The Self-Publisher Book Cover Design Guide
There are those who hold that the book cover is the most important element of your book because it’s the first thing the reader sees. The back cover, they say, makes the decision solid. What kind of cover your book needs depends on a lot of different things. It’s an important decision to make. When your cover is the first thing your reader is going to see, obviously you want o make a good impression with it.
The self-published author cannot compete financially with larger publishing concerns so he/she will need to curtail expenditures on different design aspects of their first book. The quality of the cover design is one thing that shouldn’t be rendered too cheaply. If you cannot afford to have a cover designed, expend some time and effort researching how to design it yourself.
There is free cover design content to be found on the Internet. Before using it, take care to examine the rights being released in the download-able agreement. One such location is http://www.sxc.hu Most of the agreements clear the user for book cover use, but still take care to read the agreement.
If you decide to actually hire a designer, there are places you can arrange for lower cost cover artists. http://elance.com is a good source. While it’s best to pay the big bucks for great graphics, if you don’t have the big bucks, you’ll do what you can.
Book cover templates are your friends. They can do remarkable things with royalty-free cover art/photos. An ally with a good eye for design would be helpful, of course. All you need beyond that is the knowledge of the mechanical requirements your book market demands. Ask your print-on-demand company about that.
Book Cover Pro is a good example of book cover design software which might make for a good investment.
Learn more about publishing a book. Stop by Melody Clark’s site where you can find out all about designing a book cover and what it can do for you.