Self-publishing has become easy and viable for many authors.
Even mid-list and best-selling authors are self-publishing either new books or
books from their backlist. Choosing cover art, which is something most of us have
little experience in, is suddenly a crucial decision we have to make. In the
midst of all the other new techniques we have to learn it can be more than a
bit intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Ideally you’ll want to hire a
graphic designer, but finances being what they are that might not be possible.
With a little practice you can design your own covers. Here are a few tips to
help you on the way.
Once I’ve written a synopsis and have a fairly good idea of
the story, I start searching the stock photo sites for images I think will work
for a cover. There are a lot of stock photo sites out there. Some of them are
insanely expensive, while others are reasonably priced. The most I’ve ever paid
for a cover photo is $70, but most are somewhere around $30. If your cover will
be figural it’s a good idea to find photos that look as close to your characters
as possible. Obviously, if you’re self-publishing you can base your characters
on the photo. Even when I traditionally publish, I attach any stock photos I
like with the art form from the publisher. It’s a bit of a crapshoot, but
they’ve used it more than once, and it certainly can’t hurt. A lot of writers
use celebrity photos for inspiration, but to me, stock photos make more sense
as you can actually use those pictures if need be. If you’re working with an
artist, keep in mind when looking at the pictures that a good cover artist can
change such things as hair and eye color, and even skin color within a certain
range. Tattoos can be added or removed (though I understand removing can be a
bit of a pain). It’s more important to convey the proper mood and concept of
the story than to have exact representations of your characters.
Size: The vendor sites are requiring absolutely
huge files these days, but you also must keep in mind that the first time a
reader sees your cover it might literally be the size of a postage stamp. That
being the case, it’s a good idea to use clear, crisp images. Highly cluttered
images don’t read well, especially when reduced down to microscopic sizes. I
always open a picture in Photoshop and look at it as small as possible to get a
good idea of how it will look on the vendor site.
Orientation: This
would seem to be a no-brainer, but I’ve seen some covers made with horizontal
images. This just looks…wrong. Most of the stock sites will let you search with
a filter for orientation. This limits the frustration of finding the perfect
image with the wrong orientation. A good artist can do some cropping, but it’s
best (and cheaper) to start with a good image to begin with.
Color: This is just a personal observation, but dark
colors don’t seem to “read” as well on the vendor site as brighter colors.
Obviously, if your book is a dark police procedural with serial killers and
whatnot you’re probably not going to go with bright pinks and yellows, but you
might want to add some lighter colors so the image “pops” more visually.
Fonts: Some beginners make major mistakes as it
pertains to fonts. There are a lot of fonts out there and it’s easy to get
caught up in all types of funky designs and special effects. That is not a good
idea. It looks amateurish and it’s unreadable when your cover is the size of a
postage stamp. Stick to one or two crisp and easy to read fonts. If you’re
going to have two fonts on a cover they should be opposites, for instance, a
nice traditional serif font with a script font is usually a safe bet.
These tips should help you calm any qualms you have about
choosing a cover that’s perfect for the book you’ve worked so hard on.
***
Roslyn Hardy Holcomb is the author of the best-selling novel Rock Star. Her most recent books are: Hot for Teacher, Dark Star and Pussycat Death Squad The Lion in Russia. She grew up in North Alabama and currently lives in the Atlanta area with her husband and two young sons.
Leave a comment below for your chance to win a copy of Roslyn's most recent book, Pussycat Death Squad The Lion in Russia.
4 comments:
what a tedious process! glad my step-daughter is quite the artist!
Thanks for introducing me to stock photo sites. I never knew how you went about that. So far, of the two covers I've designed, I didn't need a person. I think I'd consider it more in my next one, whenever that's written! Writer’s Mark
Great advice. I'm not there yet, but I've wondered the specifics of the process. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I am definitely going to come back to this when I complete my latest. I was thinking about getting an illustrator, but stock photos may actually work in this case.
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