Book Cover Options

Harlan Hague

Since the trends in book publication are toward self-publishing in both ebooks and print, there are many options open for the author. This applies to covers as well as content.

Here are a few examples of the various methods by which the covers of some of my books have been prepared for publication.

I produced this cover in Photoshop Elements, using my digital picture as background. It's plain vanilla, but it suffices for me. The ebook was put up on Smashwords. I didn't do a print edition of this volume.

This cover was produced in-house at a commercial publisher, using a Charles M. Russell painting as background. I obtained permission from the art museum that owns the painting.

I used a CreateSpace template for this print book. The front cover is rather plain, but still striking, I thought. I was impressed with the back cover, which includes an ethereal view of Mt. Fuji. The book is set in Japan and a university town on the west coast of the U.S.

This is the cover for the Sakura ebook. I produced it in Photoshop Elements, using my photo. Again, plain vanilla, but I like it better than the CreateSpace template. The ebook was put up on Smashwords.

This cover was produced by a designer at the commercial publisher, Rebecca J. Vickery's Western Trail Blazer, using a stock photo. The book isn't a romance novel, in spite of the cover, though it does include a love story. The publisher was hoping for some crossover among her readers of westerns and romance. Some commercial publishers permit considerable author input; others permit little or none. Rebecca welcomes input, and I gave my okay on the cover.

Here is an example of a self-published book with a cover done by a professional. The book is another reprint of the Road to California volume. The content is slightly changed, and I wanted a volume under my own imprint, Graycatbird Books. This killer cover was produced by a professional graphics designer, using an 1860 print in my collection. This was her first cover. She did it gratis for me since she is a friend, but she may be interested in doing other covers for a fee, which I wager will be less than most professionals charge.