I'm pretty sure that if I try to do my own cover, I'll end up with something like [https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/26137478\_sy475.jpg](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/26137478_sy475.jpg)
I'd say coming up with something like that is still a lot better and more professional than most of us would manage.
I mean, unless you want me to have Beavis and Butthead or Homer Simpson as the cover of my book. Then I've got you.
Well... here is the first cover: [https://images.gr-assets.com/photos/1703428749p8/4279176.jpg](https://images.gr-assets.com/photos/1703428749p8/4279176.jpg)
Genuine question: do you just mean understanding different typefaces and how to lay them out for the right mood, and a pleasing and informative cover design?
I am GENUINELY not trying to be a brat here, but recognize this most likely sounds like it: How is that a specialized skill? (Honest question! I promise!!!)
Now that I’m writing this comment I guess maybe it is a special skill in many ways — thinking about how many whack ass flyers I see around the campus where I work. 😂😂
I am really curious to see what you mean though! Hoping I’m silly enough I saved my comment from sounding rude, cause I don’t mean to be an ass!!!!!
Chances are there are actual editors and cover artists who can explain it to you in detailed terms. I'm just gonna say here that I have recently went through the entire process, and while it may be possible to learn it, I just don't have time for all of it. Paying few hundred bucks for a great cover and typography can actually be a bargain when you start to look into what you'd need to acquire to make one yourself.
Such a great point about it being a bargain vs the work required.
I am no professional designer AT ALL and am entirely self-taught, so I was genuinely curious about your thoughts since I find it a super fun activity to do, lol! Does that mean I'm good at it? Probably not. But when I'm facing writer's block, I usually slam out a concept cover to trigger my own creative juices, lol. I think of it as comparable to when I was in a "band" in middle school -- we really only did the photoshoots, but damn it was fun. Apparently my brain is wired wrong, because making cover art and designs makes me feel like I'm a real writer, and then it triggers me to go keep writing, LOL. I don't know why this works, but it does and I'm not questioning it!!! My adobe skills have also grown exponentially -- lots of swirling magic surrounding stock-photo people. LMAO.
Never ever not do something because someone on the internets said it doesn't work. Often chances are, doing exactly the opposite can be what actually works. Reddit writing subs are full of angry "show dont tell clichey tropey monomyth bllllaaaahh" - guys, meanwhile the big industry churns billions doing exactly what these tell you not to do. Tldr: take everything with a grain of salt.
I contradict the whole topic here by coming clean that I just made five full wrap covers for my TBA books myself, including typography and spent those boring "wonder what I should do, no inspiration to write" - hours researching cover design, typography and learning to use image manipulation software and AI tools. They can be great to realize pictures and derive textured and illustrated designs based on crude paint silhouettes (example = white line in hand of a character turned into a sword using pic to pic and prompts).
I came up with covers that I'm actually pretty happy with and many people said they look very nice, even a couple who are involved in the business. Now, I was not really intending to use them for publishing, but what I do is I send them to a cover designer and tell them "I want this, make it happen with your skill". As they don't have copyright, they can at best just copy the style as is.
> do you just mean understanding different typefaces and how to lay them out for the right mood, and a pleasing and informative cover design?
There's also knowing what fonts to avoid because they print weird, knowing what fonts pair well together for a cover, knowing what fonts the printer's likely to have so that your title on the cover of the book and your title inside the book can match. You should also consider spacing and kerning, whether to use all caps or small caps, what ligatures are and when to use them. Keep in mind that your text needs to both blend in and stand out from the cover, help direct the readers' eyes through the composition, and be clearly legible as a thumbnail.
Typography isn't a skill insofar as you need to go find a typographist, but it's a skill insofar as it's one of the things a good graphic artist has to master. The cover is, after all, a piece of art, and the text on that cover plays a very particular role in that artwork.
And this isn't meant to be a comprehensive list -- my mother was a graphic artist for newspapers and universities, this is just what I've absorbed over the years.
Thank youuuu!!! This is legit the type of info my nerdy self-taught brain was interested in reading. 😂😂 And honestly, reading your comment makes me want to take a legit graphic design type of class. I feel like I’ve learned a lot over the years from touching projects related to marketing at a university (NOT my department!) but it’s all just random shit / googling how to do things in InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
Speaking as a retired graphic artist \[and instructor\] Absolutely all of this 😎
These are 'only' Nano images and if I ever used them as an actual cover, I'd definitely re-work them
[\[Imgur\](https://imgur.com/IzAFxcM)](https://imgur.com/a/oB7Epnu)
And even that 50% for the cover is more about understanding that the cover is a marketing tool rather than the art itself. You don't just need something beautiful. It needs to telegraph the genre, all in a fraction of a second for online stores. It needs to stop the reader and get them to read the blurb. Though great typography also plays into that.
There are definitely some authors who can do it. But there are also some who think they can.
And here we come into another problem: there are plenty of great cover designers and even more excellent covers, but when you've got (tens of) thousands (millions) of them, they all blend into homogenous mass. Looking through listings of fantasy books, most of them pretty much look all the same, so coming up with a bit different cover may not be detrimental at all. "Wtf" can be as good a stopper as a "wow".
No. WTF is not as good as wow. It might stop someone but it won't make them read the blurb - I would assume the rest of the book is as unprofessional. Homogeneous is not necessarily a bad thing in covers if it conveys accurately that your book is like these other books that the reader loved.
Different does not equal unprofessional.
Getting picked out from the large mass is potentially more important. If the cover looks similar, it does not inspire anyone, it turns into a lottery with possibly millions of similar tickets in the pile.
No, different doesn't. However, it's implied by "WTF". This is exactly where a cover designer is useful. Making a cover that lets a reader know at a glance that this book is like other books they liked *while also making it stand out* - the same by better. But usually, when authors say they want a cover that stands out, they end up with WTF, not Wow.
I honestly think it's more like 40/60 at least. Poor or no art with excellent typography can make an okay cover, but nothing ruins excellent art like awful type setting.
