Why hire a cover designer (when you can do it yourself)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Hold it. I’m not THAT old. Let’s start over. I started my career in marketing doing web development and graphics for smaller international software companies prior to Y2K. (Okay, maybe I am that old.) I have a fine arts degree (among others) and experience understanding how color translates in varying cultures. I’ve had a copy of Photoshop as long as I can remember and, after the puckwudgies were born, used it to create digital scrapbook pages.

It wasn’t a far reach to opt for designing my website and covers myself. Some days I noodle around with graphics for fun. #teasertuesday —All. me. What I hadn’t taken into consideration was the connections built when you hire a cover designer. That artist is building their portfolio and guess where it is going? Online! If they are especially proud of the job they’ve done your cover will grace their website. That image also gets posted in an album on Facebook and has featured spot on their Instagram feed. The designer may know bloggers to introduce you to. Those review sites revel in cover reveals because every little bit of extra content boosts their own traffic. Bluntly: Paying someone else to use their skill set is another venue to get your story out there for readers to see. The designer is also going to have dedicated clients. You may even know some of these author’s names. They’re following the designer on social media and will see your cover. It’s not a far stretch for these writers to either say 1. “I want something like you did for ___.” or 2. Be intrigued enough by that cover to want to read it. {BONUS!} now you have a new fan. Who is a writer. Everyone can use a new friend whom they have something in common with. I’ve mulled over the idea of contacting a cover designer for these reasons. My OCD isn’t allowing me to give up too much control over my books so I’ve put a pin in it to go back to later. It's always good to have options.

What about you? Are covers something you'd prefer to keep in-house because you have the skills or have you engaged a great cover designer?

*originally published 9/2/2017