In Search of Premade Book Covers?

I'm back in the game, people! Kind of. Sort of. Ish.

For those unaware, I began in premade book covers over a decade ago (oh, shuush you, I'm literally turning thirty this Friday, and it's. . . a lot ahaha) with two online friends under the banner of Yonderworldly. (Yes, we all lived in different countries).

With thanks to the amazing users of Tumblr and Goodreads, we created quite the steady little hobby-business. It's how I got to work with such amazing best selling authors as Laura Thalassa and Annie Cosby. (And what bought me my university snacks haha).

Since then, I've worked on developing not only my photo-composite graphic design skills, but my custom illustrated work. Which I love. But I understand the world is becoming increasingly scary.

Seriously, Who Knows What the F#$k is Going On

Our wealth is hoarded by literally a handful of people and the global market has become a fairly barren land for the vast majority of us.

That doesn't stop the dreamers though.

It just means budgets are now a pinch of what they used to be for the majority of emerging, and even well established, authors.

And I totally get it.

My own cost of living is obscene. In Australia, the median rent is now well over half the median wage. Meaning, for more than half of Australian's, most of our pay goes simply to keeping a roof over our heads. Insanity for such a supposedly "rich" country. And that's without taking into account other essentials such as electricity and groceries!

(✨ late stage-capitalism ✨)

Globally, discretionary spending is down.

If you're on socials, the discussion about the 'worth' of creative services has become increasingly heated because of this.

It does not help that Generative Content has also created this expectation that visual imagery should be accessible to all, undermining the reality that custom illustration is a luxury purchase and should be priced accordingly.

This has placed immense pressure on authors. As well as artists. For independent authors, it's created immense financial distress for many as they attempt to keep up with what once would have been the marketing expectations of a trade publisher. And for us artists, we're caught between a hard rock and place.

Most of our rates, while substantial on the surface, are actually well below what we should be charging. (I often tally hours of a project to find I've barely made above minimum wage and I'm on the more expensive side of the indie market!). But because of the rise of GenAI, we're constantly caught between—not just charging our worth vs what people can afford—but battling against what people believe we're worth. . . Which, according to one author last week, is basically peanuts. (The entitlement reeked).

The fact remains I deserve not just to be able to pay my bills, but live comfortably. It's the new global 'dream'. Forget owning a house, we just want security and simple pleasures!

But this does not change the fact:

If I have the option to provide a more affordable service, I will.

I do want authors to have cool shit. My cool art-shit preferably, naturally.

Art makes you happy. It makes me happy. We all need more happiness right now.

Which leads me to the point . . .

I'm Now Offering (Again) Premade Book Covers

I don't have time to create a whole collection of Premades. And, to be honest, the return really isn't great unless you're cutting ethical corners (grifting) or offering luxury options. . .which kind of defeats the purpose.

BUT I often create pretty cool concept work while experimenting with styles and developing my own skills.

(Plus there's always the concepts that clients nupe well before they settle on a creative vision. And I'm pretty sure I have some old Premade work from my Yonderworldly days that didn't sell before we disbanded. Lots of stuff! . . . I just need to find it)

This art deserves its own forever home too (after some love and care).

Which is why I'm offering Premades. . . with a twist.

Unlike with traditional Premades, the artworks I'm offering are not final pieces and definitely not set in stone. They're more like concepts.

Just look at that dragon. Absolute dwerp energy. Baby ain't done yet! (Also BOOTY?!)

At the set price, I'm offering to finish them off for you with some minor changes required to better suit your novel, plus adding custom title work.

It's win-win in my mind. It encourages me to practice more. You get affordable options.

BUT you also have the option to fully develop and customise them which, while more expensive, would be nothing compared to ordering a full custom illustration package.

Curious? Check out what's currently on offer here.

So that's the deal. Got questions? Fill out my contact form. . . (which I can't link for some reason sorry). Want to rant about greedy f&$ks destroying the world? Here's my threads.

Stay chill and woke folks.