Hey guys! So, I was originally going to write a post about plot elements. Here’s the thing. I started writing it. I actually wrote three pages. And then I realized that I was only talking about exposition. So……. My post on plot elements will likely have to be three or four separate posts. I think that will be its own series. We may do that one next. Or we’ll do the How to Build Your Own Character series next. I don’t know. We’ll finish this one and then see how it goes. So instead I’m going to write about cover designing. There’s some cool things to know about it. Here we go:
Getting Started: Cover Designing
Okay. So, I’ve already written a post on picking a title. If you don’t know what I’m talking about because you’re only here for the getting started series then here’s the link. Go and read the choosing a title post. Anyway, if you’re writing a book with the intention of getting published and/or your writing it on a writing site. Then you’re going to need a cover. The title is important. But the cover design in also important. If a reader thinks the title on the spine of the book looks interesting that next thing they’re going to do it look at the cover. If the cover also doesn’t grab their interest than 9 times out of 10 they will PUT THE BOOK BACK! A good cover is more important than a lot of writers give it credit for. I wish that someone had told me that back when I was a new writer and had no idea what I was doing. As a reader I can attest that if the title sounds awesome and I look at the cover and it had a mermaid on it I’m not going to read it. I don’t like mermaid books. If the book isn’t about mermaids than that author just lost out on a reader because of a cover that doesn’t match its contents. Sometimes covers are intentionally misleading. There’s a fine line between a good cover, a bad cover, and a great cover.
I don’t know about any of the other writers out there but I’m always confused as to which is which. To get a good cover for your books here are three steps that you can do.
One) Find a cover designer and request a custom made cover for your book.
About 70% of my book covers are done this way. Back when I first started writing I started in a small little notebook in my elementary school class. I didn’t worry about covers or publishing or readers. I was mostly writing it because it was fun to have my teacher read the stories to the class and have everyone in the class enjoy them and ask me what happened next. I loved writing the next chapter during the week and shooing my friends away who wanted to get a peak at the next chapter before the Friday reading. But when I started writing online on a writing site that no longer exists called Figment, I needed a cover. I found a cover designer in a forum named Felicia. She made covers for other writers. So I requested a few. I loved her covers. They were always so fun to look at. Here’s a few examples.
Can you catch some of my different pen names over the years? Anyway, I really enjoyed her covers and some of them are really great. Some of these books I will never finish, others I will never show to anyone and some of been rewritten so many times that I don’t even know what they are anymore.
Two) Make the cover yourself.
Another way to have a good cover is to design one yourself. Personally I’m not a super great cover designer. I ended up with covers that the wording seemed obtrusive on the picture or the picture didn’t really fit the story. Some of my better ones were made with writing sites like lunapic, picmonkey or canva. Canva is great but it really works better if your willing to pay to have a membership. Me, not willing to do that so I tend to use a combination of all three to edit my covers now. Here’s a progression of my covers.
Three) Do a combination of both.
Sometimes I will request a custom cover of a cover designer and then make my own. Usually after that I take both covers to readers that I know. For me its my family and some of my friends. I show them all the different covers and have them vote on their favorites. After that I trust the majority decision and that’s the cover I use. No one will know which cover a reader will like better than another reader.
That’s really all I have to say about cover designing. Sometimes you can do it yourself and sometimes you can’t. It’d fun to make covers and sometimes the covers will be remade in the process. There are several good book series that, when they have gone through republishing, have had new covers made. This doesn’t make the new covers bad and the old ones good or vice versa. It just makes the covers different. As long as their not covers after the book had been made into a movie. Movie covers are not cool. Especially when the movie sucked. Looking at you Percy Jackson movies. Looking at you.
Anyway, that’s all I have to say on covers. That post felt like it took forever. Probably because I couldn’t find my covers. Panic searching for a good 20 minutes there. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this weeks post. I think that next weeks post will be on taking a new idea and turning it into a story. I don’t know how we’re going to do that but its going to be super fun. So as always,
Get Up, Get Writing, and Get Published. See you next week!