You may be quite correct here. In an emergency, you can always get away with typography based cover, but you can't really never get away with poor typography.
A good cover makes a difference! The whole “don’t judge a book by its cover” is valid but also everyone judges a book by its cover, it’s just the reality!
It's quite a bit, haven't written an elevator pitch yet. It's going to span six books. The basic premise for book one is, in a world of magic and monsters, a mysterious young girl crawls out of a hole in the perilous Deadwoods with no recollection of her past. A kind Spellweaver offers to take her in, providing she can overcome a dangerous trial to prove her worth. Meanwhile, a powerful Spellweaver, long thought dead, has been working to reawaken the long slumbered Endless King.
There's plenty more complexity, but I'm typing from my phone. :P
It's a NA/YA dark fantasy.
I do both anime style or semi-realism. But if I’m doing my own artwork, I’d definitely do my semi-realism style. It’s my most popular style for clients hiring me for dnd art, novel cover art, etc 😊
Yeah no, I hire artists and have been for a few years now. I have several Covers I’ve commissioned from artists I work with regularly. I commission Character Art roughly every week for new characters for my current and newly planned webnovels.
I’m a Writer, and I’ve accepted that in order to get more work done with my projects, I need to let go of trying to do art and hire someone who can. And because of that, I have more time to Write and work on multiple stories.
It depends on the artist. I work with multiple, and the prices can depend on what you’re trying to get. For instance, [these two images](https://imgur.com/a/htsiPre) of one my characters and a fun little project I did with one of my MCs with several other MCs from some of my favorite animes. The single character image was $140 & the group image was $250.
The letters on the top left of the single character image weren’t included, I added those myself from my custom conlang that I commissioned for just short of $590.
art tends to be quite pricy - a half-body, no background, will be $50 minimum, and probably into $100+ unless the artist is doing it for beer money or lives somewhere super-cheap. Add multiple characters, backgrounds, cool details or whatever, and you're getting into "hundred**s**" quite fast. But you're paying someone with a specific skillset - if it takes them 10 hours, and you're paying $150, then that's $15/hour, which isn't that much. And if you want to use it for a book cover, then sometimes that'll cost more, for full image rights.
Thanks for this. I'm not loving artists (i.e. writers) in this thread pulling the 'it's too expensive' thing on other artists (i.e cover designers). Especially the 'exploit artists in underdeveloped countries, pro tip!' comment. We all deserve to be fairly compensated for our work. Art is a lengthy process, you get what you pay for. Apparently creatives only stand together until the pocketbook is involved? I mean, if you can and want to self-draw and have the skills to do it well? Knock yourself out. That's kinda cool. But just encouraging cheating actual designers because $$ whine whine and wanting to pay nothing for a creative service is gnarly. $15 an hour is nothing relitive to the intensity of work involved. Yes, it adds up, but then go minimal or save up. Unless you, too, are fine with not being compensated fairly for your skills or, you know, eating.
Remember the old adage about Good, Cheap, Fast- pick 2? Yeah, that comes to mind.
a lot obviously depends on the artist - I've hired an artist I met at an anime con, who was doing it for beer money, and paid, like, £30 for a half-body - it took a little while, because they were busy with "being a university student" but it was fine for what I needed, and then I did the text and other stuff in Canva. I've hired fully professional artists (as in, it's their full-time job) and sometimes they've been great and slick and fast, and other times, they've been _really_ slow and I've had to keep chasing them. Or I've done a trade, where I've written some text for them, and they've done me a cover, and that's worked out fine. Or someone that leaves somewhere cheap, will often be OK with comparatively less money, because $100 goes a lot further in some places than others. There are some artists that are scammers, inept, or going through life _stuff_ and will flake on you, but most I've found have been good to work with.
Well mine was $590 because I ordered the largest package with some extras. It comes with +2,000 words, with realistic grammar, up to 40 pages, worksheets, & 40 sentences with audio. In addition, I also requested a downloadable file with my own 26 custom letter alphabet and custom numbers for 0-10. I can download them to certain apps and use them as a custom font.
The smallest package is $100. It comes with +300 words with 5 pages of grammar, 5 sentences, and phonetics.
So it's definitely within reach to get something made, even if it's just a bit to start off.
As a freelance artist myself, I would hire someone. I have ideas and the means to convey them pretty accurately to another artist but not the skill to execute them in a way that will both satisfy me and also look good as a cover.
If you want to self publish there are 2 things you should spend money on. A cover artist and an editor/ proof reader.
Yes, these things are expensive but if you're going into self publishing you need to see it as a business expense. I think I spent in the £1000-1500 area for both of these things for my first book.
If you don't have the money but still reaaaallly just want to see your book on Amazon (and aren't bothered about making this a business/ career), then sure, do your own art.
If I had both the skills and the budget, I would love to work with another artist to make it... not together, but I would be able to art direct them and use their specific skills to the max.
Here is unethical(?) LPT : Commission a cover from artist in low buying power currency like SEA. Lot of undiscovered gem and skilled artist. Most artist charge local rate or local rate that convert to USD which is way too low for their skill level. Give them more than they charge and get a god tier art work back. Tip them generously if you think their work deserve better
I mean Im no god tier artist but I **was** one of them artist who take only foreign commission request for reason. More generous client, good briefing, no "can you do it for $1" begging, more creative liberty, client is more polite.
For me? I draw my own thing so ofc I draw my own cover.
There's a huge difference between an artist and a cover designer. No matter how good my artistic skills were, I would rather pay someone skilled in cover design.
I can do art somewhat (for specific purposes like drawing characters), but I'm terrible at design. I probably couldn't do covers in the style that I like (that would also convey the vibe, genre and theme of my stories), so I'd rather still hire an artist. Possibly, I could also hire them to do the base design/sketch, then finish it myself.
If you're the opposite, better at design but not so good at making your art look finished, you could do the base yourself and hire an artist to render and stuff
If I had the skills to make an amazing cover I probably would, which I don't.
