Finding free cover art is hard.

Dear Reader,

I've been trying to keep the covers of my books in keeping with a theme. That theme is setting where the principle action of the story takes place or major plot point location. I am hitting a point that the images are becoming more precise and I have problems finding just the right image that has all the permissions that I may use it for free. There is a lot of glorious artwork out there and a lot of people are just stealing it.

I do my best not to engage in that. I try to go through sites where the artwork is truly free. I try to use platforms where the artists are credited and paid for their work. I also do my best to give credit to the artist who produced the work. It's hard when your available budget for your books is close to zero. I honestly don't know how other people do it so well. Marketing is a challenge because you rely heavily upon word of mouth. One of the things that are key to a good marketing campaign is a great cover for your book.

I feel like mine are pretty meh. I find myself seriously considering changing cover art styles to hopefully something more eye catching. Then I look at the cost of such things and wilt a little. I consider making my own artwork for covers but then realize that it's beyond my scope. So, I just keep digging through different free websites and do my best to make sure that everything is on the up and up.

I almost think I want to attempt pitching something to a big publishing house. Then I realize that these book would likely not be eligible because I self-published them. Then I get angry about how the big publishing houses treat indie authors. At which point I decide, yet again, that I am going to go indie in my publishing process. And then despair a little over the prospect of how to market things and make my covers just right.

Full creative control is a lot of work. Nobody mentioned this to me when I was a kid talking about writing books for a living. The things you learn as you get into a project or three.