I don’t like my cover

What to do ...

Non-writers are always surprised to hear how little say writers get in our book covers. I don’t know about you but I often get emailed something like

‘We love this cover! Just need your quick approval by end of day’

Or something else that implies that we are the last person to be consulted and that we are expected to agree.

Even author/illustrators, who are actually DRAWING the cover, are often given quite rigid boundaries in terms of content or colours or vibe.

Do I have to agree to a cover I hate?

Well… there are lots of things to weigh up with this one. Let’s look at the possible causes for the disconnect:

1. Your primary job is to write the words inside the book

You wrote the book. The publisher accepted delivery of it. Well done you. You’ve finished your job.

The publisher’s job is to market, publicise and sell the book (even though they like to tell us this is partly our job too). We might have to do some promo or social media to help but help is the operative word here. It is not your job to hand-sell this book to your social media followers.

It follows on from this that the publisher probably ought to get a greater say in your cover than you do. If they are the ones marketing the book, they have to like the look of it (as a commercial product) and they have to believe in it. They also have to identify where the book sits in the market and find the right gap. They have access to a lot more stats and data and expertise than you do. They also have expertise in cover design.

I know you’ve been dreaming of this book for years and you have a cover in your head or a folder of covers you like but unless you are a graphic designer, you have way less experience in covers than the publisher so… take time. Ask yourself:

Do I actually hate this, or is it just different from what I imagined?

2. The Vibe

Sometimes the publisher’s vision for the vibe of the book is totally at odds with yours, and the cover is the ultimate proof of that. You thought you were writing literary fiction, but to your surprise the publisher has decided to market it as commercial fiction and has gone for soft pastel colours.

If this is the reason the cover does not work for you, start by talking to your agent (if you have one, friends if not). Are you right that the vibe is off? If your agent agrees, either you or your agent needs to speak to your editor, and the conversation should focus less on the actual cover, and more on the vision of the book. Do sales and marketing see this as commercial fiction? Why? What will that mean for your sales? The route the publisher wants to take the book might in fact be the correct one. Yes, we want to write books we love but we also want our books to SELL. And if S&M has a vision for how to achieve this, it might be worth trusting them. Listen and find out whether they have good reasons for their plan.

But don’t be afraid to stand your ground. If their vision is totally off and you get the sense that they haven’t actually read the book, they are just bunging on a cover they think will sell; that’s a red flag. The vibe of the outside DOES need to suit the vibe of the inside.

I recently read a book pitched as a thriller that was in fact a woman musing on her life choices and how she’d come to be at the point of the thriller moment trailed in the blurb. It would have been a good book but I was in the headspace for a thriller and I just got irritated. Readers want to know what kind of book they are buying. If S&M have misunderstood the book, an honest conversation needs to happen.

3. The Quality

I have put my foot down on a cover. It was because the quality of drawing, colours, tone was low and not at all original or eye-catching. It felt like the publisher had hardly tried. I had a panic that the book wouldn’t sell.

If this happens, talk to friends or your agent. If others agree, you can email - politely and calmly - pointing out your concerns. List the elements that aren’t working for you. Send covers of books in the same genre that you think work better.

And quietly decide what you will do if they won’t change it. Wil you pull the book? Don’t tell them that at this stage, but speak to your agent and weigh up how strongly you feel.

4. It’s kind of a negotiation

The first cover you see is often an opening move from the publisher. They are showing you one possible version but there will be time to play around with it. If you hate those soft pastels you can ask to see a range of other colours. Small changes like different font, word size, layout, background colour can completely change the vibe.

Don’t panic if you hate the first version. It’s very common for a cover to go through lots of iterations before you settle on one you both like.

We went through many different versions of Little Bad Wolf in terms of title, vibe and content…

old cover ideas, with old title

… before we got to the one I LOVE

Don’t bang off a sharply worded email before you’ve taken time to digest the cover. Ask for advice. Be honest with your agent. Let go of your old vision for your cover. The new version might sell better.