The awesomeness that is cover art as an indie author

While I was writing EOA, all I could think about was the manuscript itself. During the publication process, all my energy went to my piles of incomprehensible scribbles on sticky notes and the graveyard of old drafts that was becoming my desk. And the formatting? That was a nightmare straight from Hell. As an indie author, when I began the publication process, I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of crap that publication companies do for traditional authors. I had to pick what the best dimensions for my book were, whether I wanted a matte cover or glossy, and even which shade of white I wanted the paper to be (now that was a hard decision). In one way, deciding the little things was a lot of fun. I got to have complete control over what my book was going to look like, and that was incredible. But then that little nagging worry at the back of my head rained all over my parade - I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

I did plenty of research to make sure things came out right, but there was so much different information floating around that it was extremely difficult to pick out which pieces were right for me. However, the one thing that people did seem to agree on, was that when it comes to cover art, never cheap out. Everyone judges a book by its cover, so if you don't have graphic design experience, bite the bullet, dip into your pocket, and have it done professionally. It doesn't matter how absolutely amazing the work inside is if the cover looks like something a five year old put together on kid pix. Your cover is the first impression in the author-reader relationship, and if you blow a first impression, the chances of a sale aren't very high. If the cover looks cheap, it becomes a bright little red flag with the word amateur pasted over it. If you're confident in your design abilities, then by all means, go ahead and prove me wrong. I've seen a fair few of beautiful author-made covers, but they are far outweighed by the train wrecks.

When it came time for me to find a cover, I scrolled through pages of ready made covers, but, while beautiful, none of them really fit my book. I started to focus on finding an artist, but when I found one with a portfolio I liked, their prices were absurd. But then I found the amazing Kit Foster while scrolling through a very old thread on goodreads (this is his website: http://www.kitfosterdesign.com/Home.aspx). His work is incredible. 

I chose the most expensive package, which was a print+ebook custom cover and began the process. By that point, I had seen so many different images that any ideas I had had initially had become a scrambled mess in my head. I gave Kit almost nothing to go on, and he still managed to put together three very different first drafts for me.

#1:

 #2

 #3

I wasn't to keen on the first two, but I loved the third. After I gave him my ideas, he gave me a new draft which became the final cover.

I think one of the best parts of the cover process was that for once, I wasn't doing the heavy lifting, which is a huge relief for any writer, since heavy lifting is usually all we do. The cover art process was the best part of my self-publishing experience and I can't wait to do it again. The cover is a snapshot of your book, so make sure it lives up to the interior. I couldn't be happier with mine.
-Esha