Why I Changed My Cover Right Before Publishing

If you are an author that plans to self publish your book you know the struggles of getting everything ready before your reveal dates and publishing dates. But for those of you who don’t know, if you Self Publish you essentially have to do every single thing yourself or outsource your work if you have the money. If you traditionally publish everything is done for you, but this also means that there is a lot of things that are taken out of your control.

Marketing?

Blurb?

Cover?

It is now the duty of your publisher to figure that out in lieu of you. Some people like this though! And my dream is to be a hybrid of traditionally published and self published so not knocking on any one here.

So now that we know a little back ground lets get into it.

My reflection

This is one of my first books so I have made some mistakes. One of them is the cover. I definitely rushed into getting my cover done. I was excited at getting it out there in the world. I was—am— proud of my work. After months of writing and pouring my should into this book I wanted it out there as soon as possible. But I realized now that this is really what was the down fall of my cover.

***Before going into specific points I want to STRESS that this is not the artists fault in any way. This was because of my own impulsiveness. The artist provide the service I paid for. ***

1. The Page Count Was Incorrect

Because of my rush I had commissioned my artist before the my edits were completely done. In my mind I wanted them done at the same time so I could publish it almost immediately after it was done.

Honestly, that wouldn’t have been a bad idea if I didn’t have a lot of redundancies in my work. Going back to the Self Publish issue. We are the ones that have to revise multiple times. So if you get your edits back and there was big plot wholes or issues with the pacing, if you do major edits yourself you better hope you did it well or you will have to send it back to the editor.

So my page count went down a few pages and it no longer for the cover that was designed

2. I Picked a Design I Thought Would Sell; Not One I liked

This is the one I kick myself the most for because it was totally in my control. When I looked at other fantasy books I looked to best sellers and they all had one or two things.

A dark background and a weapon on the front.

A dagger was actually a big part of the story so I thought it would be perfect. But after it was finished I realized that the cover I was tying so hard to stay away from was the covers I actually really wanted.

Also all the trends that I looked at were from a few years ago, not was currently popular.

3. I Pick a Designer Not An Illustrator

This goes back to not picking a style I liked. The artist really delivered on what I asked and actually made a really pretty cover, but it just wasn’t what I wanted and it is because of that small difference. If I had done more research I would have saved more money in the long run.

Last Thoughts

So for those wondering, I do have a cover being made and will be revealed soon. As for the other cover, I paid him and was on my way! I didn’t ask for a refund. I didn’t go back and say I didn’t want it anymore. I simply paid and left.

He did the service I asked for so I should rightfully pay for it.

So while I am saddened that my ARCS will not go out yet, I am happy to just have a book that I will be proud of.

And that’s really all it boils down to… Are you happy with your work?

When you get your book, will you proudly hang it on your shelf or will you put it away?

I knew my answer and I ask that all Self Publishers ask this question before making the same mistake.