Cover Story - No More Bad Covers

It has been a long standing tradition of independent publishing that lousy book covers were the norm. So many authors shunned investing any money in their covers that they doomed themselves to ridicule (at best) or obscurity. While it might not necessarily be prudent to judge a book by its cover, all too often it was a safe bet that a crappy cover meant crappy writing. Potential readers chuckled and moved on.

In defense of the mass of indie authors who chose low quality covers, the big stumbling block to a quality cover was price. Spending five hundred to a thousand dollars on a cover for a book that would be exceptionally lucky to earn $100 for the author was an investment most chose not to make. When I scored a cover for my novel for $200, I was psyched. But I'm here to tell you today that everyone can have a professional looking cover for $200 or even much less.

I was relating my tale of book cover design woe (which I'll share in a later post) with my friend and fellow indie author, Terry Green, the other day. She informed me that there's a group of illustrators who are targeting the hordes of indie authors with inexpensive covers. The trick is for the book cover designers to whip up a mock book cover which they will then turn around and sell to the first author to throw money down. Of course, the cover has to match your story. It would really be inappropriate to slap a scantily clad woman's ass on the cover of your "Dirty Dozen in space" novel, but someone's going to do it because sex sells.

Neither Terry nor I have worked with any of these designers, nor are we endorsing them. But when an indie author can get a cover for their book for less than $50, how can he/she pass it up. Without further ado, here's the list:

• Author Marketing Club
• CCR Book Cover Design
• Go On Write
• Kalen O'Donnell
• Littera Designs
• Phycel Designs

Indie authors no longer have excuses for bad covers. And with the money you save, you can hire an editor to proofread your work.

Thanks again to Terry Green for sharing these links with me (and now our blog readers).

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