Speakers: Richard Willett
What advice would you give indie authors working with a cover designer for the first time?
Richard Willett: I'm not going to say that the designer should read your entire book. Laura did read my book and and responded to it, but the designer should definitely have a strong sense of what you're going after in the book. And depending on their schedule, I mean, they may not be able to read the entire book, but you want to have a sense that the designer has a real connection with it and a real feel for it. And if they do, my number one piece of advice is, leave them alone. Because you hired them for a reason. You hired them because they're really good at what they do. And the chances are that the ideas that they come up with very well, may be better than yours. I learned this in the theater actually, because I've worked with designers a lot with my plays, with postcard design and poster design and so on. And I learned, frankly, the hard way, that it is better to let the designer come up with their own ideas about the project first. And then of course you know you can steer it a little here, a little there, maybe you have a suggestion along the way that adjusts things somewhat, but for the most part, I think you really want to leave them to their own devices. You don't want to impose your idea for what the cover has to look like because you hired them for a reason. And you should let them do their thing.
