are covers important in self-pub/Kindle world?

[Writer]

See question on subject.

 

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[Red]

I dunno, are looks important in the people you date?

 

[Gymjunkie]

It's a multiplier. Some people get intrigued by cover and check out the book just because of it. Doesn't always buy (maybe a bad description or just not their type of book), but it can multiply the amount of attention it gets. Some people don't care (but that's a very small part of buyers, most people are visual).

 

[Writer]

Thanks. Would you suggest making your own cover? I saw that GoOnWrite.com sells them for $40, but until I get more experience w/ epublishing it might be difficult to get the investment back...

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Do you have experience with graphic design in a program like Gimp, Inkscape, or Photoshop?

If not, then don't do it yourself unless you have plenty of time to spend on it.

Otherwise get one for $5.00 for now on Fiverr, then when you make some sales upgrade to the more expensive options.

 

[Writer]

thanks for Fiverr.
I am ok with photoshop and GIMP, but I'd rather spend my time writing...

 

[Lex DeVille]

I'm good with inkscape and gimp but I'm going back to fiverr for now due to spending hours on design.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

Thanks. Would you suggest making your own cover? I saw that GoOnWrite.com sells them for $40, but until I get more experience w/ epublishing it might be difficult to get the investment back...

Not really. Everything has opportunity cost. You could spend the time learning how to design or writing/marketing. You're way better of with choice no.2.

If $40 is an investment, you got problems... that's not much at all. Normal cover costs from $200-500 and you'd get what can stand up to any cover made by big NYC publishers. Now I'm not saying you have to buy it now, but if you're hesitant about buying $40 premade cover than you're not in the right mindset. You're not likely to get investment back fast either way, so don't expect it, just write as many books as you can as fast as possible (some write 3 some write 5 a year). They will compound slowly and make bigger and bigger income. Maybe you'd release 10, none of them does incredibly well but the 11th one takes off and then sales for others go up too. That's likely. Looking for instant ROI is wrong when self-publishing. It's a marathon.

You can totally use your writing skill to get another income and write articles etc Content is very much needed these days and you could make money to invest in the book that way if your current job is very low pay.

 

[Writer]

@Gymjunkie thank you for your reply, especially for ". Looking for instant ROI is wrong when self-publishing. It's a marathon."

I guess I have to learn to be more patient and trust myself a little bit more.

 

[The-J]

Would like to hear opinions from people who have self published a lot of books and have done tests.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

@Gymjunkie thank you for your reply, especially for ". Looking for instant ROI is wrong when self-publishing. It's a marathon."

I guess I have to learn to be more patient and trust myself a little bit more.

Hey, we all been there. In any business endevour.

It will be slow, but you can see success stories in this forum already. It's possible, just don't overexpect at first. Sometimes people build up so much expectations but when it doesn't workout as fast as they want and they give up. Better to tamper expectations and slow build. You'll win!

 

[Berliner030]

The cover is one of the most important things next to the title and the product description. It is the first thing that people see and decides if they will take a closer look (and hopefully buy) or not.

So again, here are the basics:

1. The title (with keywords; to place your book and get visible for the readers)
2. A good cover design that catches the attention of the readers
3. A formatted product description (with headlines, bullet points and so on)
4. A nice preview (look-inside feature; maybe with a prolog or some graphical stuff to catch the readers)

These are the basic "marketing tools" that every author has. So there is no reason/excuse why you dont work on this things as perfect as you can. Only if you are able to make these points perfect, it makes sense to think on external marketing like a website (+email list), facebook, twitter and so on.

Think about it: If your book is new and has no reviews ...the readers are buying your book without an idea if it is really good or just crap. So your book sells only because of the 4 points above. You could even publish a blank book with 100 white pages: If your marketing is good, it sells!

Sure, for long term success your book content has to be a good quality too but you can write the best book of the world: If your marketing is bad (and even if you do not perfectly implements the basics) success will be a matter of luck.

But succes has nothing to do with luck. Only with a good product and a smart marketing.

Btw: I write non fiction since may 2014; i have published 8 ebooks and 1 print book; i make about $3k/month. so i know what im talking about.

 

[Writer]

@Berliner030 thank you very much for your reply. I just published my first book, under a pen name. It is actually a very short story (only 1500 words). I published it mainly to check out the process and the options. It is going to be free for five days (no one will buy it).
I will ask more questions in the future.

 

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[Lauryn]

I've made some really bad and crappy covers and made money, but just because I did this does not mean I recommend this. Go On Write has some amazing covers at obscene prices. The cover you see on my avatar is from him, and it inspired an entire series.

Invest in what you're doing and if you're not making $50 a month before a year is out, you have so much more to worry about than the cover.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Premade covers are great for short stories. I wouldn't suggest buying a custom cover for short story at first, that would be too much investment. But if you make few thousand by releasing each new short story then it becomes a viable investment.