Inkshares Community discussion

I thought I'd start this thread for us to discuss covers with Quill. I was speaking with Cara about covers and am of the impression that Inkshares doesn't provide a cover for Quill publications. I don't know if Inkshares staff wants to weigh in on this, but since I think cover is very important I'd be interested to hear what others are doing about this, or if there are other considerations / behind the scenes information we might share to help Quill authors prepare.

I'd be very interested in this topic too. I'm looking at artists to approach for Dax, and I'm wondering if I'll need to provide specifics for them to work with. (Book dimensions, etc)

My cover artist, Lizzy Perez, is willing to do cover artwork. Her email is morzaph@gmail.com and she is an amazing artist (she did the cover for Exile, Magus) and her prices aren't steep.

Her DeviantArt page is http://lizzysky.deviantart.com/gallery/ if you want a peek at more of her style, and I cannot recommend her enough.

Tabi wrote: "My cover artist, Lizzy Perez, is willing to do cover artwork. Her email is morzaph@gmail.com and she is an amazing artist (she did the cover for Exile, Magus) and her prices aren't steep.

Her Dev..."

I've definitely become a fan of Ms. Perez since working with her. She pretty much instantly captured one of my favorite scenes(Pentaz and Buscidia versus the Cog Monster) with ease. She was also communicating throughout the process, sending updates with the image in process to make sure I was happy with how it was taking shape. Just a great, proactive work ethic, and very affordable.

I was trying to post pictures, but have been forced to concede that my brain is too fried from a long day at work to remember how to do so.

I have sourced two variants for cover art. The artist I used for Shadow of the Owl is actually a fiverr seller who did an amazing job with my project. You can find Angie's work here: https://www.fiverr.com/pro_ebookcovers

Because it's fiverr (even though she's really good) you have to have an idea in mind and be alright with a basic cover without much photoshop work. My cover cost about $40.00 and I'm very happy with it.

Originally I wanted to work with Ana at https://www.books-design.com/ because I love the idea of a professionally done cover, but I ended up running out of money on my budget because I made some bad promotion decisions (Book Gorilla and a blog tour, both were a total waste of resources). Ana charges $400 for a standard book design using photo manipulation, and $500 for an illustrated cover.

However, for Deus Hex Machina I might reach out to a new artist that I learned of yesterday from an author on Twitter who's covers are AMAZING. Here's the link: https://t.co/zOpNWncryy

I just went for broke and emailed an artist asking if he's available for a commission. He does amazing Drew Struzan-inspired works of art, and I'm sure he's most likely out of my price range. But what the hell? Doesn't hurt to ask.
http://rampantimaginationa.deviantart...

Are you changing your Dax Harrison cover? That would be a shame -- I love the one you've got now.

Yeah, them's the breaks. The owner of the artwork has made clear that it can be used for promotional purposes, but can't be reprinted for commercial uses. The mugs in my giveaway were bought from his Zazzle shop, so I could give them out as prizes, but I don't have the rights to use it as my final book cover.

It was awesome to hear how many people loved the artwork from the get-go, but I always had it noted on my project page that it was temporary. That's part of the reason I really want to go all out for the real cover, even if it ends up being a bit pricey. I always wanted Dax to have that classic adventure vibe a la Indiana Jones, Star Wars, etc. It's only fitting that I try to find someone to give it an epic movie poster style cover to match!

Wish me luck!

Bummer, but I completely understand. Legalities and such.

That artist looks to be right up your alley, so hopefully you can work something out. If not, I'm sure you'll still land something you love.

Good luck!

Tony wrote: "I just went for broke and emailed an artist asking if he's available for a commission. He does amazing Drew Struzan-inspired works of art, and I'm sure he's most likely out of my price range. But w..."

Woooow, that artist is amazing!! I hope it works out, Tony!

Tony, did you hear from that artist?

I did. He said he's been pretty busy as of late, but definitely interested! Going to chat on the phone next week sometime to discuss further. :)

Okay, folks. Today I learned how expensive high quality art is. LOL. So I had a nice discussion with Adam just now, and he very politely explained the time and effort such detailed artwork takes. And the project as I described (creating a locale based on the book, characters based on real people with altered hair/features/etc to avoid likeness rights issues, etc) would be about $1000. "Ouch," said my wallet.

So, maybe I should think smaller for this first Dax publishing. I mean, I could just put it on my credit card. But I could also just find something much simpler and cheaper. At the same time of course, my neurotic brain screams at me, "But will I be satisfied with something simpler or forever live in regret?!" (*Charlie Brown UGH!*)

What do you think gang? Should I go for broke? Or try a simpler option?

I think you should pay for some great artwork by a newer artist who isn't charging thousands of dollars yet - you should be able to get something for $100-$200. Then you can do your very best (or we, collectively, can do our best) to do the typography. Quill includes slight cover tweaking, which I think means they'll make it look more competent if the design is weak, so that should make up the difference.

