Series images

[Writer61]

Recently, I created cover images for each of my series. I doubt that they have any impact on readership or ratings, but it was fun.

Has anybody had a positive experience with cover images?

 

[nice90sguy]

I have, but they were mainly way back in the 70s with my brother's Penthouse collection

 

[Voboy]

I've done precisely one cover, and even though it came out close to how I was picturing it, I didn't find the artistic process at all interesting or fun. It's not like writing.

That was when the "series" feature kicked off here and there was a visual artist here telling all of us how to make visuals. I tried, I really did... but it felt like drudgery. And that's not why I'm here.

 

[Writer61]

I've done precisely one cover, and even though it came out close to how I was picturing it, I didn't find the artistic process at all interesting or fun. It's not like writing.

I quite enjoyed the challenge of imagining an image that summarised a whole series, and then finding one that captured it.

In case anyone is wondering, these are all stock images, and no AI was involved.

 

[Voboy]

I quite enjoyed the challenge of imagining an image that summarised a whole series, and then finding one that captured it.

In case anyone is wondering, these are all stock images, and no AI was involved.

I used stock images (this was pre-chatGPT), but then I tried to use some sort of photoshop-ish tool to make it look right.

Again, I was pleased with the result, but not pleased enough to want to get better or try it again.

 

[Katie_Mae]

The positive experiences i get from making covers are joy and pleasure I get from making them, and the chance to practice my art skills, which is something I am working on improving.

Because of how covers are hidden here on lit, I don't think most readers notice them.

 

[designatedvictim]

The positive experiences i get from making covers are joy and pleasure I get from making them, and the chance to practice my art skills, which is something I am working on improving.

Because of how covers are hidden here on lit, I don't think most readers notice them.

Wait... we can have covers?

Enquiring Minds Want to Know!

 

[MrPixel]

Because of how covers are hidden here on lit, I don't think most readers notice them.

My sentiment exactly. Probably the best thing in my case. The one series cover I have here is a screen capture of a Street Views image I mostly obliterated with text, so the search monster will be unlikely to find it and try to slap Laurel's hand over hosting purloined content.

erotxt overemphasizes covers, but fortunately I have my photography hobby to fall back on for relevant art most of the time.

Oh - don't forget that series covers here have an approval queue that behaves like all approval queues here - a long wait.

 

[anthrodisiac]

I've created a couple of my own and had a couple more done professionally. Oddly enough, the professional ones turned out better. This is also 10+ years ago, and I really suck at Photoshop

 

[Katie_Mae]

Wait... we can have covers?

Enquiring Minds Want to Know!

Yes, did you have any questions about them?

erotxt overemphasizes covers, but fortunately I have my photography hobby to fall back on for relevant art most of the time.

Funny you mention erotxt, I did come across this site a little while ago, but I thought it was a fake site. But, I've seen it mentioned a few times recently, is it legit?

 

[THBGato]

Huh. I didn't even realise this was an option.

I have covers for most of my stories so I could post them on another site. Maybe I should get round to doing it here.

 

[Katie_Mae]

Huh. I didn't even realise this was an option.

I have covers for most of my stories so I could post them on another site. Maybe I should get round to doing it here.

Love the cover!

For clarity, covers are on the series page, you can't have covers on individual stories, just for a series.

 

[MrPixel]

Yes, did you have any questions about them?


Funny you mention erotxt, I did come across this site a little while ago, but I thought it was a fake site. But, I've seen it mentioned a few times recently, is it legit?

Yes. It went online in November. Several familiar authors. Nice interface, improvements keep rolling out. Has not developed a following at this point, at that chicken or egg state.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

A certain other story site (the one with the red color scheme and the 10,000 word length limit) basically requires (or at least, STRONGLY encourages, and won't feature stories in a few places without) a cover image for every story (not series, individual stories). I posted one story there without a cover just to see what would happen and it got very little engagement. So now I've made (pretty crappy, I'll admit) covers for each of my stories using their janky-ass built-in cover editor, all from whatever free stock images they provide there:

 

[nice90sguy]

Man those covers are so tame compared with the cool pulp book covers from the 50s and 60s

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Sometimes, to the dismay of my publisher, I have always created my own covers.

