Choosing a book cover designer isn’t easy.
In this age of self-publishing there are many designers out there selling and designing covers at a huge range of prices.
I found it hard to choose when I was searching for a new design for my book, Piggy Monk Square.
I had one main idea for the cover but was interested in seeking new ideas from different book cover designers.
The problem was that getting new ideas from many different designers is expensive.
So when I heard about 99designs I was very excited.
99 designs enable you to run a contest where artists can submit designs and you get to choose the winner.
This way you get to view a huge range of different cover ideas without it costing you a fortune.
I had researched the idea and decided to go with it.
The first day I opened the contest there were few entries and I was very worried.
What if nobody entered? I needn’t have worried – soon there were entries flowing in.
I stopped worrying about not having enough entries and began to worry about having too many entries.
It took a few weeks for me to whittle them down to a short list and during this time I thought constantly about the designs I was seeing.
I ran some polls to see other views and eliminated them gradually. I tested each one against my own criteria until eventually I was down to my final six.
Piggy Monk Square is a novel narrated by a child who is keeping a terrible secret. She knows the whereabouts of a missing policeman but if she tells she’ll be in trouble.
DOWNLOAD PIGGY MONK SQUARE HERE
I needed a cover image which conveyed her inner conflict. A cover which lets the reader know that this is a book about a girl who has a secret.
I had to rule out a huge amount of images where the girl looked cute or sweet – where there was no depth.
I chose the image from a huge range because it was the most compelling.
The girl look frank and honest.
She looks natural and her eyes seem to speak.
She definitely is keeping a secret.
This was exactly what I had said I wanted when I opened the competition and it was fantastic to see the cover develop into the image you see here.
UPDATE 5TH OCTOBER 2017
Piggy Monk Square is available on Amazon and on all good online retail outlets.
Choosing a book cover designer wasn’t an easy task but it is worth spending the time and money to get the right cover for your book.
I am happy to be able to say that since publication the novel has earned a best seller tag on several occasions.
THE COVER DESIGNER
Pintado works freelance and has a particular interest in catering to authors who need professional graphic designs. You can contact Pintado at www.pintado.weebly.com
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