When I started my first book, my fear of the unknown kicked in before I finished page one.

My mind raced to all of the things I had to do. Turn my story idea into a plot. Develop characters. Pick names for them and places to take them. Come up with twists and turns to keep my readers intrigued. Oh. My. God! I had all this to do? Just to write a story?

Suddenly, in the background, the shrieking from Psycho filled my head. Holy crap. I need a cover! Me, the one with zero artistic talent. The one who can’t even draw recognizable stick figures. Where do I start? Oh no! I don’t need to come up with one cover, I need two! A front and a back! Actually, three if I count the spine! (The shrieking grew louder.)

Instantly, writing the book became the least of my problems. Why? Because (in my mind) the cover was the most important part of my book. When I roam the pages of Amazon, looking for a new book to read, it’s the covers that I look at. What attracts me? What catches my attention? What reflects the type of story that I’m looking for?

Okay, let’s not panic (too much).

I already knew what my cover had to do: Reflect what my book was about. Attract attention. Grab my potential readers and suck them in. Piece of cake! Ugh, time to look for another occupation and beg for my day job back.

Actually, I did do a lot of begging. Anyone I knew, with even the slightest hint of artistic talent, became a target. I begged. Pleaded. Offered up my first born (my cat). Yay! Every one of them said, “Sure. I’ll be glad to help you.” Then, they all disappeared from my life. Never to be seen again until after my book was published. (Only to disappear again, when they heard I was writing a sequel.)

By now, it’s obvious I’m on my own. So, while shaving one morning, I glanced up and saw a framed post card of a girl, leaning her head against a horse, that we had hung in the bathroom. That’s it! My cover! My book is about girls and horses. Ye! ha!

Wait, I need the artist’s permission to use the picture. Oh no. The post card is from …. Amsterdam?

I searched the internet for him with no luck. Next, I sent my sister-in-law, who was going to Amsterdam on a business trip, on a hunt for the artist. No luck. A month later we were in Amsterdam and looked for him, with the same results. Crap!

That’s when my sister-in-law suggested I look on something called Shutterstock, to see if I could find a picture I might be able to use. At the same time, I discovered that Amazon Kindle Direct (KDP) Publishing had a wide variety of pre-made covers. All you needed to do was add your books title and your name and bingo, instant cover!

Problem was, I couldn’t find anything on KDP that even came close to reflecting what my book was about or, for that matter, something that I liked. I also thought most of them looked …. cheap? Certainly, not what I wanted people to judge my book by. (Pun definitely intended.) In all honesty, I need to add that that was more me than them. I knew what I wanted, and simply put, nothing they had, reflected that.

The next two weeks were spent roaming through Shutterstock. Every time writers block set in, I would go roam Shutterstock for an hour or so. Suddenly, on one of my roams; there it was! My cover picture! A girl and a horse staring into each other’s eyes as she rested her hand alongside his face.  It was perfect! It shouted their love and affection for each other. And, it had a mystical eminence to it; an eminence that reflected the Irish legend of my books’ title.

Great. Now what? I’ve got the perfect picture but, how do I make it into the perfect cover?

Back to pleading with friends, strangers …. even enemies. All with the same result. Everyone I knew was going on vacation, had moved, had their phone disconnected or went deaf whenever I spoke. “Cover? Sorry. Don’t know nothin about no cover.”

Guess I’m on my own again.

This is when I remembered that I had Microsoft Publisher as part of my Office Software package. So, I downloaded my perfect picture, then spent hours on Amazon KDP and CreateSpace, reading and rereading the specifications for covers.

Finally, I got brave enough to plug my picture into a cover file I created. The next week was spent learning how to use Publisher to size my picture, add my title and other text and color and blend the background.

At the end of the week, I was pretty happy with what I had created so I closed my eyes and punched “Print”.

Oh. My. God! As my cover slid out of the printer, I just about peed my pants. I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that this was one of the proudest moments of my life! The thing I had feared the most had become one of my proudest accomplishments. And, I had done it by myself.

At the suggestion of an author friend, I would later redo my cover to soften and blend in the picture and use a more appealing font; each, another new learning experience. I would also create four more covers for my next books, each becoming easier than the last.

But, none shall ever take the place of my first cover! A cover that I still smile and beam with pride at, whenever I look at my first proof!

——-//——

So, why did I tell you that long winded story? For three reasons.

First, to tell you that your cover will be the most important part of any book you write. It is the first thing any reader will see and it will either pull them in, or send them elsewhere.

Ideally, your cover should be attractive, eye catching and tell the reader what your book is about, without them having to read a word. That is not always possible but, those should be the targets you aim for when designing your cover.

The second thing is to start working on your cover from day one. Even if your book is just a concept, start looking for your cover image. Think about a title. What colors will best reflect the subject of your book? Do you want plain, bold, fancy or simple text fonts? Which will appeal to your target readers and best reflect your genre?

Finally, having now produced five covers, (fifteen if you count front, back and spines) I have learned that there is more help out there than you could ever imagine.

There are numerous pre-made covers where you can just plug in your title and text and you’re done. These have come a long way, in terms of quality and selection, since I struggled with my first cover.

There is also a plethora of cover designers who will gladly design your cover for a price. Some are reasonable and some are more expensive so, be sure to look at examples of their work before you committee to one; preferably examples that are in your books genre.

Last but not least, you can take the road I did, and design and produce your own cover. Believe me, if I can do it ….. anyone can. Just be sure to start early and leave yourself as much learning time as you can.

Were to do it over, I would definitely do my own covers. If for no other reason than the pride you feel when you too hit that print button. Even if your fist shot at it ends up being revised and tweaked and polished, it will always be the one you did on your own and, believe me, something you’ll always be proud of.

No matter which path you choose, start early! Think about it every day, with every paragraph you write and every twist and turn and lovers hug or new mystery or cruel deed … because that’s what you’ll build your cover from and what needs to be reflected in it!

Happy writing and most of all ….. happy cover designing!