Writing Stuff (Publishing Opportunities, Contests, Tips, Jokes, Etc)

Wanted: Book Cover Artist

So... idk if you guys know this about me or not but uh....

I write stories... and uh...

I'm actually trying to get one published....

Seriously.

I've been writing it since 2015 and it was meant to be my first story to get published. Like, I literally made up the entire story just for the sake of testing out this Muslim publishing company (MuslimWritersPublishing.com ) but the head of the organization passed away (إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون  ) and their website is no longer up so.... yeah.

Recently, I've decided to try self-publishing. Woohoo.

So I've got the story all written up and edited. I need to do

1) More proofreading  (p.s here's a tip guys and gals: when proofreading, just copy/paste chunks of your story into google translate -english obviously- and have the voice read it back to you. You'll be more apt to notice typos and grammatical errors if you hear them from someone else as opposed to mentally reading over what you wrote because your mind may convince you that what you read is the same was what you intended to write the first time)

2) Book insides (author name, dedications, copyright notice, foreword, etc etc)

3) Get a book cover made.

So I found this really awesome, Muslim artist and she does book covers. I contacted her about pricing and she said her rates are £100 flat ($146.62) and £150 ($213.93) if I want something newly illustrated ie not created from stock images.

😕

Now you guys may not know this but umm

I AM NOT RICH!

Lol. $200+ for a book cover?  Dude, I don't even know if I'll even make $200 from book sales!

So..... that was filed away under "uh... how do I say 'never mind' to this person without sounding rude or too poor?"

😅Lol.

Anyways, yeah. So that brings me here. I decided before I go shopping around for other professional artists out there with their fancy websites and high price tags, maybe I could ask the lovely community here.

Soooooo, are any of my readers artists and would you be willing to work with me on this? I already have a concept in mind for the cover, I've sketched it myself but I'm not satisfied with my own skill so I'm looking for anyone else.

For anyone serious, comment below, and I may give you my business email so that details can be discussed. I'm not necessarily looking for a freebie/handout (although that'd be super awesome and majorly appreciated) but if I'm agreeing to pay anyone I really need it to be great. Ya know?

And uh, feel free to tag anyone you know who might be good for this.

Just some basics, in case you guys don't know I write Islamic Fiction. This particular story is YA/Adventure. And um, oh, there won't be any humans or faces on the cover. So... yeah. Thanks.