Here is a behind-the-scenes look at a DIY re-cover of Ghost Moon Night, the first book I self-published in 2014.
As it was my first book, back then I hired out all the parts of my book formatting and cover. I absolutely needed to, as I had no idea what I was doing. I barely got my book uploaded to get copies for my Halloween 2014 launch, as it was. I remember how anxious I was and needed as many people on my team as possible.
After several years, I wanted to re-do my cover. Even though the original was beautiful and eye-catching, I wanted to move it away from a silhouette design to one with people, to reflect the YA romance aspect of the story better. I hired the original artist and another artist.
Here is the original and another version I commissioned. (Finding illustrated POC models was hard.)
Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite get the concept translated. So I shelved the idea.
A few days ago, I wanted to do a promo of this book for Halloween and took a stab at some designs. I went through several before people from an indie cover group gave me a thumbs up that I was on the right path.
To create my new cover I used the paid version of Canva (so worth it, over free, just for the background remover alone), free version of Gimp, and trial version of befunky (Artsy > Digital Art > Graphic Novel DLX).
Here’s the new paperback wrap. Why I am excited: I was able to make the changes in a WEEKEND. Skill involved: medium to high. Designer Cost: $0.
If you feel like you are banging your head against the wall to get the right cover, don’t want to gamble hundreds of dollars, have a knowledge of graphic design, and want to make it rapidly, it IS possible! (Of course, it still remains to be seen after my promo if the new covers will make a dent, so I will report back after the holiday.) 🙂
Bottom line: as Rapid Releasers, the more we learn how to DIY different aspects of the publishing business, including covers, the faster and heftier the profit margin will be.
Check out Ghost Moon Night.
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