5. Find a good cover artist – again someone who’s
recommended. And get rid of the picture you have in your head about the exact
way you want the cover. Most times it’s impossible to do, and if they try,
which most artists will try, it’s not going to help sell your book. The best
idea is to see what others in your genre have chosen for their cover, authors
who are selling really well. Then show those to your cover artist and let
him/her come up with ideas. Chances are they have a better vision than you do
of what’s popular.

 

This is a really important
step. Think about it! The very first time anyone finds your book it is the
cover they see. That cover can make or break your sales. If you think I’m
exaggerating, you can find many authors who either made their own covers to
save money or found someone else really cheap. And then wondered why their
sales were dismal. Do your homework and scroll through Amazon pages and see the
books with plain, mediocre covers and what ranking they sit at.

Don’t think the readers can’t
tell. They can!! Very seldom do you see a best-selling book with an
unprofessional looking cover. They’re there, that’s true, but somehow those
authors have managed to promote the book past the cover mattering. And unless
you have such a huge following waiting to pounce on your masterpiece the minute
it’s published, I wouldn’t take the chance. Not only must the cover be
brilliant in the large size, it must show well in the thumbnail size that
Amazon uses to put in its queues. Now the queues I’m talking about are where
Amazon has a line of other book covers on your book page and it says “Customers
Who Bought This Item Also Bought…” You want everyone to be able to see your
cover as clearly as possible here so it will intrigue them enough for them to
click on it.

 

This will bring you sales,
and that’s what it’s all about…right!!

 

Again, my suggestion for you
as a newbie that if you’re looking for a good cover artist, ask on the Indie
loops. Many will refer you to their sons, daughters, friends, etc. and if
they’re talented—great! But whomever they do refer, it’s up to you to check
them out. References are fine, but you need to do your homework. Ask to see the
covers they’ve produced. Decide if they work in your genre and represent the
type of work that pleases you. Don’t waste their time or yours.

 

There’s so many to choose
from that it is rather difficult. I’ve had that experience. But a cover is the
first thing about your precious baby that the rest of us will see. It’s very
important that it makes an impression. It needs to grab attention, please the
eye, and captivate a reader’s interest.

 

What’s even more
important—don’t let your cover tell a lie. If your book has a light sprinkling
of horror, don’t try and sabotage the reader with a kick-ass cover that
promises page after page of tingles. You won’t like the reviews and the reader
will most likely drop you. On my romantic suspense book “Roll the
Dice”, the first cover my guy came up with was cool!! Dark night and a
dangerously sexy, meaning-looking chick holding a smoking gun, leaning against
a wall and staring towards a police car in the background. Ohhhhh-kay! Sent it
to my promoter and she asked me one question. Have you written this book in
your regular humorous voice?

 

Got it! She knew that cover
was a lie. When I sent her note to Steven Novak, the genius who does the covers
for my series, he picked up on her message straight away. Next cover he sent is
the one on the left. You see—the truth is—I had given him the information for the
cover that I saw in my own head. And he’d delivered. I had made the mistake,
not him. I had thought a romantic suspense cover should be dark and dangerous.
Except for one thing, I’d forgotten that I don’t write dark.

 

 

Have you ever
bought a book because the cover promised you a type of story you thought you’d
enjoy? To make matters worse, the back blurb added to the deceit. Then you
began reading… What a let-down. If you want to keep your fans, maybe it’s not
such a good idea to mess with them!!?

 

So my advice is to look at
other books in the genre you write. If your voice is light and humorous, don’t
try and hide that fact…celebrate it. Many readers like lighter romances.

 

Search the Amazon Best-sellers
and find whatever you like. Then put them on one page and hunt for what it is
on those particular covers that drew you…maybe a color scheme, or the way the
page is set-up. If you’re writing a series, try and find one kind of image that
you might like to put on all the books to brand them. Maybe with just a small
change for each one like the overall color or one type of font that can be used
so reader will recognize the cover as being one of yours. Could be a
sentence you’ve chosen. On my Angels with Attitudes series, each book has the
line Angels Love Romance written in gray on the covers.

 

As I mentioned above, choose
the type of cover that not only tells the reader about what the story is about,
but also, the style of writing he/she might find between the pages. And if you
can’t think of something appropriate, hell – you can always fall back on a
symbol. Like maybe a rose! 