Finding a Cover

I'm finally ready to concede that my Canva-designed book covers just don't cut it. I loved most of the originals, but they weren't selling books, so I changed them all out and replaced them with ugly but genre-appropriate ones. Those aren't selling books, either. I spent too much time stewing over them and I mostly despise the new ones. They're devoid of any personality.

But unless I can find a hell of a deal, for my current novel, the one that really matters, I'm either going to be forced to go with Canva or some stock photo site. I won't rule out stock photo sites completely, but I've looked at them and I'm not impressed. I bought a couple of images from istock in the past and ended up not using them. I was desperate to find an appropriate image for The Diner Girl, and after exhausting Pixabay's free selections, I found an inexpensive option on istock, but it took a damn lot of searching. In the end, it wasn't right, either.

The problem with stock photo sites is that all the photos are staged. When I was using strictly images of women on my covers, I rarely found one that wasn't carefully posed. I detest those. To make things worse, the models are almost always smiling. My books aren't happy romps in the park. 

Many self-published authors recommend depositphotos, but I honestly don't get it. The images are akin to Pixabay's, only there are a lot more of them, and you have to tinker around with buying credits. This is just unnecessary bullshit. How about just buying a photo? How many damn images does an author need? I'm not about to buy one of their "packages".

Another site a lot of authors use is getcovers, which unlike stock sites actually designs book covers, and the price is right ~ around $25.00 to $35.00 dollars. Again I took a look, and the sample covers are "nice", but they're all rather sparkly and very much geared toward fantasy. The author purportedly works with the team to get a cover that's right; that matches his or her vision. But what if you don't have a vision?  

What I would like to do is hire a professional designer. They don't come cheap. In fact, they're priced out of my range, so "what I would like to do" will never mesh with reality. In my dream world, I would tell the artist about my book and they would come up with a vision that is not only wonderful but genre-appropriate. And it would be something I could never imagine. As an example, Reedsy's average designer cost is $500 - $800! For a book that'll never sell more than four or five copies? I would have to be insane. And independently wealthy. 

In the end, I'll likely have to design my own, and we know how that turns out. Maybe I could go minimalist ~ no cover image; just big block letters on a plain background. Because austerity is really what I'm aiming for. 😏 Instead of Second Chance, I'll title my book "Just Sing", like it's a direct order. That'll whip buyers into shape. They'll be afraid not to buy it.

I'm done messing around, people.