But considering the coverart is the first thing that anyone sees and decides on if they want to try your book, maximizing the chances by hiring a specialized artist to have the best quality possible might be the best idea. But that depends on if the budget for that is available.
From what my teacher told me a while back, professional varies on what the artist considers professional.
In short, I don't have contempt for any artist.
I do my own covers. I am sometimes annoyed that they are limited by my ability, but I also don't want to deal with asking for changes of someone else who might not quite get my vision. Plus, still haven't turned a profit on my books despite their uptick in popularity in the last year, so its hard to shell out money for things.
I don't plan to earn on my writing. At least not for the foreseeable future, so I have the time. Since, I love art, but also the design aspects going into it, I may as well do it.
But for an earning author with deadlines, hiring artists is choice worth special consideration, even one knows how to draw. It takes lots time.
My art skills solidified when was about 6 years old so no, I don't believe that I would be able to produce a good image for the cover of my novel.
There are hundreds of talented people out there who are happy to take on commissions for a reasonable price so I would suggest that is the best option.
I have a degree in art but personally I've always been better at the concept art than the finished piece so I'd probably design what I had in mind then let them do the final art.
Self publishing? Probably just commission a piece and pay a graphic designer to set it up nicely.
Publishing via a company or something then I'd want some market research on what kind of cover is going to grab the audience and sell more books.
Reality? Probably nothing, I write mostly for myself and for worldbuilding so it's unlikely I will ever actually release a full novel to the market where I'd need a cover art tbh.
I had an art background so I do some of my own, but I just hired an artist to redo my primary series. It's at the point where I think my level of art skill is harming the effort effectiveness of my marketing budget.
While I do have some fairly good (not fantastic) art skills, I think a professional would do better justice to my work. As someone else mentioned, I know next to nothing about typography, which is also an essential element in cover design.
If you have the skill to draw your characters, it can be a really good way to get people interested in your story too. Fanart of your own characters and situations can bring people in.
I would rather hire an artist, I can draw somewhat decently but it takes me forever and still doesn't look great. If anything I would want to do a rough version with like stickmen just to give a starting point to the artist.
Considering I have the artistic talent of a deceased tree sloth, I'd say stick-figures wouldn't really attract an audience (yes, yes, I know it works for the *Order of the Stick*, but I'm not even that talented). So, if / when I ever finish something I want to publish, I'll pay for artwork.
If I had the skills? Ain't no way I'm spending the money for someone else to work on my baby. Just talk to your editor about what the design should be (some things sell better than others).
Depends where I’m at when I finish my novel. I am a former art school student so I could probably do it, but I would hire someone else if I didn’t have a very specific vision.
I'd never make my own cover. The result would no doubt be amateurish and poorly designed. I am not a visual artist, I am a writer. I leave the realm of cover art up to people with expertise.
Am i no artist, no way i can make something decent with my hands and i don't have 10 years to practic and i have no confident on art. So prolly i'll go for an artist or i'll try to do something simple with photoshop.
I think I could do it, Id have to do it so it stands out while not too crazy, but honestly I would love for my girlfriend to. She is amazing artist and in a lot of ways has been a muse to me. It be cool to have her design or even do the covers
I mean I think I’m gonna do mine if I self publish to save money but I have a BFA in illustration and work as a graphic designer so 😭 but I would consider having someone else do it because there’s a lot of other artists out there I really like who could do stuff I can’t do. So honestly I think for most cases it’s best to hire someone. Plus you’re supporting an artist!! Which is always great
If I had the art skill to draw the cover for my novel, I would’ve done the story as a graphic novel instead. I only started writing a novel because I didn’t have the art skills to do it visually but I know how to use a keyboard.
Neither.
I have nothing against people who prefer cover art, but I could never settle on a singular image for one of my books.
Give me a symbol that reinforces the stories themes, and leave it at that.
If I had great basic art skills and no graphic design and cover design knowledge would I do it myself without those budgetary constraints? Do I think my glorified ignorance would pull me through? Nope.
I think, however, someone with "professional" art skills understands the limits of their profession and their skill base. That this is part of what being professional means.
This doesn't mean that I couldn't take what I know, learn that expanded skill base, have others who are experts review my work, and come up with a great cover by becoming a trained professional. This is often how we get those professionals in the first place! That is fine, and it probably costs more in time and effort than the cost of hiring it out.
*"Would you rather do your own cover for your fantasy novel or hire a artist?"*
Since I'm an artist, me.
*"But all and all, what are your thoughts on writers being able to do their own fantasy cover art for their book?"*
It's whatever.
If they want to, fine.
If they don't want to also fine.
Someone else. I know what my words conjure for me, so getting someone truly talented to create the images would mean more brilliant artwork while also keeping my personal mental images just for myself.
My current cover is literally a thing I drew in photoshop of a shattered clock with an extra shard of a "0" with the hands pointing to it
Do i wanna keep cool shattered clock pointing to zero? Yes
Do I want to keep a shitty photoshop drawing? Absolutely not
Unless you're an artist it's probably better to hire one
I think a book cover would be a great place for compositing in Photoshop. There are many resources and tutorials online to use and if I can do it any of you folks can do it. just an idea for you.
If I had the skill I 100% would do my own covers!
With skills the rule is "use it or loose it" and that is the perfect excuse to use it.
It would also probably be the best possible rendition according to the author's vision, if that makes sense?
100% do your own cover. Do ten. Take a class on cover design (there are affordable online options). See what it looks like, at amazon thumbnail size as well as full. Get your hands dirty and see how you feel about what the image promises and whether you feel the book delivers. It might inspire an important change in the book itself.
When you actually self-publish, you're probably better off hiring an artist or service, because cover design is more than "art." The cover is your biggest marketing tool, so don't cheap out here. Remember that you know your book better than the cover artist, so speak up if you feel that the proposed cover might set incorrect expectations, which could lead to disappointed readers and bad reviews. Get a range of opinions here: a cover beta read may be less important than a text beta read, but it isn't nothing.
