(The sound of a pen scratching.) LOGO.
Hellooo everybody! Today we're talking about one of the
most important parts of book marketing, and that's book covers! You guys ask me
a buttload of questions all about book covers. You want to know whether or not you should hire
a professional designer. You want to know when to hire a designer, how to hire a designer. All
kinds of stuff! Because of this, I am answering your 10 most popular questions all about book
covers! Before we get into it, today's video is sponsored by my good friends over at Book Brush,
so we gotta show ‘em our love! Book Brush is a one-stop shop for creating marketing images
specifically for authors. I make nearly all of my book marketing images directly through Book
Brush, because the quality of their imagery is gorgeous, the designs are extremely professional,
and most importantly, the platform is EXTREMELY easy to use. Book Brush has an instant mock-up
feature that allows you to create hundreds of book mock-ups in minutes. You can also make Facebook
banners. You can make Instagram ads. You can make Amazon ads. Whatever! And I'm SUPER excited to
announce that Book Brush just recently released their very own cover creator tool, which allows
you to create your own book cover within minutes! “But Jenna, you said you shouldn't create your
own book cover!” And I stand by that! Most of the time, authors should not create their own
covers. However, not all writers are authors, and there are some situations where creating your own
book cover makes sense. I'll be covering that at this point in the video. To show you how easy it
is to use the cover creator tool, I am going to be making a place holder cover for my upcoming novel,
The Savior’s Sister right now. All right, I'm here at Book Brush’s cover creator tool. The
first thing we need to do is pick our size. I'm going to choose an ebook. And now I can pick
the various ebook sizes. I'm going with Kindle. Now, we can either create our cover from scratch,
or we can use their templates. They've got community templates already available. There are
a ton of them, and they're SO nice! I immediately saw this one; very fantasy, fits very well for The
Savior’s Sister. Now we've got to edit the text. The Savior’s Sister. As you can see, it's looking
a little funky, so we can edit the text further. I think I'm going to change the size. Much better!
And maybe update the shadowing a bit. Ooh, that looks really cool. Now, I'm going to edit my
name. Jenna Moreci. Now, I'm not crazy about this layering in the background, so I'm going to edit
the background here. And you can play around with background transparency, background color, sizing,
a million different things! You can also remove the background, so if there's any imagery in the
background - for example, the sword - I could remove the background entirely and just leave it
white and replace it with something else. I don't want to do that. I think I want to play with the
overlay. Ooh, that looks really, really cool. I think I'm going to be doing a little bit more
editing of the text. I like that. And I think we're done! At this point, I can go ahead and
download it, and I have a temporary placeholder cover for The Savior’s Sister! Wasn't that fun?
Book Brush has a special offer just for my subscribers! Stick around until the end of
this video, and I'll dish out the details then! And just a heads up: if you want to learn more
about book marketing or writing books or pretty much anything book related, you should DEFINITELY
subscribe to my channel! I post new videos on Wednesdays with a bonus video sprinkled in,
so be sure to ring that bell so you can be alerted as soon as a video is uploaded! First, let's talk
ALL about book covers in three, two, one, go! Number One (1): What is a book cover designer?
A cover designer, also known as a cover artist, is a graphic designer who specializes in book covers
and book marketing. If you're publishing a novel, it's important to work with a cover designer
SPECIFICALLY. They know ALL about industry expectations and regulations. They know about trim
size and formatting. Another artist or graphic designer may be talented, but that doesn't mean
that they know specifically what would work for a book cover, what would look good on bookshelves,
or what kind of book covers sell. Cover designers are knowledgeable about the industry and compare
their skill set with your vision. Number Two (2): Why do book covers matter? Your book cover is your
number one most important piece of marketing material. Think about where people buy books.
