Lisa Beth Darling Guest Post~Giveaway

Lisa Beth Darling

Judging a Book by Its Cover

On the surface we all know perfectly well that what’s on the outside of a book isn't necessarily reflective of what’s on the inside. But, let’s face it we all judge the books we see by their covers. I know, tons of you out there will say that you don’t when someone asks you but…you do it even if you’re not conscious of it. Don’t beat yourself up over it, its human nature.  Our eyes are attracted to certain things that make our brain go: Oh, what’s that? Or Oh, my what IS that!  When the first happens, we pick up and inspect whatever ‘it’ happens to be, in this case a book. When the second happens we shudder and walk away from said book. We've all seen those types of covers ones that look like a Kindergartner threw it together. Some are nothing more than a single picture with a less-than-attractive font thrown on top of it. Those covers make us turn away because, right or wrong, our minds perceive the story behind it to be as hastily thrown together as the image before our eyes.

An attractive book cover is an absolute necessity for all authors. If your cover doesn't catch someone’s eye in less than a second-I’m not kidding there have been actual studies done on the subject— you have no chance of getting that person to even read your blurb. They’re going to pass you right by in favor of something that does catch their eye. In the Internet Age that ‘something’ is also less than a second away from them. The window to catch someone and hold them even for a short time is very small and 100% visual.

Being a true Indie Author isn't a game for weak hearted/minded fools looking to make a quick buck. I have no one behind me except, oh yeah, me. This is a game for strong, wise and independent-minded folk to get their own stories/ messages out to the world regardless of ROI.  Here there are no big publishing houses, agents,  PR agencies, Social Media experts, web designers,  cover/graphic artists, certainly no ‘assistants’.  Like many others in my shoes, I’m forced to do it ALL of those things on my own. That means making a wise decision when it comes to book covers.

There are a few options open to us, if we can afford it, we can hire someone to make a custom cover.

(I once worked with an artist who charged me $300.00 for a cover that I couldn't use.)  For a little to considerably less money, we can buy a premade cover that may not be quite right but passable. Lastly, for little to no money, we can make our own covers.  Since I’m a Cheap Yankee, when I was initially faced with this problem, I went for the latter.

Hence, I've spent the last 10 years learning PhotoShop by nothing more than trial and error. There were lots of trials and tons of errors. I can’t tell you how many tears were shed and hairs pulled out of my graying head in sheer frustration! It was very time consuming.  I still sit here until my butt is numb and my vision blurry tweaking, vectoring, layering, blending, texturing, until I have what I really want. Yet, for all of the annoyance, it’s proven to be my second favorite thing about writing, right after writing itself of course. My third favorite thing has become trailer making. Yes I do all of my own trailers as well. I find book cover and trailer making to be very rewarding and creative endeavors. After all, who knows more about one of my stories and how it should be presented than I do?

Here’s the first cover that came out well-enough to make it to the market

Not fantastic but not too shabby.  I found the center picture offered “free” online. I cropped it down, added the shooting star and the blue wash along with the inner frame and text. This is still the cover for “Dream Weaver” all these years later. It’s simple but effective and, I think, it conveys a lot about the story behind the cover.

Here’s my latest cover this one is for “Kingdoms of War” which will release in July.

That’s a step up, huh?  Not bad at all.  Other than my time and frustration it didn't cost me a dime but it looks like it cost a lot more.  Keep in mind that I've never been able to draw a straight line with a ruler.

To the true Indie Authors out there: You don't have to be a great artist to do this, you just need your own vision, a cheap copy of PhotoShop or go to pixlr.com and fool around. If you're as determined as you think you are you'll be able to start coming up with covers better than you thought you could do in no time. From there the sky's the limit, you just keep learning and doing and trying and making mistakes—sometimes those mistakes lead to the most fantastical discoveries.

To the Readers: Every now and then try to give the ugly-covered book a break. Just read the blurb. You never know what hidden gem you might find.  If, by chance, you should come across a cover that calls to you and the author is not affiliated with any publishing house take the time to admire it. Chances are that author created the cover themselves. They agonized over it as much as they did the pages behind it.

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