Guest Post: Steve Schmutz - Your Book Cover is Your First (and possibly last) Impression

The old saying is true, we really do judge books by their cover. How many times have you walked into a B&N or gone to Amazon.com to look for a new read? That’s right, about a million. So you walk (or click) to your favorite genre and start browsing. We do one of two things: either we look for a particular author, or we browse the shelves looking for something that grabs our attention.

I recently released my first book, “Sons of Prophecy: Davian’s Deception.” If I do say so myself, my cover rocks! You can see for yourself right here.

As a self-published, self-financed author, how and where I spend money on my book is important. To me, the cover had to be 100% awesome - no cheap stuff. So how did I go about it?

CrowdSPRING.

I love CrowdSPRING - it’s one of the coolest sites on the internet, and one of the things that makes the internet so awesome. 

Think about it - you’re an average Joe or Jane and you have a project - a product to name, a logo to be designed, a book cover to be created, whatever…. So you could call one of your friends, or your sister-in-law, but what happens if you don’t like their stuff? Ya, awkward. Thanks to CrowdSPRING, you can get what you want at the price you’re willing to pay.

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Here's How It Works:

Step 1: Get Registered.
Super easy. Just go to CrowdSPRING.com and click the “Join” link in the top right corner. Enter the normal stuff and away you go. You don’t have to give them your credit card or anything like that, so don’t worry. It’s painless.

Step 2: Start a Project.
Click the pink link at the top of the screen to Start a New Project. You’ll see a screen with various options - including “Print Design,” which is where you’ll find book covers.  

Step 3: Define Your Project.
Next, you give your project a name, and provide the details - like giving a synopsis of your book, etc.You can easily follow the steps on the site.

Browsing

One thing I would definitely recommend is browsing. Select the “Browse” option from the home screen and take a look at the “live” projects. It’s pretty cool. You can look around and get an idea for what’s going on. The thing I love about this is you can see what various Creatives (artists) do. You can actually click on the “Creatives” tab and view portfolios. That’s how I got started. I looked at a few portfolios and invited Creatives to submit an entry for my cover.

You Get What You Pay For

Okay, I’m using another “saying” in this post, but it’s just as true as the book cover one. You really do get what you pay for. When I first created my project, I put a price of $299 (or something like that). The entries I got back were… well, crappy. Honestly, my 6 year old granddaughter could have done a better job than some of the stuff that came through. Not satisfied with ANY OF THEM, I decided to up the price and promote my project. Well worth the money!

I ended up spending around $800, including tips I gave to the winner and the runner up. I felt bad for the guy who took second because his work was WAY good - just not as good as the winner’s. 

Small World brought to you by CrowdSPRING

So here I am, an unknown author from Utah who wants a killer book cover. I end up choosing a guy from the Philippines who created just the look and feel I wanted in my book cover. Pretty cool.

I will use CrowdSPRING again without a doubt.
As you know, your book’s cover is your first and possibly only impression. Make it count! 

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About Steve Schmutz

Before seventh grade, Steve hated to read, but a stroke of fate happened one day when his friends introduced him to the amazing world of J.R.R Tolkien.  Literally overnight, Steve found himself reading like never before.  A new world was opened to his eyes—a world that would never again be without a book or two on his shelf, in his pocket, and on his mind.

Although Steve’s love for books has spread to other genres, his love for fantasy always has been and always will be his home.

Steve has been married to his best friend for over 30 years.  They have five beautiful daughters, all whom are married to excellent men. Steve and his wife, Becky, will soon welcome their twelfth grandchild into the family.

In addition to reading and writing, Steve enjoys spending time with his family, working in his yard, running, hiking, golfing, and traveling with his wife.  They live in Utah where Steve is a software entrepreneur specializing in claims and risk management solutions.


Find Steve and his book on Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/Steven-W.-Schmutz/e/B00DRY1TZ6
Check out his website/blog here: http://www.sonsofprophecy.com/

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