After seemingly endless weeks of agonising over one after another suggested cover design and one after another criticism of drafts, a helpful Facebook contributor suggested I consider using Getcovers.com.

I was dubious. I have paid cover designers before and been deeply dissatisfied. They typically charge high rates - often over a thousand dollars. And they don’t read the book before conceiving a design. 

The first pleasant surprise when looking at Getcovers.com was the low price. Around $50. Almost unbelievable. One could hardly expect quality at that price, but maybe it was worth a gamble>

The second pleasant surprise was the testimonials and examples. The testimonials were great. The designs they showcased were excellent.

The third pleasant surprise was the amazing guarantee:  !00% Satisfaction guaranteed or a full refund. As many revisions as necessary to delight you.

Okay!  Definitely worth a gamble.

Then came another welcome surprise. They sent me a five lesson email course on briefing cover designers: how to tell the designer exactly what they need to know to get it right. This is where other designers have fallen down. They didn’t ask the right questions!

Armed with new knowledge of how to brief a designer, I signed up with Getcovers and filled in their quite detailed questionnaire, providing examples of covers I like, full details of the mood I wanted to evoke, preferred colours and fonts, suggestions for images… and yes, even the cover hubby had designed, which I thought was excellent but others had criticised harshly. 

Some of the cover examples I found that I told the designer I liked were:

(All of the above are now on my ‘want to read’ list. It’s true. Covers do sell books!)

Ultimately, it did take several revisions before the Getcovers designer produced something critics approved and I thought was acceptable. It is loosely based on the original hubby created, but with some significant variations. For less than $50, I consider it amazing value. Even cover design experts have rated it highly. Now to see how the reader community responds. They say ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’, but book marketers will tell you every reader does.