I am self publishing my novel and am currently working on my front cover design. Yesterday I stumbled across a forum that dealt with book cover design. I got the impression it was an announcement of a brand new forum on book cover design within the Absolute Write umbrella. I opened it and several authors had submitted their covers for critique and feedback. I was under the impression it was a separate forum just for book cover design and discussion, but I have not been able to find it on Absolute Write. If someone could give me some guidance on how to find that forum, I would be most appreciative . . . On an ancillary note, if I can't find that specific forum on book cover and artistic design, would this forum on the broad subject of Self Publishing be an appropriate place to discuss book cover design, submit a cover and have it critiqued? Thanks.
Book Cover design
- Thread starter Umgowa
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The one you want is https://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?218-Designing-Book-Covers which you can find again later as a subforum of the Art & Design forum, down near the bottom of the forum lists.
I've usually used premade book covers whenever I need a book cover. To me it makes much more sense and is less risky because I know what I pay for before actually paying it. Working with designers can be a wonderful experience but mostly freelance designers aren't book cover designers my profession and finding a real book cover designer is difficult these days. I would recommend www.bookcoverzone.com for a fairly professional and innovative book cover design environment, but they're by far not the only one.
As for professional designers UpWork can definitely be a good place to go. 99design is an environment I stay away from since although the idea is nice, the results you will get are mediocre most of the time.
As for professional designers UpWork can definitely be a good place to go. 99design is an environment I stay away from since although the idea is nice, the results you will get are mediocre most of the time.
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Martin, maybe it's worth mentioning that the link you've included is to your own business: https://www.facebook.com/pg/bookcoverzone/about/
Hi Helix,
Many thanks for the reply. While I work with them a lot and have a discount for the covers I make there (I bring them around 7-10 new authors every month), I'm by no means getting paid by them. So no, it's not my business (they're based in Taiwan as far as I know) but it is my go-to address and I'm honored to be on their team. I am recommending their service but I'm also an avid user of Kingwood (www.kingwoodcreations.com), usually by referring authors to their service. I'm sorry it sounded as self-promotion, but believe me, I'm not an employee of any of the companies I work with.
All the best,
Martin
Many thanks for the reply. While I work with them a lot and have a discount for the covers I make there (I bring them around 7-10 new authors every month), I'm by no means getting paid by them. So no, it's not my business (they're based in Taiwan as far as I know) but it is my go-to address and I'm honored to be on their team. I am recommending their service but I'm also an avid user of Kingwood (www.kingwoodcreations.com), usually by referring authors to their service. I'm sorry it sounded as self-promotion, but believe me, I'm not an employee of any of the companies I work with.
All the best,
Martin
You should disclose the connection to places where you're connected. If you're doing freelance work for them, you're still connected. If you're working for free, you're still connected. The point isn't whether it's your company or you're employed full time... you're not unconnected, so it should be disclosed without someone having to call you on it. In the case of the first, it looks like it's an informal affiliate scheme, where you get discounts for referrals.
I'm a member of a number of affiliate schemes. It's not that this is bad in itself. But I have to disclose that on my blog. If I post a link on social media, I need to note it's an affiliate link in the same message/thread. There are legal requirements for this, as well as the general ethical thing of letting people know the connection so they can make informed decisions.
In other words, you should have included this information and there's no excuse for not including it. You don't have to get into the details every time, but at least say "I'm a team member for this company".
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OP, I strongly recommend getting a professional cover. I use Deranged Doctor Design (http://www.derangeddoctordesign.com/), as do several other AWers, but if that's too expensive, at least find someone on Fiverr. A homemade job usually won't get it done.
Then when you have a proposed cover, you can post that on the cover subforum before you approve it. DDD is quite patient about me seeking feedback before I give final approval. Probably many cover artists will understand this. You can make it an up-front condition of doing the cover.
Then when you have a proposed cover, you can post that on the cover subforum before you approve it. DDD is quite patient about me seeking feedback before I give final approval. Probably many cover artists will understand this. You can make it an up-front condition of doing the cover.
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The Book Cover Zone FB page lists only you as a team member and your own FB page identifies you as the manager of Book Cover Zone. Your FB page says you're in Taiwan. And you've used multiple stock photos to represent yourself on your personal page. So I'm not sure what to believe.
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