Going Forward

I thought about it, rolled it around in my mind, went back and viewed Canva's book cover templates again; then it hit me: this is the last book I'll ever write. This is the one I'm proud of. Do I really want to see it sitting on my shelf and cringe? 

So, I'm going with Miblart. For $270.00 I'll get both an ebook and a paperback cover. I wasn't about to do one and not the other. How would that look on Amazon? It costs $50.00 more to do both, but if I'm spending $220.00 already for the ebook cover, why look like a weirdo?

Word to the wise: I probably wouldn't have considered Miblart, had they not offered a free cover design idea. Damonza has its cover review (for an author's current cover) and Miblart has this. Other companies, you've got to offer people an incentive; a "magnet", if you will. It's not just authors who are duty bound to offer them. 

I wouldn't call Miblart a compromise, per se; more a sound financial decision. I absolutely can't pay two thousand dollars for a fabulous book cover. $270.00 is a stretch, but at least they'll let me split it into two payments.

It's still scary, though. I have no idea what to expect. The brief asked for my blurb and what I'm "going for". (I wish I knew.) I wrote something about an "emotional journey", I think, and asked for a cover that's genre-conforming. See, if I knew what I wanted, what would I need you people for? 

Miblart's fiction portfolio is actually pretty good, but I'll need to wait about nine days before I see their initial concept. Their free design idea included some sort of floating musical notes, which I immediately nixed. A little too cheesy for my taste, but the rest of their ideas sounded good. And how in the world could the cover be any worse than what I already have? Whether it's two hundred and seventy dollars better remains to be seen.

Thus, I'm capping off my writing career by throwing everything I have into this novel. At least it'll look pretty on my shelf.