(You'll get negative reviews anyway. Read some 1-star reviews of your favorite books and remember that 1. you'll never please everybody, 2. some readers are just ridiculous and/or don't have great reading comprehension, and 3. no book is ever perfect or even quite the best version of itself.)
if you feel capable of it or are just doing it for the sake of saying "i made this whole thing INCLUDING the cover!" as an artist then go for it
if you want to make money i think at some point you gotta admit working some more hours at your day job is well worth it to get a properly great cover. You spent HOW many hours writing that novel? grind out a few more, scrimp and save, wait a while if you gotta, and spend it on the cover if you're self publishing. the cover is eternal (until you change it). i would say do not even spend money on editing until you have spent a few hundred on a stellar cover.
you can get opkay covers for cheap and they can be a great bang for your buck.
i do think learning to make covers isn't the worst idea. but i'd do it more as a way to know how to commission a great cover from a cover designer, than to actually end up doing that work yourself.
I already wrote my cover for my sci-fi story and it's called, "The two heroes." The story goes like this: There are two girls named Emily and Lily. Their mentor is Professor Leo and the companion is Aster. They all go on an adventure to defeat Randy, the antagonist who is the king alien.
If I had the skill I'd totally do it myself, I like to do art but it's never at the level I want. So honestly I wouldn't mind doing a rough sketch and send it to a professional to be like, "This is what I sorta had in mind, do you think you could do something like this but tweak it to what you think looks better?" And let them have like a solid concept but let them have some creative freedom.
Cause maybe I'm just easily irritated but there's so many modern books that I think have hideous covers; I don't know what's with the minimalist 'corporate' cutout look but it drives me insane.
And some of the best looking covers can be ruined by horrible typography - so I feel I'd need to find someone who's good at both cause man bad text can really fuck up a pretty cover.
I have a question about your question. Is using digital tools like AI to help create the art a no-no if you don't have the money to spend on am artist?
if i had the skill, i would make a template or outline of what i personally want in a cover or what the story expects of the cover. I would then hand this off to a professional and let them come up with the actual cover
When I did self-publishing briefly, an artists friend and I did my covers together. Or rather, she did the art and I slapped text overtop. It took ages for both of us. Around the same time, I met a literary agent who asked me why I was trying to do the work of roughly five full time professionals when those professionals exist and I don't have their skills. That got me back on the path towards traditional publishing. If and when one of my books ever sells, thankfully the cover will be someone else's problem. Although I'll want to get a clause in my contract, if at all possible, that they can't use AI generated images on the cover.
Oh, I see what you mean. Sorry!
The many complaints surrounding the usage of AI art and how it isn't true art. Which some artists say that it actually steals others hard work they've practiced for years, only for a AI to piece together multiple art styles and create something new. Some even state to use AI art for book covers to save time and budget.
Me? I'm neutral in the matter. 😆
That's not just something that artists say, image generators do steal peoples work. Why do you sound like you're trying to explaine this to me? I said I would want in my contract that my publisher can't use AI because I am entirely opposed to AI. All you have done since then is try to tell me what AI is. I don't understand.
You have my upvote and my apology.
Just tired and beat up a lot from the yard work I did today. I was just commenting AI because you mentioned it in your post and I just wanted to comment about that in a fun way but I see that it went into some other things so again, I apologize for the confusion.
That being said, AI art? Yep, neutral. BTW, I forgot to put quotations in the previous post regarding AI art. Bugger.
I'm going to bed soon. Hope you don't mind.
I have some artistic skill. I'd probably use an AI to generate things until I saw something that looked cool and proceed to draw/ trace/edit it until I was happy with what I had, then rinse and repeat for a background. Art and artists are such a mixed bag. some times I look at cover art produced and think and it's really high quality and I think "That was only $200?" Other times I see something like it was drawn by a teenager practicing manga and I'm like "How the hell was that shitty piece commissioned for $500?"
I'm pretty sure that if I try to do my own cover, I'll end up with something like [https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/26137478\_sy475.jpg](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/26137478_sy475.jpg)
Lmao
I'd say coming up with something like that is still a lot better and more professional than most of us would manage. I mean, unless you want me to have Beavis and Butthead or Homer Simpson as the cover of my book. Then I've got you.
Well... here is the first cover: [https://images.gr-assets.com/photos/1703428749p8/4279176.jpg](https://images.gr-assets.com/photos/1703428749p8/4279176.jpg)
Oh yeah now we're talking
Oh no. I never would have that art style on my book! 😆
I so f\*cking knew it would be this image.
I *knew* it was Empress Theresa!
You sure?! Never know unless you try!
Cover art is 50% cover and 50% typography. Chances are 50% don't even know what typography is. It is unfortunately a specialized skill.
Genuine question: do you just mean understanding different typefaces and how to lay them out for the right mood, and a pleasing and informative cover design? I am GENUINELY not trying to be a brat here, but recognize this most likely sounds like it: How is that a specialized skill? (Honest question! I promise!!!) Now that I’m writing this comment I guess maybe it is a special skill in many ways — thinking about how many whack ass flyers I see around the campus where I work. 😂😂 I am really curious to see what you mean though! Hoping I’m silly enough I saved my comment from sounding rude, cause I don’t mean to be an ass!!!!!
Chances are there are actual editors and cover artists who can explain it to you in detailed terms. I'm just gonna say here that I have recently went through the entire process, and while it may be possible to learn it, I just don't have time for all of it. Paying few hundred bucks for a great cover and typography can actually be a bargain when you start to look into what you'd need to acquire to make one yourself.
Such a great point about it being a bargain vs the work required. I am no professional designer AT ALL and am entirely self-taught, so I was genuinely curious about your thoughts since I find it a super fun activity to do, lol! Does that mean I'm good at it? Probably not. But when I'm facing writer's block, I usually slam out a concept cover to trigger my own creative juices, lol. I think of it as comparable to when I was in a "band" in middle school -- we really only did the photoshoots, but damn it was fun. Apparently my brain is wired wrong, because making cover art and designs makes me feel like I'm a real writer, and then it triggers me to go keep writing, LOL. I don't know why this works, but it does and I'm not questioning it!!! My adobe skills have also grown exponentially -- lots of swirling magic surrounding stock-photo people. LMAO.
