Appreciate Your Cover Artist

If you haven't thought about all the time and effort that goes into creating your book cover, then you're among the majority of writers. Sometimes I've loved my book covers and sometimes I've been a wee bit disappointed, but still thought they were good.

I've been busy putting my returned rights books back into publication via e-book. Getting the text in appropriate format is not difficult at all, nor is uploading the information to the digital platform.

However, searching for photos to make my own covers has been very time intensive! Hours and hours of looking through photos trying to the perfect images is not fun. And, then I had to put on my graphics hat and try to remember everything I'd learned about using my program to its fullest. I do not have photoshop, nor do I want to spend funds to purchase any programs. I have PaintShop Pro v.6...and older program.

Finally, I completed my second book cover.

Hit and Run is now available for purchase in the Kindle Store at Amazon and Foxfire should be available for purchase on Tuesday.

I'm excited to have these books available for purchase again and I hope you like the bookcovers!

Have you ever designed a book cover or have you thought about how much time and effort goes into creating one? Have you ever been disappointed with a book cover?

Book covers, ebooks, and more!!

With the changes in the economy and in technology, the future is uncertain for many writers. There is evidence that times are changing in the publishing world. Publishers are scaling back staff; that's a fact. New authors are having a difficult time getting their manuscripts into the hands of an accepting agent or editor. Many new ebook publishers are opening doors of opportunity for new authors to break into the publishing world.

In a roundtable discussion at a recent Central Ohio Fiction Writers meeting, Sue Grimshaw mentioned the only thing holding back the explosion of ebooks is a "universal" reader. Personally I have a reader and it's a bit clunky in comparison with the newest Sony and Kindle ereaders. I'd love to own a new reader because of the ease of carrying multiple books, and opening a page whenever the opportunity arises. I love reading books, whether they are printed or ebook. What I don't like about ebooks with Kindle is the mentality that I must purchase through Amazon. Each reader takes a particular "format" in order for the book to appear seamlessly.

Another thing that surprised me about book buyers is the importance put on the cover of the book. I asked the question "On what factors do you base your decision when purchasing a debut author's book?" The answer surprised me: book cover, author quotes, and voice. Sue shared several cover flats with us and discussed what's hot and what's not in romance book covers. Since authors have such little voice in what their covers will look like, it's horrifying to me that a cover could make or break sales! Evidently, established and best-selling authors have a small amount of power when it comes to changing book covers. She also said that "yellow" covers do not sell well. Wow! So, yellow isn't appealing to the reader's eye?

Lots of interesting tidbits to consider.

Here are my questions to you:

As a reader, what types of covers are you drawn to? (What tempts you to pick a book from the shelf to peruse it?

Do you own an ereader? If so, does this limit the amount of shopping you do in a bookstore?

Looking forward to seeing some discussion. Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. For a chance to win a free ebook, and a grand prize of lots more, check out the following link: White Roses in Bloom Blog