Happy Fri-Yay!

I have a burning matter I need to discuss and get off my chest. I feel like somehow, this isn’t talked about nearly enough, and it’s because most indie authors aren’t doing it at all to begin with.

Firstly, it is so incredibly difficult to find an artist that matches the style of art I want to have created for and associated with my books. For me, I’m always going to hold quality and style as far more important than price.

I feel that most indie authors work in the reverse order to this. They’re mostly concerned with spending the least amount possible to produce their books - most don’t even bother getting professionally done covers, or character art. Both are MASSIVE marketing opportunities for indie authors. Art draws people in. If your covers looks unprofessional and super cheaply done, a reader will use that as their reason not to read your work.

And yes, I know art can be expensive. But in the same way that you invested in an editor to make sure the story inside the book is up to par, you need to hire a cover designer to make sure the outside of your book is up to par. OR you need to learn how to make genre appropriate covers that look attractive.

If you couldn’t be bothered to make sure that the book looked well done, readers have no reason to believe that the insides, the story, will be worth their while. Especially because most of these readers are used to buying trad books, or supporting indie authors who are much bigger than us.

It truly grinds my gears watching these indie authors butcher their marketing - covers and art - and then expecting to become a best seller.

Anyway, for me, priority will always be given to finding an artist that matches the vision I have in my head. My highest dream of ‘I want this book to look like this’. That is the artist I search out, and I worry about the price later.

The focus is always: Can this artist execute this vision exactly the way I want it.

Because of that, I know that my books, when I finally publish them, will be standouts amongst the crowd. Nothing less than the best for my characters.

In the meantime, I’m still struggling to find artists that I believe can execute this grandiose vision of mine.

The constant influx of the wrong kind of artists reaching out and asking to work with me makes the search even harder. It’s because I made a post on Threads complaining that I couldn’t find an artist that matches my style for my upcoming trilogy covers. Even though I turned off replies to the post, artists are still flooding my inbox on Instagram, asking to do my covers.

That’s all well and good, but they’re the wrong kind of artists. Most are new artists - nothing on their pages except a few pieces of art they did in a random style a couple of months ago. I have no evidence of their art style, flexibility, consistency, or trustworthiness via commissions they’ve done for other people.

Nothing. Just them in my inbox trying to convince me that they can draw my cover however I want it and not taking ‘no’ for an answer.

I’m not looking to hire a generalist as a cover designer. I want someone who has spent time and energy and effort developing and refining their style. I want someone who has a long line of commissions they’ve already done.

A book is far too important, and too pricey of an investment to give a random artist a trial run.

And if you’re thinking that I sound ‘harsh’, perhaps this is an excellent opportunity to examine your own views of the impact and value of art, and how you perceive the worth of your own books.

Would you pay an unvetted artist $300 to draw a cover? When you know good and well from their previous work that they’re not the right fit? Would you invest all that money just to be ‘nice’ and ‘give a new artist a chance’?

I wouldn’t pay an untrained doctor to do surgery on me. Does that also make me mean? The doctor is a good person. Shouldn’t I give them a chance to learn?

This is business, babe. I’m not making poor investments just because I’m scared to come off as superior or mean.

Until I find the right artist, the search continues.

P.S I might start doing newsletters twice a week because I have a lot to say! I’m a blabber mouth sorry :’)