If we're talking brick-and-mortar establishments like Barnes & Noble, your book is going to be one
of hundreds or even THOUSANDS on the shelves. If we look at online retailers like Amazon,
your book cover is one thumbnail amid millions. That means the consumer’s first impression of
your book isn't going to be the story itself or even the blurb, it's going to be the cover or
the spine. This means your book cover’s number one goal is to catch your reader’s attention, which is
why it's imperative that you choose a cover that is both striking in full-size and as a teeny tiny
thumbnail. Number Three (3): What types of writers should hire a professional cover designer? If ALL
of the following applies to you, you should DEFINITELY hire a professional cover designer.
One, you are writing a novelette, novella, collection of short stories, or a novel. Two, you
are publishing this work either as an e-book, paperback, hardback, audiobook, or all of the
above. Three, you are going to be publishing this work publicly. That means it will be
available for purchase either at online retailers, brick-and-mortar establishments, or both. Four,
you are going the self-publishing or Indie route. A big chunk of writers fit these points, and if
you fit them, you probably need a cover designer. Number Four (4): What if I'm going the traditional
publishing route? If you are going with traditional publishing, whether you're working
with the Big Five or a small press, you do NOT need to hire a cover artist. Your publishing house
should provide a cover artist for you. It's one of the perks of the gig! If they're NOT providing
an artist for you, that's sketch as fuck. Get out of there! Number Five (5): What type of writer can
make their own cover art? While I emphasize that a vast majority of self-published writers SHOULD
hire a cover designer, there are situations where you can potentially make the cover yourself. One,
you are a professional graphic designer or cover designer. It's important to note that just because
you're a graphic designer doesn't necessarily mean you're qualified to make your own cover. Most,
if not all cover designers are graphic designers, but not all graphic designers are cover designers.
It takes a specific skill set in order to know how to make a marketable cover. That said, I do
know professional graphic designers who have made their own covers and they turned out great! But
they heavily researched the industry to make sure they'd nail it. Additionally, I'm talking about
PROFESSIONAL graphic designers. NOT people who dabble. I, myself, dabble in graphic design, but
I would never pretend that I'm competent enough to make my own cover. Two, you are listing your
work for free. Plenty of writers do not sell their work for profit; they make it available for free
so that they can build their audience. If that's the case, since you're not going to be making a
profit off of your work, it's understandable to design your own cover. Three, you're posting your
work on your personal website. Lots of writers share episodic stories or short stories on their
blog or website in order to gain experience and exposure. In this case, it makes perfect sense
to design your own cover, because your work is not going to be listed alongside thousands of
other covers on Amazon. Four, you're posting to Wattpad or similar sites. Lots of writers and
hobbyists use websites like Wattpad in order to share their stories. These types of writers can
definitely make their own cover. It wouldn't make sense to fork out hundreds of dollars
on a story you're just writing for fun. And five, placeholder covers. Lots of writers, like myself,
like to use placeholder images when they're talking publicly about their work in progress.
This is a marketing tactic so you can get people excited about your work in progress before it has
an official book cover. In this case, writers create their own cover, usually with the words
“Coming Soon” somewhere on it so people know that it's temporary. Number Six (6): Where do I find a
book cover designer? The Internet, obviously... Google book cover designers, and you're good to
go! Also look at the books you're reading, specifically books with covers that you love
and are in your genre. The cover artist is often credited somewhere in the book itself. If not,
you can check the author's website or shoot them an email. Keep in mind traditionally published
authors are going to be working with in-house cover designers, so if you're self-publishing,
you'll want to be looking at other Indie books. Number Seven (7): When do I hire a cover designer?
If you're only releasing a digital book like an e-book or a Wattpad story, you can design your
cover at any time. However, I recommend waiting until you've at least finished the story because
the cover is going to be largely dependent on the story's content. If you're creating a story
that will also be sold in paperback or hardback, the timing of designing the cover can be tricky.
