a cover, no matter how pretty it seems, is going to be useful to help sell a book?

There is more to selling a book then just the image on the cover.

A cover that is confusing will kill sales.
A cover with type that is blotted out by the picture will kill sales.
A cover that features some unknown's name will kill sales.
A cover without the sales blurb info on the back will kill sales.
A cover that is not clear at amazon thumbnail size will kill sales.

 

What does that have to do with book covers?

Photos and book covers are not the same thing. Some book covers may include a photo, but that doesn’t make them the same thing.

You seem to be forgetting that, yes. But you seem to be the only one.

 

You yourself said a bad cover is bad for sales. Are you now arguing that a bad cover has zero affect on sales?

 

No!!!!!!!!!!!

Do not be illogical. Nor misquote me.

I said that a good cover has little effect on sales.

What a cover does is get the browser to look inside, to read the blurbs on the back, to think about purchasing.
The cover does not sell the book. The content and the additional sales text is what closes the sale.

Has anybody ever bought a book just because they like the cover ? Maybe , but I doubt that it was very many.

 

Artistic ability does not depend on the medium.

I can recognize what is a good image because I was trained to do so , and proved it in competition.

The more important key is that I know MARKETING, which is more important than art for sales of books.
A cover is a sales tool not something meant to win an award.

 

And some big publishers will run tests to see which cover is preferred by a focus group typical of buyers of that type of book.

Small publishers and self pubbers have to trust their instincts or take the word of some alleged cover artist.

I never said that not winning awards would prevent you from doing a cover. What I said was that winning awards and being trained as a judge qualifies me to evaluate cover images.

More importantly, I am trained in marketing which is the raison d'etre for a cover to exist.

And like you said, you should be able to DIY your own cover just as well as most cover artists.

I also agree that the cover means little to me. If it does not confuse me then I will look further to see if a book may be of interest. But if it confuses me or is illegible then I keep looking asap.

 

And how do you know their references can tell what is a good/bad cover?

A cover is meant for sales not to win artsy awards or just look pretty.

How much marketing skill do cover artists have?

 

Nope.

Not doing your research for you. I have researched but did not save links to give you.
Use google.

 

And here I thought this was a forum to help one another...

 

Who said that a good cover alone would sell a book? A not-good cover will PREVENT the sale. A good cover is a minimum requirement.

If I suggest that the clods of mud on your carrots will prevent sales at the farmer’s market, would you say, “has anybody ever bought a carrot just because it was clean?”

Certain things are a minimal requirement.

Of course it does.

I very much doubt that many sculptors, for example, are designing book covers. Typography, layout in a flat medium, color, knowledge of printing, etc, are likely not a mandatory set of skills for a sculptor.

You seem to believe that a book cover is nothing but the image. Maybe that’s your problem here.

A book cover is image, layout, typography, knowledge of the market and marketing goals, and no doubt a dozen other things.

It’s not just a picture, pretty or otherwise.

No, it doesn’t. Knowledge of photography doesn’t make you an expert on graphic design or marketing.

Their profession is the CREATION of marketing material. Why would you assume that they are ignorant of marketing?

You’re the one making totally unsupported assertions. I will assume that you have no actual evidence.

 

Yes, this thread is starting to take a turn for the worse. Hope about y'all, and y'all know who you are, take a deep breath, and think about how we can help OP @KG Kregul get his books published, instead seeing how many barbs we can exchange with each other.

 

Did you miss the part where I said references who are successfully selling books with that artist's work on them. If someone is selling over 100 copies of their book a month, say, it's pretty likely their cover isn't chasing any buyers away.

 

Ok, on the original question, since I have no actual names to offer:

When taking the risk of using people who aren’t specifically cover designers, I do find myself thinking that those skilled in layout and typography—web designers, for example—might be a better gamble. I think that a cover can get away with a pretty bland image more easily than it can survive bad layout and text.

And self published books often have problems with the interior text as well, so that advisor might be useful there.

 

Also on the original topic, @KG Grekul is this series complete and you're looking to buy multiple covers at the same time? Or are you wanting a discount for future books that may or may not be written yet?

I think it would be difficult to get an artist to agree to a discount for future work since they can't pay today's bills with tomorrow's money, but if you bought say, 4 covers at the regular price maybe they'd throw in the last one at a 50% discount or something because it would be a large influx of cash all at one time.

 

Right, what @ChickenFreak said. You cannot put enough effort into preparing your book for publication, whether you are self-publishing or going traditional. A massive amount of editing is required to get the interior ready, either to put on the market, or to put it up to an agent for acceptance. Don't expect potential buyers to forgive your minor mistakes, and don't expect an agent or publisher to put the work into your book that you did not. If you can afford a professional editor, get one, if not, try someone, either a student or a teacher at the local college to review your work.

And @KG Grekul, congrats on being so close to publication!

 

I am not sure who is arguing that: the goal of a cover isn't to sell books, but rather to win artsy awards. You might note that the discussion is about cover artists and not artists and art awards. You are right in that going to DeviantArt or where ever and finding a talented artist with some cool works posted doesn't necessarily translate into someone that creates effective covers. But I haven't seen anyone arguing that point.

While some cover artists may be paid to do the titlework, that's not the norm, at least not with my publisher, or with successful self-published authors I know. A lot of what goes into a 'successful' cover depends on the genre, and even the subgenre, including cover art, layout and title work, back cover material, blurbs, etc.

I and individuals above have suggested how an experienced cover artist might be identified. They could also hire a person to design/layout a cover, and select stock images from the various sites, or premade art, or whatever. There are plenty of successful examples for an aspiring self-published author to use as examples, and plenty of successful self-published authors that will share their experience and who they employed to assist with their covers. The readers in this thread are certainly capable of deciding if those are valid methods, and will meet their needs/goals, or not.

 

I can tell good images. The media is irrelevant., whether a print or display photo, canvas, with paint , or other media.
And being trained in marketing too, I can tell if a cover is going to help or hurt sales.

You twisted my statements.
I said that most professional cover artists make bad covers for sales.
I said that most authors can make a cover just as good when thet DIY.

I said that bad covers can hurt sales.
I said that I never knew anyone who bought a book just because the liked a cover.
If the cover was intriguing and did not confuse them then they would look at the content and the hype to decide, not just the cover.