Don't Judge an Author by Their Covers

Welcome to the Tramway!

Now, I usually don't have the time to write two blog posts in a week, but I saw a situation on Twitter that I felt needed to be addressed.

So for those who don't know, on Twitter there's a lovely community called the #WritingCommunity, where writers interact with each other. Usually it's positive, but there is on occasion some mean spirited arguments. I witnessed one of these.

So an author I follow had a thread discussing how you don't need to have a book perfectly edited, or a professional cover to be published. Another writer responded and said that, NO, authors should get digital designers to make their covers and not (to paraphrase) be "cheapskates who do not appreciate their work."

The author I follow felt attacked, and shared this in a retweet, and several people responded to the commentor, who they were NOT happy with.

Now I'm not going to name the people involved, because I don't feel it's my place two, and I do not want the person who made the comment to get cyber-bullied. In this blog house we do not bully! Plus, maybe the person didn't mean it to be offensive, or was having a bad day and poorly worded their tweet, or is a digital designer struggling to get work. In any case, I will not paint a target on anyone's back.

So, do they have a point? To an extent... yes. I think it's good if creators can support each other, and give one another work. HOWEVER, if you can't afford to have someone make your cover, that is totally all right, and you should not feel guilty about it.

I spoke to a non-#WritingCommunity friend, and they said something I felt should be shared here. "If you feel confident enough to make your own cover, do it. If you don't, then hire a digital designer (if you can)." In any case, as my friend said, "It's your book."

You know your situation, you know what you want from your project. Do what is best for you. Also, no one says you CAN'T publish a book, earn enough revenue, then hire someone to do a cover for a second release. Heck, big publishers do it all the time. There's countless different covers for the Harry Potter books, for example, or the Warriors series (as my friend pointed out). Another example is comics, they have alternative covers all the time!

I think that sums up what I wanted to say. If you are the author who made that comment, I hope you realize how your comment came off the wrong way to some people, and that you did not mean it to be mean. Calling people "cheapskates" is unfair, and I hope that you don't get cyber-bullied over it. And to my other writers, please do not seek out that comment to harass the person. If you run across it in the wild, and do wish to comment, feel free to, but please remember to be kind, and be cool.

All right, that's all for now. I'll see you in the next post. May God bless you and all that you do. See you on the Tramway!