Things You should Know About Wattpad, But Probably Don't

Judging Book By Their Covers

Yes. Yes. I understand. You were raised not to judge books by their covers or people by their looks and, hopefully, you followed through on it so far.

And although I hope you never judge someone by their looks, judging books by their covers, literally, is what we do. Its second nature for us.

This being said YOU need to find the best possible cover for your book.

"But, Alyssa, I don't know how to design a cover. My covers always look like, excuse my language young audience members, crap."

I hear you. For a VERY long time I couldn't design a cover to save my life. Finally I learned the way. We will get into 'the way' in the next chapter.

For now we are focused on 'the backroad.' The backroad is what I like to call the simple way out of a situation.

In this case, that situation is not knowing how to design a book cover.

In fact, even after learning how to, many people STILL can't design good covers. That is where 'the backroad' comes in.

The backroad is COVER SHOPS.

Yes, you heard that correctly. There are shops where you can purchase a cover.

NO. Covers don't always cost money to purchase.

In fact, 99% of the time, a cover is free of money.

That isn't to say you don't have to pay the artist in some way.

Most artists like for you to follow them and to mention them in your books description. Please follow the artists rules.

Artists for covers provide you with a set of rules you need to agree to. Please follow them.

"So, Alyssa, where do I find said cover shop?"

The answer is simple. You look it up.

You know the search bar on the home page?

Yeah, that one.

Click on it and type in 'Cover Shops'. It's pretty self-explanatory.

There, it will take you to a page full of cover shops.

"Wow. Alyssa. I am feeling pretty overwhelmed by all the cover shops. How do I chose the right fit for me?"

The answer to this question is simple. The execution to the answer, however, is not.

You browse and click on different cover shops and look inside.

I know that wastes time. But this way you are guaranteed to find a cover shop that is right for you.

Go into the first five cover shops that look interesting to you. READ ALL THE RULES THEY PROVIDE YOU WITH!

Then go onto a few of the chapters and see the covers that they made for other people.

This way, you can tell if the artists style suits you, and to what degree their editing skills go to.

My personal favorite cover shop is one made by the lovely JensenKristyne

Her covers are incredible. And I mean INCREDIBLE. Not only that, but she is the most considerate artist ever.

See, most artists don't let you know if they saw your request or where you stand on their waiting list and you are left for weeks, wondering if the artist will ever do your cover.

But Kristyne isn't like that. She replies to your request almost immediately. She always does do overs if you didn't like the cover and she gets your covers done super quickly. I was fourth on her waiting list and she got done with my covers(Yeah, I forgot to mention that she GIVES YOU MULTIPLE COVER OPTIONS! How awesome is that?) in ONE DAY! 24 hours. And she gave me four covers to chose from.

Another one of my favorite cover shops is MY OWN. #shamlesslyselfadvertising

Yes I make covers. After finding out how to do it from a quick online tutorial and practicing making them I can now make my own covers. Come visit my cover shop. I promise you won't regret it. Because I do cast lists too ;)

Visiting a cover shop maybe a better plan for most. In fact, I highly recommend it over making your own covers, unless you know what you are doing.

But for those of you who desperately want to make your own covers, read on to find out exactly how to do that. Love ya,

                                               Alyssa out.