Dear reader, have you ever judged a book by its cover?

The colloquial phrase says we shouldn’t, but I’ll be honest and say that I’ve done this a time or two, and I would guess some of you have too.

In all honesty, we like a book to grab us even before we open it, either because of its title, reputation, or cover!

I don’t think I need to say much else to convince you that a cover is important, but I will add on a little more to drive it home, because there is something you may not know. For small authors, in the modern space, you have to market, market, market to get your book anywhere, and it’s not easy.

Everyone and their mother is vying for attention in one way or another, so getting people to buy your book can be hard, which is why a good cover that makes someone stop scrolling or pause in the aisle of the store is so important to us.

However, despite me saying that, I can’t give you many tips on making an eye-catching cover on your own. I’m not a designer, nor an artist. In the past, I’ve hired people to make covers for me. That being the case, I’m going to offer tips for finding cover artists rather than what works on a cover. (Leaving that to the experts)

When talking about cover artists in the modern age, however, we have to address the bad word in the writing world… A.I. (Dun… Dun… DUUUUN!)

AI is a tool that everyone has an opinion on; in many places it’s seen favorably, but not in the writing world. I’ve seen bookstores that say they won’t carry books that are AI-written or even just have AI covers.

What’s my opinion? #1 AI is not a writer; if you use it to write a book, make it very clear, because you didn’t write it and don’t deserve credit. #2 AI covers are… icky. (I’ll admit they are cheaper, which for a small author is tempting beyond what you may realize.) AI covers are also very unpopular, to the point of being despised, amongst artist circles. So if you go that way, I just want you to know what you’re in for. #3 If you find an artist that claims they “use AI to assist [them] in their work,” be cautious and ask to see some of their work so you can gauge exactly how much “assistance” they’re getting.

A last side fact is that for most people “perception is reality.” That’s a whole conversation for another day, but what I mean in this case is, if people even think it might be AI, they probably won’t check far into it to make sure it isn’t and just assume it is. You have been warned.

Now, as for where you can find your own cover resources, the two places I’ve used are called 100 Covers and Reedsy.

100 Covers is a company that makes covers in bulk with hired artists and project managers to help streamline the creation. They ask if you are willing to let them use AI resources to make the covers, but you can tell them no.

Reedsy is less direct. It’s a platform for you to meet freelance artists and is something I’ve recommended before for editors as well as covers. All Reedsy does is facilitate your meeting and make sure you get what you were promised; other than that, it’s between you and your artist, so it’s on you to do your research and look through their portfolio to see if this is what you want.

Neither is cheap, but of the two, 100 Covers costs less on average, but the work won’t be high detail if you’re hoping to get a cover that’s some kind of masterpiece. As for Reedsy, all of them will cost more, but you can negotiate terms and be specific in your requests.

Making a cover isn’t easy or cheap, but it’s actually a lot of fun and very rewarding once you know you’ve got a good one. Which I feel like I do with this latest cover for Dread Reckoning coming out later this year.

Interested? See it for yourself and let me know what you think of this or any of my other covers. I’d love to hear from you!

Only sometimes judging by covers,
C.R. Ware