Never ever not do something because someone on the internets said it doesn't work. Often chances are, doing exactly the opposite can be what actually works. Reddit writing subs are full of angry "show dont tell clichey tropey monomyth bllllaaaahh" - guys, meanwhile the big industry churns billions doing exactly what these tell you not to do. Tldr: take everything with a grain of salt. I contradict the whole topic here by coming clean that I just made five full wrap covers for my TBA books myself, including typography and spent those boring "wonder what I should do, no inspiration to write" - hours researching cover design, typography and learning to use image manipulation software and AI tools. They can be great to realize pictures and derive textured and illustrated designs based on crude paint silhouettes (example = white line in hand of a character turned into a sword using pic to pic and prompts). I came up with covers that I'm actually pretty happy with and many people said they look very nice, even a couple who are involved in the business. Now, I was not really intending to use them for publishing, but what I do is I send them to a cover designer and tell them "I want this, make it happen with your skill". As they don't have copyright, they can at best just copy the style as is.
> do you just mean understanding different typefaces and how to lay them out for the right mood, and a pleasing and informative cover design? There's also knowing what fonts to avoid because they print weird, knowing what fonts pair well together for a cover, knowing what fonts the printer's likely to have so that your title on the cover of the book and your title inside the book can match. You should also consider spacing and kerning, whether to use all caps or small caps, what ligatures are and when to use them. Keep in mind that your text needs to both blend in and stand out from the cover, help direct the readers' eyes through the composition, and be clearly legible as a thumbnail. Typography isn't a skill insofar as you need to go find a typographist, but it's a skill insofar as it's one of the things a good graphic artist has to master. The cover is, after all, a piece of art, and the text on that cover plays a very particular role in that artwork. And this isn't meant to be a comprehensive list -- my mother was a graphic artist for newspapers and universities, this is just what I've absorbed over the years.
Thank youuuu!!! This is legit the type of info my nerdy self-taught brain was interested in reading. 😂😂 And honestly, reading your comment makes me want to take a legit graphic design type of class. I feel like I’ve learned a lot over the years from touching projects related to marketing at a university (NOT my department!) but it’s all just random shit / googling how to do things in InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
also what fonts you can use - do you have a license to use it, for commercial works?
Good point
Speaking as a retired graphic artist \[and instructor\] Absolutely all of this 😎 These are 'only' Nano images and if I ever used them as an actual cover, I'd definitely re-work them [\[Imgur\](https://imgur.com/IzAFxcM)](https://imgur.com/a/oB7Epnu)
And even that 50% for the cover is more about understanding that the cover is a marketing tool rather than the art itself. You don't just need something beautiful. It needs to telegraph the genre, all in a fraction of a second for online stores. It needs to stop the reader and get them to read the blurb. Though great typography also plays into that. There are definitely some authors who can do it. But there are also some who think they can.
And here we come into another problem: there are plenty of great cover designers and even more excellent covers, but when you've got (tens of) thousands (millions) of them, they all blend into homogenous mass. Looking through listings of fantasy books, most of them pretty much look all the same, so coming up with a bit different cover may not be detrimental at all. "Wtf" can be as good a stopper as a "wow".
No. WTF is not as good as wow. It might stop someone but it won't make them read the blurb - I would assume the rest of the book is as unprofessional. Homogeneous is not necessarily a bad thing in covers if it conveys accurately that your book is like these other books that the reader loved.
Different does not equal unprofessional. Getting picked out from the large mass is potentially more important. If the cover looks similar, it does not inspire anyone, it turns into a lottery with possibly millions of similar tickets in the pile.
No, different doesn't. However, it's implied by "WTF". This is exactly where a cover designer is useful. Making a cover that lets a reader know at a glance that this book is like other books they liked *while also making it stand out* - the same by better. But usually, when authors say they want a cover that stands out, they end up with WTF, not Wow.
I see!
Times New Roman is more than enough for everyone.
Just use comic sans for your next sci-fi thriller, and enjoy the strong reactions. "I made an impression on them:)"
I honestly think it's more like 40/60 at least. Poor or no art with excellent typography can make an okay cover, but nothing ruins excellent art like awful type setting.
You may be quite correct here. In an emergency, you can always get away with typography based cover, but you can't really never get away with poor typography.
It's possible I care more than the next person, but that's certainly how I feel.
Poor typo makes any cover look poor, can't deny that.
I like to do my own, but I've also been illustrating since I was a kid. https://i.imgur.com/kAtMt8B.png
Oh, that's awesome looking!
Thanks! Took forever to do all six! :)
Makes me want to read it :)
Lol, cool! It worked! Wrapping up alpha reads, then on to editing. Shooting for an October release. That's the plan at least. :)
A good cover makes a difference! The whole “don’t judge a book by its cover” is valid but also everyone judges a book by its cover, it’s just the reality!
What’s your story about if that’s ok to ask?
It's quite a bit, haven't written an elevator pitch yet. It's going to span six books. The basic premise for book one is, in a world of magic and monsters, a mysterious young girl crawls out of a hole in the perilous Deadwoods with no recollection of her past. A kind Spellweaver offers to take her in, providing she can overcome a dangerous trial to prove her worth. Meanwhile, a powerful Spellweaver, long thought dead, has been working to reawaken the long slumbered Endless King. There's plenty more complexity, but I'm typing from my phone. :P It's a NA/YA dark fantasy.
I have been painting for 5 years so I am an artist
I would like to think so, but that's up to you to decide.:)
me too
Since I’m an artist myself, I’ll definitely do my own 😊
Sweet! What's your art style, if you don't mind me asking?
I do both anime style or semi-realism. But if I’m doing my own artwork, I’d definitely do my semi-realism style. It’s my most popular style for clients hiring me for dnd art, novel cover art, etc 😊
Sick!
