Cover Story: Learn Your Book’s Look

By Allison K Williams

I designed my own cover, with support from my publisher-If you hate it, that’s on me!

The level of control authors have over their own book cover design ranges from “Marketing has already decided, sorry” to “You paid for it, so purple Comic Sans it is!”

Covers entice (or repel) readers from across a room or in a one-inch thumbnail. Publishers have deep marketing knowledge, but it can be painful to have your vision overlooked in favor of “what sells.” Self-publishing...