Judge A Book By Its Cover

You can’t judge a book by its cover, except when you can.

If your book cover looks like this:

I’d bet big money not many people are going to read it.

But if your book looks like it should be on the NY Times Bestseller list,  it very well may get picked up!

Invest in your book cover. My IRL friend and illustrator Heather Dent did the cover art for Re’and. Doesn’t it look epic!? (Her services come highly recommended!)

If you are still looking for an illustrator, I also suggest using sites like Elance.com or Fiverr.com to find freelance artists and designers.

Of course, cover art is only half of the book cover battle. Both the digital and print copies of your book need unique cover files. KDP, my publisher, provided extensive tutorials on how to create a Kindle book cover. CreateSpace did the same for print copies. The nice thing about KDP and CreateSpace is both offer a cover design function, so if you really are starting from scratch you can use their templates and tools. You cover may not be custom, but it will be serviceable.

Truthfully, I’m still wrestling with the book cover for Re’and. A friend and fellow blogger has graciously agreed to help me work out the last niggly details of book cover design. Launch Day is just over three weeks away so I am getting a bit nervous. I’m committed to making my October 30th deadline, even if it means I produce an imperfect book cover and revise later. (You may find in your self-publishing journey, especially if you’re new and on a tight budget as I am, that you have to accept a certain amount of imperfection.)

I’m a bit nervous sharing this part of the process as I figure it out in real time. Just keeping it real around here, the Victoria way. That’s the joy of learning together, right? Right? In any case, I hope to have a detailed update for you soon!

Part of 31 Days to Self-Publishing A Book.