cover design

cover design

My New Book Covers

Published by Chalita Majang on 10 June 2022

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The new book cover of AN EXCITING FUTURE volume 2 in the series BEHIND THE SMILE
My New Book Covers

Showing off your books…

I feel that I have already written too much of late about my new book covers, but it is a very important strategy in my plans for the future

I have quite a few books, but most of them were written years ago and the covers are stale. So, they need replacing. There is no argument about that. However, at what pace?

Obviously, cost is a constraint. People say that the benefits that the new covers will bring in… increased revenue… will pay for future investment. However, it doesn’t always work like that. Returns can be slower than hoped for.

Unexpected Results of Cover Changes

This can be because old customers don’t recognise the new covers or series formats. The benefits of change can be slow to accrue. Slower than hoped for, or expected anyway.

One thing that keeps me hopeful though is that I receive compliments on my new book covers several times a week, and mostly from people I don’t know.

That is encouraging, because even using the best cover design company in the world, it is a big step to rebrand… expensive too.

The company that I use allows an infinite number of remakes, but, which is perfect for the novice, even if a little embarrassing. It is far better to have thought about what information you want your new book cover to display beforehand. My tip is get a book off your shelf that is ‘similar’ to yours, ie if yours is in a series use one from a series as an example to copy.

My New Book Covers Checklist

So, my checklist for book cover design is: you will need the book title and your name for a start. Other options include: a subtitle, a series name, the number of the book in the series, and collaborators. Then on the back cover: a description or blurb, an author bio (and photo?), the title(s) (again?), and the cover designer. All the while remembering that you will need to leave enough room for the barcode.

Check out where I buy my new book covers on this link:

My New Book Covers

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Photoshop

Published by Owen Jones on 29 April 2022
A Photoshop - ed book cover
A Photoshop -ed book cover

The old dog has to learn a new trick!

I need to learn how to edit in Photoshop, and my proficiency level is rock-base bottom.

‘Why?’ are you asking? Well I’ll get into that in a moment.

I’ve written extensively recently about the quality of my book covers… or it is not that so much. They were excellent book covers in their day between five and ten years ago, but now they look a little jaded, old-fashioned even.

So, as I have written before, I have started to commission new book covers, and the firm that I have chosen also sends a ‘master’ in Photoshop format. This is perfect for me, because many of my books have been translated, so ‘all’ I have to do is change the text for the cover design of the translation.

Herein lies the rub. My Photoshop Proficiency is zero, and, I don’t even have the Photoshop application, which is rather expensive, I think.

An Alternative to Photoshop

Well, there is a fix for not having Photoshop; Gimp is a free alternative. However, both Gimp and Photoshop seem horrendously difficult to learn from where I am now.

Perhaps, I could get the book cover editing done on Fiverr, but something tells me that it is better to learn how to make the changes myself.

So, that’s what I’m going to do. I reckon that it will take at least a week to get my Photoshop proficiency up to the level necessary for photo editing, but so be it. You can find examples of my efforts on this blog. Click ‘Foreign Translations’ in the title bar and choose a language or book title.

GIMP

Update: I have spent a week learning Gimp now, and I haven’t even scratched the surface of its capabilities. There is so much mouse work! You have to click an are to select it, then click a function to bring up first-level options; then click on a ‘topic’ to bring up more options, and so on until you find the function you want. This is sort of to be expected, but it is really difficult to remember which functions are three or four levels below a top-level word.

There is no way that I will be able to learn Photoshop or Gimp in a month… six months is probably closer to the mark.

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