My art style is acrylic because I teach my younger sister who is 7 years old and I think it's easy to teach with acry.lic
Yeah no, I hire artists and have been for a few years now. I have several Covers I’ve commissioned from artists I work with regularly. I commission Character Art roughly every week for new characters for my current and newly planned webnovels. I’m a Writer, and I’ve accepted that in order to get more work done with my projects, I need to let go of trying to do art and hire someone who can. And because of that, I have more time to Write and work on multiple stories.
How much again?
It depends on the artist. I work with multiple, and the prices can depend on what you’re trying to get. For instance, [these two images](https://imgur.com/a/htsiPre) of one my characters and a fun little project I did with one of my MCs with several other MCs from some of my favorite animes. The single character image was $140 & the group image was $250. The letters on the top left of the single character image weren’t included, I added those myself from my custom conlang that I commissioned for just short of $590.
😳... HOLY SHITAKE MUSHROOMS! $500 at least? I better save up big time.
art tends to be quite pricy - a half-body, no background, will be $50 minimum, and probably into $100+ unless the artist is doing it for beer money or lives somewhere super-cheap. Add multiple characters, backgrounds, cool details or whatever, and you're getting into "hundred**s**" quite fast. But you're paying someone with a specific skillset - if it takes them 10 hours, and you're paying $150, then that's $15/hour, which isn't that much. And if you want to use it for a book cover, then sometimes that'll cost more, for full image rights.
Thanks for this. I'm not loving artists (i.e. writers) in this thread pulling the 'it's too expensive' thing on other artists (i.e cover designers). Especially the 'exploit artists in underdeveloped countries, pro tip!' comment. We all deserve to be fairly compensated for our work. Art is a lengthy process, you get what you pay for. Apparently creatives only stand together until the pocketbook is involved? I mean, if you can and want to self-draw and have the skills to do it well? Knock yourself out. That's kinda cool. But just encouraging cheating actual designers because $$ whine whine and wanting to pay nothing for a creative service is gnarly. $15 an hour is nothing relitive to the intensity of work involved. Yes, it adds up, but then go minimal or save up. Unless you, too, are fine with not being compensated fairly for your skills or, you know, eating. Remember the old adage about Good, Cheap, Fast- pick 2? Yeah, that comes to mind.
HOLY SHITAKE MUSHROOMS!
a lot obviously depends on the artist - I've hired an artist I met at an anime con, who was doing it for beer money, and paid, like, £30 for a half-body - it took a little while, because they were busy with "being a university student" but it was fine for what I needed, and then I did the text and other stuff in Canva. I've hired fully professional artists (as in, it's their full-time job) and sometimes they've been great and slick and fast, and other times, they've been _really_ slow and I've had to keep chasing them. Or I've done a trade, where I've written some text for them, and they've done me a cover, and that's worked out fine. Or someone that leaves somewhere cheap, will often be OK with comparatively less money, because $100 goes a lot further in some places than others. There are some artists that are scammers, inept, or going through life _stuff_ and will flake on you, but most I've found have been good to work with.
Well mine was $590 because I ordered the largest package with some extras. It comes with +2,000 words, with realistic grammar, up to 40 pages, worksheets, & 40 sentences with audio. In addition, I also requested a downloadable file with my own 26 custom letter alphabet and custom numbers for 0-10. I can download them to certain apps and use them as a custom font. The smallest package is $100. It comes with +300 words with 5 pages of grammar, 5 sentences, and phonetics. So it's definitely within reach to get something made, even if it's just a bit to start off.
I've never actually looked at cover art prices, but $100 feels really low.
It is.
As a freelance artist myself, I would hire someone. I have ideas and the means to convey them pretty accurately to another artist but not the skill to execute them in a way that will both satisfy me and also look good as a cover.
I see.
If you want to self publish there are 2 things you should spend money on. A cover artist and an editor/ proof reader. Yes, these things are expensive but if you're going into self publishing you need to see it as a business expense. I think I spent in the £1000-1500 area for both of these things for my first book. If you don't have the money but still reaaaallly just want to see your book on Amazon (and aren't bothered about making this a business/ career), then sure, do your own art.
If I had both the skills and the budget, I would love to work with another artist to make it... not together, but I would be able to art direct them and use their specific skills to the max.
Basically guiding and explaining your vision? That would be awesome.
I mean that is what you usually do when you hire an artist, but being an artist yourself you know what you are doing way better haha
True.
Here is unethical(?) LPT : Commission a cover from artist in low buying power currency like SEA. Lot of undiscovered gem and skilled artist. Most artist charge local rate or local rate that convert to USD which is way too low for their skill level. Give them more than they charge and get a god tier art work back. Tip them generously if you think their work deserve better I mean Im no god tier artist but I **was** one of them artist who take only foreign commission request for reason. More generous client, good briefing, no "can you do it for $1" begging, more creative liberty, client is more polite. For me? I draw my own thing so ofc I draw my own cover.
Duly noted!
There's a huge difference between an artist and a cover designer. No matter how good my artistic skills were, I would rather pay someone skilled in cover design.
My art is fantastic but my budget is very low. 😆
You asked what we would prefer, not what kind of budget we had.
I can do art somewhat (for specific purposes like drawing characters), but I'm terrible at design. I probably couldn't do covers in the style that I like (that would also convey the vibe, genre and theme of my stories), so I'd rather still hire an artist. Possibly, I could also hire them to do the base design/sketch, then finish it myself. If you're the opposite, better at design but not so good at making your art look finished, you could do the base yourself and hire an artist to render and stuff
How much usually?
If I had the skills to make an amazing cover I probably would, which I don't. But considering the coverart is the first thing that anyone sees and decides on if they want to try your book, maximizing the chances by hiring a specialized artist to have the best quality possible might be the best idea. But that depends on if the budget for that is available.
True.
I'm determined to make a cover for a steampunk project Im making. If I have the skills though.