I have little graphic art skill, but I think I know better than most what the story is about and what I want the cover to convey. I have used images that others owned, obtaining their permission by simply offering to acknowledge them as the creator/owner of the image. My wife has been the model for a few of my covers, and others have been created using Gimp and similar programs to manipulate stock images.

So, when it comes to my images used for series published here, they are all my creation as well.

 

[designatedvictim]

For clarity, covers are on the series page, you can't have covers on individual stories, just for a series.

Realized that was the case after I asked.

 

[CalBishForNow]

The short answer is no.

The long answer is, if it was expected/required/important and everything else about this was the same, I guess I'd look into whatever I could find with a Creative Commons license. I spent 10 minutes looking into that and didn't find anything promising, but it's complicated.

I had a little skill and training with pencil and ink art when I was younger, comic book style. Maybe I'd try it again for my long series. I don't think it would be worth going through the trouble for my standalone works, though.

I think the ideal covers for most of my works would involve models and photography. I can come up with pretty decent guidance about scene-setting and details for both of my series and some of my standalone works. But many things would have to be different about both Lit and my personal situation before it made sense to look into models and photographers for these.

Actually, just thinking about this got me more interested in it than I was before. My current series could have a boudoir scene, the protagonist getting ready for a certain kinky date, but juxtaposed with details from the more conventional side of her life... for my previous series, it could just be the protagonist with a cheerful smile and her signature attire at a party with everyone around her in softer focus... both of those would be fairly realistic, but one of my Halloween stories could have horrific ink art, and another should be more colorful, even cartoonish...

I'm not going to do it any time soon, but it could be an interesting part of the creative process if I wanted.

 

[yowser]

I'm decidedly sub-amateur but they're fun to do. I use my own photos or beyond copyright works, and Photoshop/Illustrator.

At least one I've done (and 'approved') has been removed after the nudity crackdown. The photo did not have nipples but the underside of breasts and the very top line of a triangle of pubic hair, and apparently that was enough to fall on the wrong side of standards.

Here's one:

 

[Northstar4695]

I used Chat to make a cover for my first series today. I would never have paid someone to make one and I am not a graphic designer. If I hadn’t used Chat, I just wouldn’t have had one. It was kinda fun to see a visual representation of my characters. Under those conditions, I don’t see any ethical issue with that.

I know there’s a faction here that thinks I shouldn’t do that, but I don’t see it that way for something like this that I do purely for fun and don’t make money from. I don’t use it for writing, and this is a site to showcase the writing not the cover. The picture is just flair.

I appreciate that there may be those who disagree.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I used Chat to make a cover for my first series today. I would never have paid someone to make one and I am not a graphic designer. If I hadn’t used Chat, I just wouldn’t have had one. It was kinda fun to see a visual representation of my characters. Under those conditions, I don’t see any ethical issue with that.

I know there’s a faction here that thinks I shouldn’t do that, but I don’t see it that way for something like this that I do purely for fun and don’t make money from. I don’t use it for writing, and this is a site to showcase the writing not the cover. The picture is just flair.

I appreciate that there may be those who disagree.

Don't worry about it. I have a good friend that is a very accomplished graphic artist, I own half a dozen of his oil on canvas paintings. On his advice I did the same thing. HIs logic was that most graphic artists he knew wouldn't even touch an indy book cover. It wouldn't be worth their time.

 

[dirk2024]

I have a (free) Canva account that uses their own stock images. I use them on erotxt, but have also used them here when I post a new story in the Story Advertisement thread. Here's the one from my last story.

 

[Northstar4695]

I have a (free) Canva account that uses their own stock images. I use them on erotxt, but have also used them here when I post a new story in the Story Advertisement thread. Here's the one from my last story.

View attachment 2599503

Posting a picture in that thread sounds like a good idea. Making these images of my fantasy characters is motivating me to write more. Does it generate clicks do you think?

 

[dirk2024]

Posting a picture in that thread sounds like a good idea. Making these images of my fantasy characters is motivating me to write more. Does it generate clicks do you think?

I can't tell. For me, its a different way to be creative, so I enjoy doing it.

 

[norafares]

Sometimes I'll illustrate a cover if I'm planning to do a paperback release, or I just want cute artwork. I've found reasonable success illustrating my covers over commissioning them from symbol/typography/real person cover designers, mostly because illustrations seem to be popular for the romance genre right now. I expect that'll change in the coming years.