Sub-Question:
How do you make your promo graphics?
I make almost all of my own covers, yes! The only one I haven't made myself is the cover for As the Crow Falls, which I commissioned—both because I wanted it to be extra pretty, and because the vibe I wanted for it was one I didn't have the tools or skills to achieve on my own.
I got hooked on graphic design about two years ago. It all started with a book-promotion graphic I had to make for my novella Dreamcatcher as part of a cross-promotion campaign... you can see how far my skills have come since then!
First graphic:
Latest graphic:
You can also see that the book had a very different cover back in the day. That cover was made with a gorgeous photo I found on the internet, because I didn't know any better at the time. It wasn't until I spent more time in writing communities that I learned most photos on the internet are copyright-restricted, and that pulling one off Pinterest—even if I couldn't track down the original artist with a thorough reverse-image search—was the artistic equivalent of an artist pulling a quote from one of my books and slapping it on their website to promote their artwork. Which is to say, copyright violation.
It's worth noting that I've been through several rounds of this. After updating a few of my covers way back in the day, I promptly forgot where I'd gotten some of the images, leading to another round of updates this past fall. Having a sieve for a brain is fun.
Anyway, this plus the effectiveness of using graphics for promotion plus the sheer fun of making pretty things got me hooked on graphic design. To this day, the website I use for cover-making and promo graphics is Canva (canva.com) together with a number of free-image sites (I'm partial to Unsplash and Pixabay) and a constellation of free online tools for things like snipping out photo elements, making transparent .png files, and grabbing hex codes from images. I get some fonts from other websites, too, though these need to be checked for copyright just like photos do. On rare occasions, I will also purchase photos. I use Shutterstock for that!
Promo graphics are another beast. I use another online tool for making cover mockups, and usually use a slightly blurred or darkened version of the cover's background image as a background for the graphic itself. For the text, I lean heavily towards quotes, together with a mention of the book's genre and subgenre, and (for off-platform promo) a mention that the book can be found for free on Wattpad. Quote selection is tricky. When making a new graphic, I scroll through the book in question, looking for any quote that a) gives a good sense of the book's vibe, b) prompts a question in the reader that might make them check out the blurb, and c) is short enough to fit on a promo graphic. Not an easy task, but worth it!
Graphic design is probably my biggest writing-related rabbit hole other than research, but it's paid off in the long run. Most of my book covers have been through numerous iterations. Some changes have come as I update them to versions with images I know for sure were free to use, which has been quite the project given how many books I have. However, my skills with graphic design have also continued to improve. I've almost maxed out against Canva's capabilities, which means I'll likely be graduating to Photoshop soon. For now, though, I remain quite pleased with what I've been able to do with strategic photo selection, photo alterations, layering, and colour cohesion... some of my cover timelapses are great fun to look back at.
I'll wrap up this answer here, but if anyone's interested in an example of my cover-making process, you can check out the March 25, 2022 update in this book. It tracks some of the thought that went into my latest cover for White Crystal Butterflies, and it's quite the saga. That was an eight-hour cover right there. Not that that's very unusual... I expect to spend at least four hours on any new cover of mine, 6+ is common, and that's not counting the hours spent finding images. Suffice to say, I get no writing done on those days. Whoops.
If you're a writer, do you make your own book covers? If not, where do you get them?
As a reader, what kinds of book covers catch your eye?
What is one book cover you've seen (published or online) that you think is absolutely gorgeous?