Tony wrote: "Okay, folks. Today I learned how expensive high quality art is. LOL. So I had a nice discussion with Adam just now, and he very politely explained the time and effort such detailed artwork takes. A..."

@Tony may I suggest my cover artist, Lizzy Perez? She did the cover for Exile, Magus and she is extremely talented and could draw you up a very lifelike piece of artwork that includes your characters. =)

Cara wrote: "I think you should pay for some great artwork by a newer artist who isn't charging thousands of dollars yet - you should be able to get something for $100-$200. Then you can do your very best (or w..."

Agreed, Cara. I'm getting in touch with another artist I met back at Long Beach Comic Con last year. More of an up-and-comer, although she does seem to be getting popular quick. Crossing my fingers.

@Tabi I like her work! I have another artist I'm getting in touch with right now to try a kinda different style. But if that doesn't pan out, I'll follow up! :)

I think I may have to change just for visibility purposes. What is nice about my cover is it is completely mine and mine alone. My buddy took time lapse photos of a freeway and I took the sign and edited it from there. My Dad says it is a bit hard to read, what are your thoughts. Also, congrats to everyone on here. I feel quite honored to be with you all. Thank you.

Throwing ten cents at ya @CoRy...

While the concept of your cover is absolutely unique and the time-lapse photos are totally awesome, the title is pretty small and hard to read. My only suggestion is to play with different title styles, either placed in the middle of the cover, or the top and bottom. Play around with the opacity of the font text, the size, the font type itself (there are great free options through sites like http://www.1001freefonts.com/ ; http://www.dafont.com/ ; http://www.fontspace.com/ ) and maybe hold a poll for people to vote on what cover has the most appeal.

I hope you can accommodate that photo in your cover, CoRy. I love that shot. Saw it on the front page of Inkshares one day and immediately clicked. Congrats again on the perfect game!

Tabi wrote: "Throwing ten cents at ya @CoRy...

While the concept of your cover is absolutely unique and the time-lapse photos are totally awesome, the title is pretty small and hard to read. My only suggestion..."

I cannot post it for some reason. But here is the link to my dropbox on a possible alternative option.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i7vr80givbn...

Just a note on fonts/typefaces - Make sure they are free for commercial use, aka open-source. A lot of free fonts are free for personal use only.

Christine wrote: "Just a note on fonts/typefaces - Make sure they are free for commercial use, aka open-source. A lot of free fonts are free for personal use only."

Good point. I will contact the app users I created it with. I paid my due $1.99 for those fonts, so that is a fair trade right?
I think I am kidding, but it is late. Why I write so late, I never know.

I've been a lurker here for a while but I thought I might jump in and offer some insight since I'm both a writer and a designer. As for the writing, I'm not anywhere ready yet to start a campaign (and haven't fully decided I want to go with inkshares), so you probably won't see that happening for a while. For the curious, I write contemporary fiction with a slight slant towards literary, and my current project "Coffee Cakes" is up on inkshares.

Now, the important bit about covers: Generally the more professional the work, the more expensive the covers are going to be - even if the design doesn't include any illustration or characters. The reason for illustrations should be obvious: the ability to draw and the time spent doing so. However, the cost for non-illustrated covers often seems like a ripoff in comparison if the price is around the same.

Whether or not you want to pay for that level of service is up to you, but here's a few reasons why that price is also worth your money spent: 1) You aren't paying for the cover, not really. What you are paying for is the knowledge and expertise of the designer in creating something that not only fits your story but also captures the attention of any passersby. A cover may appear to be just some text placed on top of an image, but it's much more than that, and just placing a title on a picture will usually result in a lackluster cover even if it isn't a bad cover. Generally, the more expensive designers will be trained not only in design, but also in marketing (or at least have experience with both). Remember, covers are not made to be gawked at. They are made to draw attention to the title and author and then the inside of the book.

2) Just because it's not a hand-drawn illustration does not mean it doesn't take time. Often, it takes even more time because finding or creating the perfect image and then manipulating it in a way that matches the rest of the images compiled for the cover is a long and tedious process even without the artistry involved. While illustration deals with a few layers planned beforehand, working on other types of covers requires an artist to be more flexible in design which may result sometimes (but very rarely) in having to backtrack hours of work because an idea didn't end up how it should. And remember, SIMPLE DOES NOT MEAN WORSE! There are designers who specialize in minimalism, so don't just assume that minimalist design is a bad thing or an easy thing to pull off correctly. Even in these cases, the higher price tag would be worth it.

3) The more expensive designers will also offer exclusivity in terms of image. Sometimes designers like to reuse ideas (font styles, color schemes, source images, placement, etc), and I will use Angie on the fiverr link above as an example of this. Don't take this as a negative, though. For the price she's offering for the covers, it's more than adequate. However, the more expensive designers will usually vary their designs enough to accommodate each book's tone, themes, and concept in a way that would result in a unique result without reusing images they've used on other projects (hence not diluting your cover's impact).

