I’m a little freaked out by this topic.
If I’m going to self-publish, I need to come up with a cover. I recently uncovered a post of seriously bad book covers on Tumblr.
http://lousybookcovers.tumblr.com/page/5
Oh, god, oh god. I DO NOT want my book to look like that!
I have actually had two nightmares now about this. I have some sketches with my brother-in-law who is a photoshop genius, so I believe I’m in good hands. I know enough to thank him for his time, even pay him a little, and NOT use whatever he comes up with if it’s really not what I want. I sent him this link to look at for ideas what not to do. I’m still a little freaked out.
Why? Why am I having nightmares about getting a bad book cover? If I’m publishing the thing, that means I get to pick the cover. If it’s ugly, I say, “Hm, no thanks.” I have that power. I have joined a group of independent authors on facebook, and they have lovely book covers and have happily supplied the contact info for the artists they used. If my brother-in-law can’t give me something good, I have a nice list of low-cost alternatives.
I think I’m having nightmares about bad book covers because I’m afraid of failing. To me, a book cover is a huge part of why I buy a book. I know the old adage, all of us do, but it doesn’t change the fact that we do base our buying decisions partly on what a product looks like. That includes books. If something has a crappy cover, I don’t look at it all that hard. I doubt any of us do.
So the bad dreams are a product of my fear. There’s that word again. When does an author stop being afraid?
More specifically, when do I get to stop being afraid?
When I succeed, I suppose. And even though I fear, and even though I am procrastinating (a lot, thank you), I still intend to do this thing. And I still intend to keep researching marketing techniques, and keep trying them, and keep pushing this thing until it goes BLADOW! Even if I can only manage the courage to push it sometimes, and push it hard only once in a while, I will still push it. It will eventually go KABLAMO!
Maybe then the nightmares of failure will go away. Maybe.
Try stock images with no copyrights. I look at DeviantArt a lot for those. They’re 100% generic to your title, but that works too. Hope this helps… And thank you for the follow!
THanks for thesite tip! My fellow indies on my facebook group have suggested many sites, including one of freelancers where you describe what you want, offer a price, and whoever is good with that price does you a cover and you select from all those who offer and pay that one. More resources are good resources, though!
I think all writers have issues with fear in some way, so you’re not alone there! And I’m sure your book cover is going to be spectacular 😀
Thanks for the reminder. I think anyone anywhere experiences some fear sometimes. The night cook at my restaraunt wants to open his own place someday, and he’s scared too. We talk about our respective dreams sometimes and that helps. Keep going forward is the only answer! And get an awesome cover. 😉
OMG they are some SERIOUSLY bad covers on that link. My particular favourite is the yeti.
I think you know what the bad ones look like, and you could always post what you’re thinking of using on your blog and let your readers decide or pass comment.
I’m sure you’ll pick a good one.
The yeti was great, right? I think “Lumberjack Love” was my favorite. Or the crayon one with the dolphin jumping up the rainbow. After I got over my shock and fear, I had a pretty good laugh at those. 🙂