Why and how to revamp your book cover
One of the most challenging things about being creative is looking back at what you produced in years prior, and because you have got better and learned so much since that time, there may often be a sense of embarrassment about what you created before. In this quote, Ira Glass articulates what I am trying to say, perfectly:
I feel this way about my writing, and I feel this way about the other aspects of creativity I use in my work and business. Graphic design and my artistic sense is definitely one of those things.
Over the last couple of years I’ve written three book marketing guides that I am very proud of. 77 Ways to Find New Readers for Your Self-Published Book continues to get wonderful reviews, and has been #1 in several Amazon categories. That book is definitely one of my favorites.
But recently I’ve felt totally uneasy about the cover. I worked with a professional designer to create it, and was happy with it at the time. Now though, I look at it and feel like it’s totally underselling the book. My taste has changed, and hopefully improved, and I’m embarrassed and underwhelmed with its cover.
So yesterday, I set about making a new one. Here’s the result:
I thought that I might work on a concept, and then hand it off to a designer to finish up for me. But once I started playing around with on a graphic design site, I realized that I was actually pretty darn happy with the work little old me produced. That solved an important problem for me; I often struggle to communicate with a designer about what I want for my cover or other graphic needs. Using the site was rather liberating – I could actually make the new cover look how I want it to look!
Once I got started, I couldn’t stop :) Here are the other two covers I revamped:
Before:
And after…
Before…
And after…
Looking at my old covers is like looking back at old Facebook photos and realizing that awesome haircut in college? It really didn’t look as good as you thought it did. Those sunglasses you sported last summer? Way ugly. Who knows, maybe I’ll feel the same way about these covers in a couple of years time! In the meantime, however, I’m going to enjoy putting these new covers up and feeling as proud of them as I do about the writing inside.
Have you thought about revamping your covers recently? I absolutely recommend working with a professional if that works for you (hint: a lot of the best book designers live over on Reedsy!) or you can get your hands dirty and do it yourself if you prefer.
And if you’d like to check out my books with their brand spanking new covers, you can find them here :)
Thanks for the great tip! I’d never heard of Canva before and now I’m going to check it out! Thanks Laura!