Your input may be very helpful and is certainly much appreciated and encouraged, but remember that by contract the publisher does the cover design.
No covers will be designed by authors (or third parties). There are three main reasons for this: a) the quality is usually worse than what I produce b) the style becomes inconsistent with other books in the Nimble list and c) there are always time-consuming (and potentially expensive) complications.
If you want to help select the cover image(s) for your book, here are a few tips.
- I will be very open to your ideas, you know better than anyone what image (s) best conveys the message and mood of your book.
- The image(s) must be 300 dpi or more.
- Color or b&w are both ok.
- Must be free of copyright issues (e.g., US government images or historical images from the Library of Congress often work well; or, it’s great if you happen to own a suitable image).
- Portrait mode works better for the front cover, but landscape mode images can be very effective when wrapped around the spine; remember, however, that if the most “interesting” part of the landscape mode image is to be visible on the front cover, it must be on the right-hand side of the image.
- I can in theory do collages and overlays, however, be aware that it’s usually best to have a single strong image that displays very well in thumbnail mode–in online bookselling, that’s the first thing buyers see.
Hard-won experience says: no “do-overs.” Once the cover is in print, we’re not changing it unless there is a horrendous typo.
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I have read a few of your posts and they are all interesting and informative…keep up the good work.
[...] to admit that I am not the world’s greatest cover artist, although I have my moments. I am generally open to helpful ideas, although it usually doesn’t work well when authors want to do everything themselves, as [...]