Cover art from a writer
It's pretty hard to get permission to do your own covers.
I had to be very diplomatic in my cover suggestions. I could tell the publisher didn't want my input so, on the first book with that publisher, I kept it to a simple suggestion (which they took). For the second, I made a stronger suggestion. (They took that one too but still wouldn't let me design the cover. They did, however, use my suggestion for subsequent book covers from other authors in that genre to give the line a particular "look.")
For my third book, I sent them some art work and a verbal description. They didn't execute it quite as well as I felt I could have myself, but they went with the idea. So, it took three books to earn their trust. For the fourth book, the answer was still "No," but at least they agreed to look at the artwork.
Well, I sent them two packages, the artwork they had requested (at my urging) and a full cover design. Then I waited--worried that I had overstepped my bounds.
Finally, I got an answer.
The response was, "This is gorgeous, we'll go with it."
And they did. In fact, they liked it so much, they featured it on one of the sales flyers along with some of their other books.
So, it's not easy, but sometimes you can work up to it, if you are tactful and have professional level design and layout skills.
I like James' idea of registering with their art department. I didn't have that option (my publisher has in-house designers), but it's a good suggestion.
--- Mya Bell
Oh, I should have mentioned... It isn't enough to have professional-level design and layout skills to do a book cover. You also have to have copy writing and promotional/advertising experience. I've worked in publicity and promotion, so I've done enough copy writing and promotional art to be qualified to design book covers.
