Ask the Book Doctor: About Book Covers and Free Feedback
Q: My book is being edited and will be soon be ready to be printed. Being short on cash, how can I put a nice cover on it as cheaply as possible? I don’t expect it to be on a bestseller list, but I do want it to be more advanced than my first attempt.
A: You are wise to be concerned about the cover. The cover often is the only thing that sells a book. If the cover looks bad, few people will buy the book, no matter how well written the contents may be. As in editing, the cover is not a place where you want to scrimp.
If you don’t want the cover to look cheap, don’t be cheap. That is, pay someone, even if it is only a design student, to design a book cover properly and well. Don’t create your own artwork for it unless you’re an accomplished artist. Don’t use the artwork of one of your children unless the book is a children’s book.
Getting the front, back, and spine looking professional takes much more work and knowledge than most non-designers can imagine, plus the file must be compatible with the printer’s equipment. Unless you have a design program, know how to use it, and have studied design, I don’t recommend designing a book cover yourself. If you want the cover to look professional, hire a professional to do it.
Barring hiring a pro, you can use one of the self-publishing companies that offers cover design as part of a printing package. You can check the Internet for such companies and see if they offer any covers that appeal to you at a price that is satisfactory, or you can surf the Web for cover designers and pick one with the best price. Through the miracle of the Internet your designer can be anywhere in the world and send the files to you electronically. Be sure to check out some of the lower priced book design companies in India, too.
Self Publishing Advisor 
And since it is mentioned in the post, I thought I will leave a plug for my company. Pothi.com (http://pothi.com) provides all the services required for book preperation including cover design, illustrations, typesetting and others. Check out the services here – http://pothi.com/pothi/writerservices . You can get in touch with me if you need to discuss further (abhaga @twitter).
I agree that the extra money is worth a good cover. I have attempted to make my own cover, and it was awful. I didn’t publish with it, thank goodness. But I have learned the value of getting someone who knows how to do covers. And ever since I have been using custom covers (instead of the templates with a picture inserted into a box), I have been getting lots of compliments from people that they love my covers. That doesn’t mean they always buy the book but I do know that the covers are getting their attention. And that is where you start.
My book, ‘The Mandolin Case’ is due out in 2010. I’d love any comments as to book cover design ideas. See today’s post 12 7 09.
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