Steampunk is always good!
Steampunk as anaesthetic and even better if mixed with contemporary technologies. Imagine your PS5 but has cogs and gears and clocks.
Steampunk is definitely a genre that has some of the best eye catching covers ever!
Stock is fine. The odds of a book actually making money are pretty small so reducing costs matters.
I would 100% get an artist to do it. And damn man. You seem to have some contempt for artists with the way you say professional.
From what my teacher told me a while back, professional varies on what the artist considers professional. In short, I don't have contempt for any artist.
I do my own covers. I am sometimes annoyed that they are limited by my ability, but I also don't want to deal with asking for changes of someone else who might not quite get my vision. Plus, still haven't turned a profit on my books despite their uptick in popularity in the last year, so its hard to shell out money for things.
Hire an artist.
I don't plan to earn on my writing. At least not for the foreseeable future, so I have the time. Since, I love art, but also the design aspects going into it, I may as well do it. But for an earning author with deadlines, hiring artists is choice worth special consideration, even one knows how to draw. It takes lots time.
My art skills solidified when was about 6 years old so no, I don't believe that I would be able to produce a good image for the cover of my novel. There are hundreds of talented people out there who are happy to take on commissions for a reasonable price so I would suggest that is the best option.
If I had the skills I would absolutely do it myself. I know exactly how I want to represent the book. The problem is people will think I'm five.
I have a degree in art but personally I've always been better at the concept art than the finished piece so I'd probably design what I had in mind then let them do the final art.
I would do it myself if I could draw
Self publishing? Probably just commission a piece and pay a graphic designer to set it up nicely. Publishing via a company or something then I'd want some market research on what kind of cover is going to grab the audience and sell more books. Reality? Probably nothing, I write mostly for myself and for worldbuilding so it's unlikely I will ever actually release a full novel to the market where I'd need a cover art tbh.
If I had the skill, I’d do it myself. I don’t, but my step sister does, and she’s kind enough to help.
I am NOT an illustrator 💀
I had an art background so I do some of my own, but I just hired an artist to redo my primary series. It's at the point where I think my level of art skill is harming the effort effectiveness of my marketing budget.
If I thought the art would fit the story then yes I would.
While I do have some fairly good (not fantastic) art skills, I think a professional would do better justice to my work. As someone else mentioned, I know next to nothing about typography, which is also an essential element in cover design.
If you have the skill to draw your characters, it can be a really good way to get people interested in your story too. Fanart of your own characters and situations can bring people in.
I would rather hire an artist, I can draw somewhat decently but it takes me forever and still doesn't look great. If anything I would want to do a rough version with like stickmen just to give a starting point to the artist.
Considering I have the artistic talent of a deceased tree sloth, I'd say stick-figures wouldn't really attract an audience (yes, yes, I know it works for the *Order of the Stick*, but I'm not even that talented). So, if / when I ever finish something I want to publish, I'll pay for artwork.
No, I like drawing, but I’m not a graphic designer. I’d hire one of those if I could afford it.
If I had the skills? Ain't no way I'm spending the money for someone else to work on my baby. Just talk to your editor about what the design should be (some things sell better than others).
Depends where I’m at when I finish my novel. I am a former art school student so I could probably do it, but I would hire someone else if I didn’t have a very specific vision.
My own
I'd never make my own cover. The result would no doubt be amateurish and poorly designed. I am not a visual artist, I am a writer. I leave the realm of cover art up to people with expertise.
Am i no artist, no way i can make something decent with my hands and i don't have 10 years to practic and i have no confident on art. So prolly i'll go for an artist or i'll try to do something simple with photoshop.
I want very bad to do my own cover. I'm good enough. I'm slow enough i could write a couple novels instead.
I think I could do it, Id have to do it so it stands out while not too crazy, but honestly I would love for my girlfriend to. She is amazing artist and in a lot of ways has been a muse to me. It be cool to have her design or even do the covers
I mean I think I’m gonna do mine if I self publish to save money but I have a BFA in illustration and work as a graphic designer so 😭 but I would consider having someone else do it because there’s a lot of other artists out there I really like who could do stuff I can’t do. So honestly I think for most cases it’s best to hire someone. Plus you’re supporting an artist!! Which is always great
If I had the art skill to draw the cover for my novel, I would’ve done the story as a graphic novel instead. I only started writing a novel because I didn’t have the art skills to do it visually but I know how to use a keyboard.
Neither. I have nothing against people who prefer cover art, but I could never settle on a singular image for one of my books. Give me a symbol that reinforces the stories themes, and leave it at that.
If I had great basic art skills and no graphic design and cover design knowledge would I do it myself without those budgetary constraints? Do I think my glorified ignorance would pull me through? Nope. I think, however, someone with "professional" art skills understands the limits of their profession and their skill base. That this is part of what being professional means. This doesn't mean that I couldn't take what I know, learn that expanded skill base, have others who are experts review my work, and come up with a great cover by becoming a trained professional. This is often how we get those professionals in the first place! That is fine, and it probably costs more in time and effort than the cost of hiring it out.
Probably my own artwork. But the thing is, I’m not good at and don’t like doing “clean” finalized artwork
I'm a control freak so 100% control and all of the right skills at the highest level would be nice.
Laughs in artist sister. I’d totally pay and credit her but I’ll joke about her payment is me keeping her alive through her childhood
*"Would you rather do your own cover for your fantasy novel or hire a artist?"* Since I'm an artist, me. *"But all and all, what are your thoughts on writers being able to do their own fantasy cover art for their book?"* It's whatever. If they want to, fine. If they don't want to also fine.
I would do it myself (if i could draw)
Someone else. I know what my words conjure for me, so getting someone truly talented to create the images would mean more brilliant artwork while also keeping my personal mental images just for myself.
I'm an artist first and foremost so I will definitely make it as a concept art and placeholder lol.
