Q: I've never contracted design before. How does this work?
A: It's not terribly complicated, don't worry. You send me your title and any initial ideas you might have, and then I'll give you a quote based on the time and stock needed for your idea.
If you agree then I'll ask for about half the full agreed price in advance (for stock). The second half can be paid at your leisure - I'm not in a hurry.
What I'll do then is create a mock-up, which is a slightly dopey-looking and unpolished version of the final idea. You should consider this as a 'sketch' of what you'll get rather than an indication of the final quality. If I'm not sure that you'll like the stock I may use the watermarked 'comp' version to make the mock-up. If you like the gist of it then I'll go ahead and buy the stock, finish the cover and send you a full resolution file.
If you don't like it then of course you can tell me what's bothering you and I'll revise it until you're happy.
Q: What exactly do you need to know?
A: More information is always better than less. Here's a list of things I find it helpful to know:
- Your ideas
- Setting
- Themes/content
- Physical description of main characters (hair colour/length and ethnicity at least)
- 'Rating' (between Soft Romance to XXXXXX Hardcore, where do you think your title falls?)
You can give me as much or as little of this as you like, but more is better. If you like you can just send me the story, and I can note these things myself.
Q: How long will it take?
A: Not long! In general, if you respond to my mockup email reasonably quick you will have your finished cover inside of a week.
If you make an order when I already have a large backlog, I will inform you when I send the quote and tell you how long you can expect to wait. If the wait is too long for you I won't be offended if you choose someone else to make you cover. I know you guys like to get stuff out there fast.
Q: What files will I get at the end?
A: I usually email out the full resolution jpeg - 1400x2100 pixels (2x3 ratio). Other file types and sizes can be provided on request. For an additional $5 I'll create a pack of files with correct sizes for ARe, B&N, Bookstrand, Smashwords and Amazon.
Q: What if it gets rejected?!?
A: I haven't yet had this happen to any of my covers, but I've heard that if you happen to be assessed by a very prudish reviewer on Amazon or Smashwords covers might be rejected. If that happens you can send it back to me and I'll find some way of censoring it, free of charge.
Or you could always wait a couple of days and submit the same thing again. It might work.
