As a recap to my previous post about my book cover journey, I chose 100 Covers to produce the cover for the prequel to Without A World after randomly asking Twitter designers (not recommended) and then getting fired as a client from a potential designer on Fiverr. (I left her hanging while I was hoping for good things from the Twitter contact. Good things did not come, and when I came back she politely let me know she was busy). So I had to find something else. I was not feeling confident in my abilities to communicate the kind of design I needed or to choose a designer who could produce work I would like. So, I was happy when I found 100 Covers because I would never meet the designer (I was totally down with this), I could get unlimited revisions, and it was $100. So yeah, I was in.

As I said, I was feeling shaky about my ability to communicate my hopes for the design, so I was happy when I got to the 100 Covers (very detailed) questionnaire. It begins by asking for the book blurb or overview. My blurb wasn’t ready, so I gave a detailed overview instead. Next, it asked to send over any requests or design ideas. This is where I let them know it should match the tone and aesthetic of the Without A World cover. 

They asked for two links to bestselling books in my genre that have great covers. All of this was great homework for book marketing in general, but this one was hard because I am picky about cover design. I don’t like the majority of covers out there. I don’t care if the book is bestselling. I don’t want a cover that I don’t like. But I did find two. It was a good exercise because I saw what is selling and clarified my ideas a bit. 

Here are the two examples I sent over of covers that I like.

The next question, more good homework: list the top two book categories I hope to be competitive in. We all need to be able to answer this before publishing, so I dusted off my Publisher Rocket spreadsheets from when I was doing this research for Without A World (since it is the same world). I picked the two most realistic categories from that previous research. I’ll write about that process in a future post.

They ask you to describe the characters in detail, which I did, but with the preface that I do not want character drawings or photos on my covers. Generally, I find images of people very tacky on covers, unless it is done very well like in the Rue Sparks cover here: 

I used the additional comments section to beg they not put a red door on the cover, or people, or the word ‘red’ in red. I hated all of that when I saw it in an earlier version (from a previous designer). This also seemed like a good place to tell them that I am not a jerk, just picky about design. (Or maybe I am a jerk, food for thought).

The site does a good job of setting expectations, so I knew I would have to wait for one to two weeks before I got the first proof. Eight days later they delivered two (!) similar and complete designs. I was so happy that I liked them both! I asked my crew for opinions and they were (mostly) drawn to the one that pulled me in a bit more.

The first proofs…

We went through a few more rounds of small changes and 14 days after the initial contact I had a cover that I really like. For $100 bucks I am happy with the experience and I plan to use them again. It likely could have gone faster but I didn’t have to rush it so I didn’t respond to their emails right away. I sat on it and got other people’s opinions.

And here is the final cover of Behind the Red Door

I am not an affiliate for 100 Covers. I just wanted to share the positive experience in case other authors are looking for affordable cover options.

Until next time!

-Kristen