I asked a few graphic designers if they’d be interested in doing a book cover design in less than 12 hours and Leslie Reilly stepped up big time! I had three writers hire her (including me), and one person won the free book cover giveaway.
In her own words, Leslie shares what it was like.
Graphic Designer Leslie Reilly
Sonja Dewing invited me to participate in the first Short Story Write-A-Thon 2018 to design cover artwork for some of her authors for the event. I have experienced a grueling Weekend Start-Up event once before so I had a good idea of what I was getting into. For me, though, I knew this was going to be much more fun, and I was right!
Four authors choose me to design their short story covers for publishing to Kindle/Amazon on Sunday. I offered a flat fee for my services knowing it was going to be a rushed project no matter what. To start the design, I was given a synopsis of their story, or their first rough paragraphs on Saturday and had to deliver by 5:00 pm Sunday. That was the challenge and I wanted to see if I could do it.
I actually love the pace. It is so much fun searching for that one thing that catches my imagination that, hopefully, will entice someone to read the whole story. To not be so obvious in choice of imagery that I give it away, but not too obscure that it doesn’t relate at all. That’s the way I come at it anyway.
I wanted to be sure to make them all look and feel different from each other, and to hopefully set the stage for the story a little bit. Not much sleep, but the stories were all really intriguing that each cover came to me quite quickly. The authors seem very pleased, which as many artists will relate, is more valuable to me than the money (super-bad business sense, though, lol), and though I have a teeny bit more to do for one, I take the weekend as a win.
Looking forward to being invited to participate next year!
Book Cover Designs by Leslie Reilly
Here are a couple of her designs!
The Next Short Storyathon (TM)
If you’re interested in our next Short Storyathon, check out our event schedule. We’re also looking at bringing these to other towns, so let us know if you want us to bring it to you!
Book Cover Design for the Short Storyathon