Hiring a cover artist did not work out as planned, and I ultimately took the cover design of my book into my own hands. Since I’m not an expert on book cover design, I must admit, I think I failed, but I have tried my best, and I have tried three times total. One artist I contacted was unavailable. The other was too expensive (cost more than professional book editing). The third could not draw my character’s ethnic features without making her a grotesque caricature of stereotypes—true story. Finally, the fourth “artist” was a fraud. So, with a looming publication date, I had to give my intermediate digital art skills a try.
Vanguardian: Book I is my first published book, so it has been a learning experience. I spent my entire publishing window on editing my story and never anticipated having to create my own cover. I attempted to hire a cover artist from Reedsy, and when that did not work out (attempts 1-3 above), I tried Fiverr—and that definitely did not work out. But in the process, I learned that a lot of cover “artists” are using a combination of AI and Photoshop. As a decades-long Photoshop user, I decided to take the cover design process into my own hands. I must admit that without industry book cover design know-how, it was a lot of trial and error. Suffice it to say, for Book II, I will begin my book cover artist search long before my deadline to publish.
Between my original publication date, July 11, 2025, and today, I have tested three book covers. The first has just Lucian, one of the protagonists, on the cover. The second has both Lucian and his mother, Nasrin, on the cover; and the third cover has only the kingdom of Monde’s castle, a mysterious light in the sky, and the title.
To my surprise, the most successful book cover (by sales, image clicks, and reactions) was the first cover—which I thought was the most amateurish in appearance, in addition to not quite fitting the print book dimensions.
Regardless of those issues, I believe the image of the primary protagonist with his menacing expression and the mysterious light best captures the military sci-fi genre and attracts my ideal readers. The second cover, with Lucian and his mother, conveys a romance-focused book, which can be confusing for two reasons: 1) It’s a son and mother on the cover, which could be misleading to anyone who has not yet read the book. They could assume the love story is between the two characters on the cover. 2) Unfortunately, it has been pointed out to me that their appearances are similar to the depictions of Dune characters, which this story does not emulate or relate to. Nonetheless, people interpreted the cover as Dune-inspired. In both cases, these interpretations and the audiences that have been targeted are off-center.
During this, my first year+ of being published, I have learned that it is normal for authors to have multiple cover designs for their books—for different international audiences, for special editions, etc. So, for now, I am keeping all three cover designs out there so as not to confuse prior readers and those who have had my book on their To-Read shelf for a while. Also, I want to reach as many readers as I can. As a writer, you never know who will connect with your story, and the joy I take in putting my imagination out there is to connect with others.
Read Vanguardian: Book I.
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