4) General note about copyright: No matter who you decide to work with, make sure they are following all the guidelines for copyright! The experienced or trained designers will already know this, and even the less expensive ones should know it. But sometimes, whether out of lack of knowledge or lack of ethics, people may bend the rules and sell you something they don't have a right to sell. I'm not sure that would play out in case your cover went viral but you didn't have the rights to the image. We all mostly know that images found on google and such are not something you can just take without asking for permission from the owner (even though everyone does this on the internet with profile pictures, facebook cover designs, etc). But what most people don't realize is that fonts are also protected under copyright, and you need to license or outright buy the font to use it for any purpose. Usually the font creators allow for free personal use, but commercial use almost always requires acquiring a license. This is the designer's responsibility (along with acquiring permission for all images and brushes used), but it's good information to know - especially if you are considering a designer who seems a bit iffy but is very affordable (of course, don't assume cheap means illegal - it usually doesn't, just do your due diligence in making sure of it).

5) Finally, it's not the designer's job to come up with a fitting title, but remember that the title is just as important if not more than the cover design in attracting attention sometimes.

Hopefully this message did a decent enough job in explaining why you shouldn't shy away from the more expensive designers if you can afford them. Your results will almost always be better, but that's not to say the cheaper ones are not worthwhile. If you do end up finding an amazing artist for much less, it's probably because they don't realize they can probably charge much more (and if that's true, I'd snatch up the services before telling them they could charge more, haha).

Oh and in case anyone was thinking of asking, I am not taking any design inquiries at the moment. I just wanted to offer some insight (and based on the trend for people leaning towards the less expensive designs, I don't think anyone here would go with me anyway). Best of luck on all your endeavors!

Hey Quill friends - since we need to do our own covers, we have to find our own fonts! There's a packaged deal happening right now for 30 fonts with extended license for professional use for only $29:

http://www.mightydeals.com/deal/massi...

There are some pretty awesome fonts in here that would work on book covers. Check it out! The deal ends in two days, so jump on it now if you're interested.

Cara wrote: "Hey Quill friends - since we need to do our own covers, we have to find our own fonts! There's a packaged deal happening right now for 30 fonts with extended license for professional use for only $..."

THESE ARE SO PRETTY. I might just have to cave and get this. I love designing covers, so it'd be sick to have this set of fonts to play with for them.

Add the coupon code CATSWHOCODE at checkout and save another $4.35!

Hey everyone, thought I'd weigh in here and let you know that I am a cartoonist/illustrator and am interested in doing covers for Quill books. My rates are very reasonable, IMO, and we can discuss them if you're interested. Please take a look at my website www.philrood.com or my current ongoing project at www.inkandsunshine.wordpress.com

if you think I'd be a good fit for your book, contact me via email, a message here in Goodreads, or on Twitter: @philrood

Thank you.

My method: DIY. I'm no great artist, but I've got OK sketch and doodle abilities. If you can scribble out stick figures and such, and have some idea of how you would compose a cover, I recommend you install GIMP (cost is $Free.fiftyFree) and, when your writing engine is dead, spend some time playing with it. Work through a couple of tutorials to get familiar with how it works, and you'll start to understand how it works and what supa powers it gives you.

The thing I've found to do is to come to grips with what kind of art you can and cannot do, and compose an image that fits within those capabilities.

Sometimes simplicity is best - how many book covers are just a close-up of a key or necktie or some crap like that. Writing steampunk? Got a real clock or Grandma's music box nearby? Take a close-up of the guts, goof around with it in GIMP, and I bet you'll come up with a cool cover.

Don't be afraid of tracing. Really. I suck at posing figures. So I image-search till I find a pic posed the way I want, load the image into GIMP, put a layer over it and trace the body's pose. then I give it the details to dress it up like I want. Here's an example, a cover I made for my first self-pub:

It's not great, but it's good considering I'm not a great artist. See the second character from the right? I found a picture of a velociraptor and traced its pose, then added horns and angular bits. And you can probably guess who I traced to make the character all the way to the right.

And it's no coincidence that they're all black-washed silhouettes. Not only did I not want to draw in all the details and shading - I don't think I have the ability to do so. Maybe now, but not then. But even now, my best work is cartoony. So I composed the image so the characters would be backlit. I suck at feet, so I added grass.

And for that glowing gas giant in the sky - there is a free plugin for GIMP that makes planets, atmospheric haze and glow and all. I fed a picture of broken glass and a picture of lettuce into the program, messed around for about an hour, had fun, and voila - planet.

Please do not misunderstand me. I'm not writing this to show off. I'll say it first - the over for BREAK! is neat compared to my abilities, but not great. But it got the job done.

I'm writing to encourage you: if you've got some shred of artistic ability, give a DIY cover a try. You might find, like me, that a tool like GIMP will get the composition in your brain out when ink or paint can't. I think everyone sees the image they want to make in their heads. I think we've all got that kind of artistic ability. It's just pushing the image out through our hands, through ink or paint and onto paper, where artistic eloquence goes "ppppttthhhbbbbttt!" for most of us.