book covers

 by Rain Trueax

At one time to buy a book required heading to a bookstore. For some, it still does. When browsing down the shelves, what you see are mostly splines. The author's name and a title either attract or you go on. Only when you draw out the book do you see the cover. The cover isn't the reason you pull that book out but seeing it might be why you read the back cover and a bit of text. In bookstores, covers might matter to readers; but they are not the initial draw. They are not the hook.

Today, many of us get our books online. As we skim along or maybe get an email encouraging us to purchase, usually, the first thing we see is the cover with its title. It then is very important as a turn on or off (maybe less so in non-fiction). The business of covers changed with eBooks and the addition of writers, who were not in corporations, where the choice of covers was given to "professionals".

An indie writer has total control over the cover. They might turn its creation over to a professional cover designer or choose to do it themselves. Whether the covers sell books is not much debated.  They are big factors in a world where the reader sees a lot of covers, with an average of 4 seconds to decide if one intrigues them enough to look further. 

In 2011, when I decided to bring out the books I'd earlier written, I thought how hard can a cover be? I was a painter and sculptor. I could paint something that would fit my books. While I spent that year editing those books, I also began painting covers with images, which I felt fit the books. Mine would be unique. That's good, right?

Turned out-- not so. Those first covers were only appreciated by some of my artist friends. Readers saw them as amateur. They only valued the kind of covers with which they were used to seeing-- they did not like them to look like impressionistic paintings. At that time, I was in a reader and author forum  and saw the critiques. A cover could be a bit different but similar to others in its genre. To not fit, meant to readers that the words inside would be amateur too.

Back to the drawing boards.

After much searching out covers in my genre, I began to understand what was expected. To create a cover, if I didn't want one created by someone else, I had to decide what sort of images to use. For romances, people, animals, an object, or scenery seemed most common. If it was to be an object, it had to be an element of the book and could be a McGuffin (a red herring to make the reader think it's more important than it really is to the plot). Any image on a story has to belong one way or another-- and also attract. In the end, it's all about attraction.

To find people, I went to sites like CanStock or Deposit Photos. I learned where other writers found their images (some won't share their sources as covers can be competitive and a really good site might be worth protecting, so it doesn't turn up everywhere). Some of the sites were way too expensive for me because from the start I had determined what I spent on the books had to come out of sales. Because I had quite a few books to bring out, hundreds of dollars for each one wasn't happening. Until the books began to sell, the first images came out of my personal budget, as I found it a creative outlet and actually fun. I bought images not just for the books but for creating book trailers and ads-- or even using in the blog.

It felt peculiar to look at all those people, as if I was judging a beauty contest. Who was I to say-- not handsome enough. She's too young or too old. They don't know they are being rejected or maybe they do when they don't get sales, as some of the photos on those two sites come not only from professional photographers but also ordinary people, as anyone can submit a photo there. 

Although I liked using people on my covers-- still do-- I tried scenery on a book or two. I saw where some authors did well with scenery. Because it'd been a lifelong hobby, I had a lot of great photographs. Mine never worked-- and you know they don't when there are zero sales or you write about it somewhere and get no feedback. People generally do like to be nice, and when they don't like something... *crickets*.

A cover isn't just satisfying the writer but the reader. The cover has to make the reader want to learn more about that book. The cover is the first hook to get that reader to read a blurb and if the writer is lucky, a sample from it.

After all this time, I'd like to think I have a handle on the creation of covers. Not so much. Of course, what works also changes as zeitgeists don't stay the same when the winds shift.

One of the genres, where I like to write, is what could be called paranormal or metaphysical romance. I am constantly reminded that I don't have the feel for how to promote what I write in that genre, since my books are not the norm. I am not giving up, but I am pulling back and reconsidering. 

August 3rd, when the last books come out of Kindle Unlimited, I am pulling the Hemstreet Witch series to redo covers and edit using an editing program I just purchased. With all five now possible to see as a whole, there are places they can be improved. Some recommend you write a series like that all at the same time and only release the first when all are done. I can see the advantage of that.

As I began trying to work out new covers, One of the problems I've come across is one that might be surprising. Where I generally purchase, there are more, period images then good contemporary. Women in slinky, evening gowns-- yep. Women in a business suit to fit an attorney-- not many.

Whether contemporary or historical, the clothing a character wears has to fit their personality. A tomboy (is that still an okay word to use) should not show up on the cover in a ball gown unless she's turning into Cinderella in the book. So, a character has to not only have the right body and face but the right garments. It's even more complicated if the desired cover is a couple (which mine all will have for the relaunch of the Hemstreets in October).

What encouraged me to do a relaunch was threefold. One was doing a promo spot at Facebook for a temporary sale where the first one was free. I paid $20 to get an ad placed with those who like paranormals. Over a thousand came to my author page and in the end only 77 took the free book... That told me something wasn't gelling. Second, I got a very unfavorable review on the third one in the series from a review site (not sure how readable the screenshot will be but it's below). 

Was that negative review influenced by what was seen as a quaint cover? I guarandamntee you-- the next cover will not be 'quaint' in image or  title ;). 

Hopefully, when I edit it, the book will have less mistakes. it probably won't suit the paranormal readers though, and I need a new genre for it... Is there a quaint genre? How about a contemporary romance with ghosts, demons, spirit guides, and monsters in it???

The site where the review appeared emailed me to see how I felt about it and I was glad to have a chance to tell them that the heat level was way off. I figured the reviewer, who had clearly not liked the book, probably skipped a lot. That little teapot meant there would only be kisses and no passion. In the book. the couple 'do it'. Since I never write lengthy sex scenes (they bore me to read or write), I could see how she could have missed a couple of paragraphs here and there. I didn't think they could correct it but did like having a chance to tell them. Surprisingly, they were able to correct it to 4 teapots. That is good as if anyone bought it who expected no sex, it can lead to more negative reviews and an unhappy reader. :) Covers can't tell the reader everything.