A cover is the first thing a prospective reader sees. If the title and cover are enticing, they click on (or pick up) the book and check out the blurb. If the cover looks amateurish, is difficult to read, or just isn't attractive, they won't look at the book.

It's that simple: people DO judge a book by its cover.

There are three main sources of book covers: buy a custom-designed cover, buy a pre-made cover, or design your own.

Buy a custom-designed cover

A custom-designed cover can be expensive -- it can run from a couple hundred dollars to a thousand or more. A custom-designed cover is unique, which means another book won't have the same cover.

If you purchase a custom-designed cover from a professional cover designer, it will LOOK professional and stand out, particularly among self-published books, where professionally-designed covers are rare.

There are many resources for finding a freelance professional cover designer. One of my favorite, however, is 99 Designs. For $299 you can get approximately 30 designs made for your book.

http://99designs.com/pricing/book-cover-design

Another resource for a custom cover -- and one that could be a great choice for a budget-conscious writer -- is the Multimedia Club on Wattpad. There are some very talented designers creating covers here. Look at the books in your genre, find covers you like, and ask the authors who made their cover. Then contact the designer privately and ask if they would consider making a cover for your self-published book.

If you do this, you MUST make sure they are using artwork and photos licensed for commercial use. It doesn't matter that someone else made the cover. If the photo is stolen, and you use it, YOU will be liable.

Buy a pre-made cover

If you don't have the skills to make your own book cover, and you don't have the funds to commission a custom design from a professional, consider a pre-made cover.

Sites that sell pre-made covers work with the artists to create different types of cover designs. When you choose a cover, the artist will add your book's title and your name. Ideally, that cover will then be removed from sale, but this will vary by site. Some will allow a cover to be sold a certain number of times before being removed, which means other people will have the same cover you do.

The Author Marketing Club has a gallery of pre-made book covers for ebooks -- http://authormarketingclub.com/members/pre-made-book-covers/

That is just one site. Do an internet search to find others.

Cost for premade covers range from $20 to a few hundred dollars. Most are in the $50 range.

Design your own

Designing your own cover is the least expensive of the three options. If you use your own artwork or photograph, it can conceivably be free. So, hey, all you need is a graphics program, and you're good to go. Right?

WRONG.

Being able to make a book cover and being able to make a GOOD book cover are completely different things. How much skill do you have with that graphics program? Do you know what fonts are and are not appropriate for the genre of your book? Do you understand design principles well enough to know how to arrange the elements in a way that draws attention exactly where it needs to be drawn?

If you do, that's awesome! Being able to design your own cover is a great skill to have (and I'm envious). If you don't have that skill, though, don't try to save money by doing it yourself. A bad cover will cost you readers.

If you're determined to do it yourself, look at the covers of the hot sellers in your genre at Amazon. What do they have in common? Compare them to the covers of hot sellers in other genres. How do the romance covers differ from mysteries or fantasies? Your cover needs to be appropriate for your genre.

Your cover also needs to evoke the appropriate emotion and associations. A cover for a steamy romance will have colors and elements that evoke different emotions than a political thriller.

Look back to the list of keywords you compiled when brainstorming your title. What imagery is evoked?

As your concept for your cover comes together, look back at the hot sellers in your genre for other design tips. Look at fonts, placement and relative size of text, and different effects. Notice how these elements vary in different genres, and make sure to make appropriate choices.

Many covers use photos or other commercial artwork. You cannot simply pull a photo you like off the web. That's copyright infringement, and you -- or your parents, if you're under 18 -- are very likely to get sued. You can use only photos that have a license allowing commercial use. One source for these photos is Wikimedia Commons:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Read the license. Not all images on that site allow commercial use. You can also purchase a photo from a stock photo site or from the original photographer. Price will vary by size and resolution.

Like with your title, you might consider creating several different concepts and having people vote on them before you delve into the details one specific one. After you finish your cover, consider posting it to Wattpad or the forums at Absolute Write for critique. Listen to the feedback, and expect to do several rounds of revision.

Just for fun, you might also want to take a look at the Lousy Book Covers site to see why doing your own cover isn't generally recommended:

http://lousybookcovers.tumblr.com/

A word about ebook vs. print

--Ebooks need only a front cover and can be a lower resolution (minimum resolution 72 dpi).

--Print books need a front cover, spine, and back cover and must be high resolution (minimum 300 dpi).

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Did this chapter answer a question you had? It would be great if you would press that little star graphic in the top right corner. If not, just carry on reading and vote for one you find more helpful. Oh, I'd be happy to answer your questions in the comments below, as well. --XG