For the past few weeks I’ve been working with Tugboat Design on a cover for my new short-story collection – Laments.

I could have put something together but it probably would have looked like I put something together – amateurish. So I decided to go with a professional book-cover designer.

I checked out websites of several designers and selected Tugboat because I liked their work and the price was right. That's always a good combination. They are also doing the formatting for the manuscript.
 
Tugboat asked for my ideas and several days later sent me several proposed covers. I wanted a cover that would reflect the book’s content. I’m very pleased with the final design.

I’ve put a lot of effort into these short stories including six rewrites and hiring someone to edit and proofread the copy. I didn’t want to shortchange everything by having a cover that didn’t appeal to readers.

While we all probably agree in the adage “You can’t judge a book by its cover,”  the cover is still an important portal for attracting readers.