Back to Adventures in Self-Publishing!!!

Hey y’all,

Back to adventures in self-publishing. It’s a lot of responsibility and work, but I love the freedom of it, and I can do this how I want to. With the internet and the ebook explosion, there is more opportunities now than ever before for a self-published – ahem, I mean indie author to do things in his/her own way.

For instance, choosing the artist to do the illustration for Ella Bandita and the Wanderer. I put a post up on Craigslist that went like this:

“In a nutshell, I’ve written a novel and am looking to self-publish. I need an artist to design 1 book cover for both e-book publishing and print on demand. And I may need 4 more book covers for e-book if I decide to release the novel in 4 parts. The novel is fantasy – in the style of folklore/fairy tale/fables of pre-Industrial Europe. In other words, think of Vagabonds, Courtesans, horses, guns, talismans, and magic – the past, not the future. I prefer a finer-detailed, realistic style and somebody who is an artist/illustrator first and a computer graphic designer second. If you also have experience with designing websites and linking one site to the next, that is not necessary, but it would be an outstanding bonus. As far as pay is concerned, of course I want to keep it within a reasonable budget, but I’m flexible as well as honest. This is most likely the ideal job for somebody who just finished school and is getting started in this field. I’m a DIY amateur learning as I go, and am looking for somebody awesome to collaborate with.

Please put “Book Cover” in the subject line and send a cover letter, resume, 1-3 samples of your work, what you charge, and a fair estimate of how long it will take you to finish the initial assignment of one book cover. I will contact those whose samples I like for an interview, and we’ll go from there.

Thank you for reading.”

I took the post down within 4 hours. Plenty of answers – everything from “I’ll do it for free!” with no samples to pretty talented amateurs, to the artist that I ultimately went with. Nobody could touch his work. BANE at banedarkart.com. I sent him some sample pieces of writing and a picture of Tom Brady and said:

“Make Tom Brady into a woman and that’s a good place to start with Ella Bandita.”

And did he ever come through in his first attempt!