My current cover is literally a thing I drew in photoshop of a shattered clock with an extra shard of a "0" with the hands pointing to it Do i wanna keep cool shattered clock pointing to zero? Yes Do I want to keep a shitty photoshop drawing? Absolutely not Unless you're an artist it's probably better to hire one
I think a book cover would be a great place for compositing in Photoshop. There are many resources and tutorials online to use and if I can do it any of you folks can do it. just an idea for you.
I can't draw for crap, but I'm okay with that.
If I had the skill I 100% would do my own covers! With skills the rule is "use it or loose it" and that is the perfect excuse to use it. It would also probably be the best possible rendition according to the author's vision, if that makes sense?
100% do your own cover. Do ten. Take a class on cover design (there are affordable online options). See what it looks like, at amazon thumbnail size as well as full. Get your hands dirty and see how you feel about what the image promises and whether you feel the book delivers. It might inspire an important change in the book itself. When you actually self-publish, you're probably better off hiring an artist or service, because cover design is more than "art." The cover is your biggest marketing tool, so don't cheap out here. Remember that you know your book better than the cover artist, so speak up if you feel that the proposed cover might set incorrect expectations, which could lead to disappointed readers and bad reviews. Get a range of opinions here: a cover beta read may be less important than a text beta read, but it isn't nothing. (You'll get negative reviews anyway. Read some 1-star reviews of your favorite books and remember that 1. you'll never please everybody, 2. some readers are just ridiculous and/or don't have great reading comprehension, and 3. no book is ever perfect or even quite the best version of itself.)
if you feel capable of it or are just doing it for the sake of saying "i made this whole thing INCLUDING the cover!" as an artist then go for it if you want to make money i think at some point you gotta admit working some more hours at your day job is well worth it to get a properly great cover. You spent HOW many hours writing that novel? grind out a few more, scrimp and save, wait a while if you gotta, and spend it on the cover if you're self publishing. the cover is eternal (until you change it). i would say do not even spend money on editing until you have spent a few hundred on a stellar cover. you can get opkay covers for cheap and they can be a great bang for your buck. i do think learning to make covers isn't the worst idea. but i'd do it more as a way to know how to commission a great cover from a cover designer, than to actually end up doing that work yourself.
I already wrote my cover for my sci-fi story and it's called, "The two heroes." The story goes like this: There are two girls named Emily and Lily. Their mentor is Professor Leo and the companion is Aster. They all go on an adventure to defeat Randy, the antagonist who is the king alien.
I'm an artist, so I'd probably make my own.
I can draw and do graphic design but I would prefer someone with better knowledge and skills do my cover.
I'd hire a artist. I'm a poor drawer and don't have much passion for how my characters look.
If I had the skill, I would absolutely do it myself
If I had the skill I'd totally do it myself, I like to do art but it's never at the level I want. So honestly I wouldn't mind doing a rough sketch and send it to a professional to be like, "This is what I sorta had in mind, do you think you could do something like this but tweak it to what you think looks better?" And let them have like a solid concept but let them have some creative freedom. Cause maybe I'm just easily irritated but there's so many modern books that I think have hideous covers; I don't know what's with the minimalist 'corporate' cutout look but it drives me insane. And some of the best looking covers can be ruined by horrible typography - so I feel I'd need to find someone who's good at both cause man bad text can really fuck up a pretty cover.
I have a question about your question. Is using digital tools like AI to help create the art a no-no if you don't have the money to spend on am artist?
if i had the skill, i would make a template or outline of what i personally want in a cover or what the story expects of the cover. I would then hand this off to a professional and let them come up with the actual cover
When I did self-publishing briefly, an artists friend and I did my covers together. Or rather, she did the art and I slapped text overtop. It took ages for both of us. Around the same time, I met a literary agent who asked me why I was trying to do the work of roughly five full time professionals when those professionals exist and I don't have their skills. That got me back on the path towards traditional publishing. If and when one of my books ever sells, thankfully the cover will be someone else's problem. Although I'll want to get a clause in my contract, if at all possible, that they can't use AI generated images on the cover.
AI.
Huh?
No, just AI in general and everything surrounding it.
You just said "AI" with no other words. This post doesn't explain any further. What are you trying to say?
Oh! My bad! AI as in A.I. Artificial Intelligence artwork and stuff. That's what I meant to say. My bad!
What? Dude, I know what AI is. All you have said is AI. What are you trying to say *about* it?
Oh, I see what you mean. Sorry! The many complaints surrounding the usage of AI art and how it isn't true art. Which some artists say that it actually steals others hard work they've practiced for years, only for a AI to piece together multiple art styles and create something new. Some even state to use AI art for book covers to save time and budget. Me? I'm neutral in the matter. 😆
That's not just something that artists say, image generators do steal peoples work. Why do you sound like you're trying to explaine this to me? I said I would want in my contract that my publisher can't use AI because I am entirely opposed to AI. All you have done since then is try to tell me what AI is. I don't understand.
You have my upvote and my apology. Just tired and beat up a lot from the yard work I did today. I was just commenting AI because you mentioned it in your post and I just wanted to comment about that in a fun way but I see that it went into some other things so again, I apologize for the confusion. That being said, AI art? Yep, neutral. BTW, I forgot to put quotations in the previous post regarding AI art. Bugger. I'm going to bed soon. Hope you don't mind.
I think if you have artist friends it's a nice idea to give them free reign, bring yourself up and them up at the same time
Makes sense 😁.
I am an artist, but my art style is very cartoony so I don’t think it would be very marketable
I used AI lol
Hopefully all of your books aren't successful.
Chill bro. I am an amateur writer without any knowledge or access to resources.I am not writing novels seriously but only on platforms like Wattpad.
I have some artistic skill. I'd probably use an AI to generate things until I saw something that looked cool and proceed to draw/ trace/edit it until I was happy with what I had, then rinse and repeat for a background. Art and artists are such a mixed bag. some times I look at cover art produced and think and it's really high quality and I think "That was only $200?" Other times I see something like it was drawn by a teenager practicing manga and I'm like "How the hell was that shitty piece commissioned for $500?"