Cover art, in this case, typically lines up with formatting. Your cover artist is going to need to
know your exact page count so they can figure out the width of the spine. Because of this,
most authors I know usually hire their cover artist while their book is being professionally
edited. They get the ebook and audiobook covers first, then once the book is finished being edited
and formatted, they move on to the back covers and spine. Number Eight (8): What should I look for
in a cover designer? First and foremost, look at their portfolio! Are their covers any good? Or do
they suck ass? Second, look at the genres. Plenty of cover artists create covers of all kinds,
but there are some who specialize. Some designers specialize in young adult, others specialize in
romance, which is useless to you if you're writing adult sci-fi. Third, look at their rates. Make
sure they're comparable to their competitors and make sure it's something you can afford. Fourth,
look at their schedule. It's probably not gonna be made public, so you're gonna have to shoot
‘em an email. Cover artists often book months in advance, so you're gonna want to do this
long before you plan on needing your cover. And lastly, ask around! Check to see if other artists
have worked with this designer and what they thought of them. Please note it's important to get
recent reviews. A referral from years ago isn't necessarily relevant today. Businesses change,
so you want to make sure the feedback is timely. Number Nine (9): How much does a book cover
typically cost? It completely depends on the skill level of the artist, the demand for their product,
and the size of the package. Not that kind of package, get your mind out of the gutter! Cover
art tends to come in packages. On the cheap end, we have pre-made covers, which are book
covers that are ready to go, they just need a title slapped onto them. On the expensive end
of the spectrum, we have book cover packages that include covers for ALL different book styles,
as well as formatting. That's ebook, paperback, hardback, and audiobook, which means four book
covers and four formats. Additionally, some cover art packages include banners, marketing images,
ads, bookmarks, book mock-ups, I could go on. Because of this, the vast majority of cover art
packages I've seen have been between $50 to $1,000 U.S. dollars. However, I have seen pre-made covers
as cheap as $25 bucks, and I have seen crazy elaborate packages made by well-known artists
that were as expensive as $3,000. If you're going to budget for cover art, make sure you take into
consideration EVERYTHING you're expecting. If you're publishing multiple book forms, it's
gonna be more expensive. If you wanna include formatting, it's gonna be more expensive. If you
wanna work with a famous artist, it's gonna cost you up the ass! And Number Ten (10): How can I use
book covers to my advantage? First of all, we have social media! Once your book cover is made,
plaster it everywhere! Twitter header, Facebook header, Instagram, Tumblr, wherever! Second,
we have teasers! Lots of authors create teaser images in order to hype an upcoming book release,
and your book cover should be on most, if not all, of those teasers! Third, we have the press
kit. Most authors ship out a press kit to people of influence so that they can help boost the book.
Your book cover should ABSOLUTELY be in your press kit ‘cause it will entice these people to promote
you! Lastly and most importantly, we have cover reveals. Cover reveals are an ENORMOUS marketing
opportunity! They create a TON of hype leading up to a book release and they incentivize readers to
buy your book. I recommend hosting your cover reveal on your most popular platform. It's also
common to enlist other writers to help you with the cover reveal, and it's common to hold some
kind of cover reveal giveaway. All in all, the goal is to create excitement and HYPE! The cover
reveal is a giant party on the Internet, so have fun with it! So that's all I got for you today!
Thank you SO much to Book Brush for sponsoring today's video! If you're interested in using
their cover creator or any of their marketing image tools, I HIGHLY recommend them. They are
SUPER affordable. However, the first 50 people to use code JENNA20 will get 20% off any paid plan
for the LIFETIME of their account! That means year after year, you will continue to get 20% off your
plan! The discount DOES NOT EXPIRE, but it's only good for the first 50 people who click the link,
so do it now! It's in the description! Don't forget to subscribe to my channel! I post new
videos on Wednesdays, and if you want to be alerted as SOON as I upload, ring that bell!
The Savior's Champion is available in ebook, paperback, hardback, signed hardback, as well
as audiobook! If you are new to audiobooks, you can listen to TSC on Audible for free!
I have all the info listed below! And be sure to follow me on social media! I'm on Instagram,
Tumblr, Facebook - and of course, you can Tweet me @JennaMoreci! Bye! (Older Male Voice) This
is Wembleton. If you haven't subscribed to Jenna's channel, then by all means,
go for it! The people will love you for it! Go on, press the button, ding that bell! See you soon!