Writing and Wattpadding (a guide)

Covers

I'm going to talk a bit about covers. I touched on this just a tad in the getting readers section, but I believe that this is a topic worth its own section. The success of your book does partially hinge on what your book looks like, after all. 

As I said back then, there's the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover." That's exactly what we do though. We're human and we like attractive things. Books are no exception. In fact, I would argue that we need to be even pickier with books. 

There are millions and millions of books available in book stores, even more that are available as ebook only through online sites such as Amazon, and then you have the millions of stories found on this site. Simply put: too many books, not enough time. So we don't want to waste our time reading a book that we don't think we'll be interested in. Instead, we're going to go for that book that catches our eye. The one that says "Read me! Read me!" But how do you create that book?

It's a formula really it's one part cover, one part description, and one part story line. These are the three stages you have to pass for a reader to keep your interest. You have to grab their eyes with your cover, stroke their intrigue with a hook/description, and hold their interest with your plot line. So let's focus on that cover bit. 

You need something that captures the essence of your story. If it's a Paranormal Romance, don't just focus on the romance aspect and completely forget about the paranormal. You want the readers to know that they can expect the paranormal to pop up. If you have two covers for the same book, you could be targeting two different crowds depending on what your cover looks like. Make sure your cover is for the crowd you want. 

What scene is the essence of your story? Where does everything come together? What is the one thing your story will be remembered by? That's what you want as your cover. I know, that's extremely difficult to do. I even have a hard time with it. There may be a couple professionals out there, for the most part, we're not professionals. We don't know how to make covers to publishing standard. We do well enough to get a picture to slap a title on and then upload it. 

It takes a lot of time to search through and find an image that captures the essence of your story. You should be picky about what you want to represent your cover. I know I am. 

I use Photoshop to do my covers, so I don't restrict myself to only one photo. I have tools that help me combine different pictures. THE HUNTRESS cover is something like that. I have the guy photoshopped in behind the girl. Someone else did the cover for DON'T SET HIM FREE, but the guy on that cover was Photoshopped in as well. There are some free sites. One I know of is picmonkey. I don't know how to use them though because Photoshop is the only program I'm familiar with. 

It doesn't matter what method you use, as long as you have a cover that can express the meaning of your book in one image, and as long as it attracts readers. 

If you use the site, there are clubs you can join under the Community tab. There is a club for multimedia and you can find people who make covers in there. Some ask for a "payment" which is usually a dedication or a follow. You can use this method as well if you really can't make a cover yourself. Before you decide what person you want to go with, make sure you know what you're willing to give them. Are you willing to dedicate a chapter to them? Are you willing to follow that person even if you're not interested in the works they have? Are you willing to read, vote, and comment on the first however many chapters of one of their stories? It's all up to you. I would also advise looking at other covers they have made. They will most likely have an album or something of past work for you to look at. They also post covers they make in the thread sometimes. Just make sure you pick someone who has work you like, and someone who asks for something you're willing to do for that cover. 

I would advise you try to create a cover yourself before choosing that option though. 

If you have any other questions about covers or anything else, please drop your question in the comments below. I hope this has helped those of you who are maybe unsure about how to tackle the cover of your story.