Cover Story: Should Writers Create Their Own E-Book Covers?

Today I'm pleased to bring you another guest post by MWB regular David Robinson.

David is a successful self-publishing author. In this post he addresses the question of whether writers can - or should - create their own e-book covers.

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Never judge a book by its cover. How old is that advice? How valid is it? The first point of contact we all have with many books is the cover, and getting it right can be a struggle.

As usual there is plenty of advice out there, and it usually runs like this:

• Ensure your cover reflects a scene from the book.
• Have your cover professionally prepared.
• Don't use cheap and tacky images manipulated on Photoshop.

I checked the Kindle bestsellers. With a few exceptions, the covers do NOT reflect a scene from the book. They may reflect the THEME, even the TITLE, but they do not indicate a single scene. In many instances, the covers are abstract.

This problem is perhaps less critical when it comes to selling non-fiction. Nick's book Start Your Own Home-based Business has a large question mark in the centre of the cover which, on closer inspection, looks like the interior of a house. It's attractive without being specific, and for me, that's what a cover should aim for. My own non-fiction title, E-book Formatting & Publishing on the Kindle, shows a screen shot of a Word document.

Can you apply this kind of abstract simplicity to novels? You can, and most authors/publishers do.

The cover of the first title in my Sanford Third Age Club (STAC) Investigates series, A Death at the Seaside, shows a seaside scene. It suggests a traditional British seaside summer holiday. The title does the rest. It does not relate to any particular scene from the novel, and it doesn't even relate to murder.

This image (along with all my covers) also broke the first two "rules". It was not professionally prepared, and it was done on Photoshop.

The background image from A Death at the Seaside was taken from a rooftop cafeteria in Bridlington using a Sony a200 DSLR camera and a 200mm lens. The original was manipulated on Photoshop to enrich the colours, and the shadow edges were added as a trademark of the Sanford Third Age Club Investigates series. Does it work? A Death at the Seaside is my bestseller.

Here's another example, from a series of sci-fi novels I'm planning for next year.

This, too, was prepared on Photoshop and it spells out exactly what the novel is: a sci-fi adventure. But how was it put together?

The background is a starfield which I downloaded from the web. I installed a lens flare on it, which I then altered to appear as the distant, yellow sun. The planet is an image of Uranus which I also downloaded from the web, and then manipulated to turn it emerald green and darken most of the disc. The asteroid landscape, which doesn't show up too well in such this small example, is a photograph I took when visiting the Mt Teide National Park, on Tenerife in the Canary Islands (below). The area is known for its almost lunar appearance.

I clipped this landscape from this picture, eliminating the sky, pasted it into place, and adjusted the lighting.

Even without titles, a potential reader looking at this thinks "sci-fi", and acts accordingly. Sci-fi lovers will look closer, sci-fi non-lovers will move on.

Cover artists will shout, "I could have done better," and they're probably right, but as an independent writer/publisher, I have economic considerations to take into account.

I checked out a number of artists, and their prices ranged from $100 to $1000. I'm not criticising those figures. Artists place a value on their time and skill and I would not question them, but I make, on average, $1 per title sold (as little 30ȼ on the cheaper titles, as much as $2 on the more expensive ones). Even at the lower end of the price list I would have to sell 100 copies just to break even. And that doesn't take account of editing costs, which I'm already paying out.

Realistically, to break even, I'd need to sell 200-300 copies if I used a bottom-end artist. At the top end, I'll have to sell 2000+ copies, simply to break even.

I sell books. My titles do fairly well, but nothing mega. Would I sell more with a professionally designed cover? Perhaps, but I don't see that increase catapulting me into the major league, and it just does not make economic sense.

Apologies to all you advisors. I believe you have a point, but for now I'll stick with my own imagination and Photoshop.

This will be my last guest appearance on this blog for 2011, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish Nick and all his readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy, successful New Year.

Byline: David Robinson is an independent freelance writer and novelist with 15 titles available through the Kindle and Smashwords. Visit his website at http://www.dwrob.com.

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Thank you to David for another excellent and inspiring guest post.

So have you created your own e-book cover, or do you think it's better to hire a professional? Please leave any comments or questions for David (or me) below.