I'm the type of person who plans ahead so I started thinking about c0ver art for my close-to-finished book. Instantly, I was plunged into depression. I'm horrible at drawing and I don't really know anyone who's that great at it. I have one friend but I feel like if I ask him to do it I wouldn't even know what I would want it to be. Anyone else having the same trouble? Anyone else have an answer? (I doubt the latter).
It's only an issue if you are planning on self-pubbing. Traditional publishers do the cover art. If you are planning on self-pubbing and really want to give your book the best shot, hire someone to do it for you. There are folks out there who specialize in it.
Everyone tells me to self-publish but I don't want to. Thanks for the info. That helps. (Phew, now I don't have to think about it and I can leave it to my poor, poor publisher )
If the vast majority of self-published book covers are any clue, these people must specialise in being talentless money-grabbers.
There are some really good freelance artists who will do covers for self-published books, some of whom have also done covers for traditionally-published books. Problem is, many self-published authors don't want to pay for a good cover. They put all of that time and energy into the book and then skimp on the cover (and, often, on an editor).
Well, just by doing a Google search I got the link, below. Not all of them are good, but there are plenty that are as good as traditionally-published covers. In some cases, you have the same artist doing covers for both traditionally-published books and self-published books, so the quality is going to be the same. http://pattyjansen.com/blog/awesome-self-published-book-covers/
Yes, fair dos, some of them are excellent. I think SP covers of that quality are probably quite rare, though. This one is particularly impressive
I, uh... *clears throat* I took a picture on my dining room table and used that for a cover. But to be fair, the book itself was even more embarrassing (I wrote it as a twelve year old and my parents pressured me to self publish it). So I would say the cover is actually the best thing I did in that whole situation.
That actually doesn't look too bad. Not "WOW!", but certainly respectable. It's simple, well-composed and eye-catching. And lordamercy. The Intrepid Monkey? This is a thing? That, like, exists in real life? Not something from a joke article in Mad Magazine or something?
Wow my eyes have been opened. I know I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I instantly want to pick these 'classics' up.
