It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.
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FEBRUARY QUESTION: If you are an Indie author, do you make your own covers or purchase them? If you publish trad, how much input do you have about what goes on your cover?
MY ANSWER: I had three of my novels published by small publishers. It was several years ago, and they are all out of print now, but at the time, I was not too happy with the covers the publishers provided. And I had very little input for those covers, except a fact sheet, which outlined my protagonists’ physical attributes, the story locations, genres, etc. Maybe that’s why I started learning to create my own covers. I like the process and the results. If I ever republish my novels as an indie, they will all have covers made by me. Even if my covers are not going to be perfect, at least I won’t be able to blame any artist for their flawed images. All the imagery would be my own choices.
Right now, my 8 stories on wattpad.com have covers I’ve made, and I’m proud of them all. You could see them here.
Also, in the past, wattpad had a forum (unfortunately, wattpad closed down the forum a few years ago). Many wattpad writers requested covers for their stories on that forum, and I made a few of them. You could see my covers for the other wattpad writers here.
Although I do not consider myself an artist, for me, making book covers is a creative process. It is like creating collages on my PC. I have a collection of images from free websites, like Pixabay, and I combine them (sometimes up to a dozen different images in one cover) using free Paint.com software. Most of my covers belong to the speculative fiction genre. If you write in one of the sub-genres of speculative fiction, I might be able to make you a cover too.
What is your approach to the problem of book covers for your books?
Olga Godim writing 
You might not consider yourself an artist but I assuredly do. Your covers and the badges you create for WEP blow me away.
Hi Olga. As EC says, you are an artist. Don’t sell yourself short. The work you’ve done for WEP is outstanding and just gets better.
It must be so much fun to make book covers! I wish I had a feel for design.
Sorry you weren’t happy with those three covers. Now you can make better ones yourself!
That’s great that you enjoy designing your covers. I’m not skilled enough and would have to hire someone to design them.
I learned quickly that it’s better I just turn over the cover idea to my illustrator and let him design it. I think most of our authors have been really pleased with the results. (And probably really glad I wasn’t more involved. LOL)
“Even if my covers are not going to be perfect, at least I won’t be able to blame any artist for their flawed images.”
This is one of the main attractions of indie publishing for me. I’d rather live with my own mistakes than have to deal with somebody else’s.
Hi Olga. Before I landed on your blog, I was sure you’d say, I make my own covers! Your story about how you got down to them is interesting. I like what you do.
I can see why you like making your own, Olga. Very nice!
Hi Olga,
Enjoyed your account of whatb you do.
Like creating collages – or other images – on my PC – in my case, with welcome support from the other two. Hope we’re all learning more.
What you encountered with the covers your first publisher provided was actually a fear of mine going into the whole writing scene. I would hate to get trapped with a cover I couldn’t control and didn’t like.
You definitely have the talent for creating covers. I love your work, Olga.
I have enough confidence to create a cover for WattPad, but not to sell. I guess, I’m a little shy about that. hehehe
Anna from elements of emaginette
I admire people like you who can design your own covers. Keep it up.
I remember when you did AtoZ in covers. You had some really great ideas. I love your creativity!
Kudos to you, Olga! I’d be hiring ~ I know my limits!
I agree with you absolutely. The covers are so much fun to make. And, I like to make all my own decisions about every part. Your covers look awesome.
You did a great job on your covers. I’m envious.
I checked them out. You have every reason to be proud of them!
And excellent book covers they are too! 😀