thanks for this!! i'm definitely in the looking-for-cover-art stage. i'm giving myself lots of time to research and find the best ones. any good recommendations of particular cover artists?
also, what are some thoughts about costs and formatting? i'm running number estimates in my head, and freaking out. i'm not the most tech-savvy, so i don't think i can do good cover art and the formatting w/o commissioning someone. the grand total for both would prob be around $400. that means, i'll have to sell nearly 1,300 copies of my short story before i break even, which seems like a lot.... maybe i'm being a pessimist, but i'm completely new to this self-publishing thing, so dunno what to expect realistically.
You know, this is pretty much the same line of thought I followed---and I think it cost me a bit. What I did was go out and start researching artists online, looking at portfolios and prices and estimates, then contacting those I thought would be the most appropriate for my situation.
So far so good, eh? I mean there's nothing wrong with any of that on the surface, and it could have worked out perfectly well for me.
But what happened was that I chose as you might expect, someone who was a great balance of wonderful art, good price, good work history, and a good quoted time frame. Which still sounds great. But then reality starts creeping in. You find out after you engage the guy or gal that he or she has other clients with bigger projects, and after all, you're just a first-time author, (though that is unspoken, as indeed is much of this). So expected deadlines slide and you take his promises, (after all, what are you going to do--you can't draw the thing, and to engage anyone else means starting all over again.
Then they let you know they've finished, but something has happened, something they should be able to fix. Then all communication stops. No matter how many e-mails you send, you get no answer.
Okay, this happened to me and I recovered from it by eventually engaging someone else, so I sat down and analyzed what I did wrong.
First, I went with a bigger name than I warranted as a first-time author, and I went in late in the game, when my deadlines were already starting to press up against what most artists could reasonably be expected to do.
Looking back on it, I should have gone to my local art supply store, and my local comic book shop, (even if you aren't an artist or a reader of comic books), to talk to the owners of those shops and find out who locally can supply my art needs. Those people are more likely to treat your project with greater importance and respect than an average random pro, especially if they do already know you. And they're a lot easier to get in touch with when you need to. This is in fact what I wound up doing, and got my art expedited because the artist was a friend and knew of my problem.
Next book, I plan on going with him from the start, but also I plan on giving him my requirements when I'm 75% done with my first draft. You'll never suffer from having your cover and catalog image done too early, but you will if you let it go too late, (assuming of course that you write someone like me and know what you best moments from your story are before you start).
Second, I only established one form of communication---email. There are times when both you and your artist are perhaps not going to want to talk to the other---but you need to be able to do so. So get a phone number, and give one too. In addition to whatever email addressed you get, (and get more than one).
As far a cost go, there's no hard and fast rule. Just do keep in mind that the old adage about getting what you pay for is as apt to be true here as anywhere. From my researches, anywhere from $150 US to $450 US isn't out of the ordinary.
If you search the internet, broadly speaking there are three types of artists you'll run into. The first two; the pros, seem to come in two basic flavors. Comic book artists, (who these days can be very much better than many people might think), and fantasy/sci-fi cover artists. The former usually offer shorter turn around times and lower costs.
The third type, exemplified by the website Deviant Art, encompasses a world of pros and amateurs of indefinable ability and reliability. That last is a problem, since you never know what you're going to get. Much like Mama Gump's chocolates, that also applies to every other artist you might engage to varying degrees, which is why I recommend using someone you know.
As for me, eventually, I intend, in my copious spare time between work, writing, personal life, and well...writing, to teach myself art, so that perhaps some day in the distant future, I might not be subject to the whims of others in that respect.
