Covers, Beta Readers and Accountability - How?

[Surihpas]

As the title might suggest I realized I have quite a few questions I've been mulling over for a while, so I realized why not ask the wonderful community here? ^^

Just to give a little bit of context I'm a writer (or, well, I write. Still have a bit of a hard time defining myself as a writer), and should any of you reading this have a piece of advice pertaining even to one topic or part of a topic here that would be just as wonderful as advice on all of it.

The first issue I'm dealing with is that of covers. Whoever said you shouldn't judge books based off them... might have been very noble, but also maybe a little disconnected from reality. They're important. I definitely decide what books to even pick up based on them. Unfortunately, my artistic talent/abilities are... nonexistent. Nicely put. And I'm also, unfortunately yet again, unable to afford paying for one being made at the moment. I do have a story I have quite a bit of written and I've been considering putting up here, but he only three options I can see right now are either waiting until I can properly pay someone for their efforts and talents and get a professional cover done, use an indefinitely temporary placeholder that would probably give a bad first impression, or try to create something myself - which would probably result in that second option. I guess I could also offer my skills in writing/proofreading/reviewing/etc in exchange for a cover but... I doubt anyone would go for it.

The second issue (which hopefully would be shorter) is beta readers - more specifically, how do you get them? There is a different project I'm working on that I'd love to get some opinions on, however there's really no one in my social circle that could offer me that atm. So how do you find good beta readers that aren't people you actually know? Can this be done?

Finally, I find that having accountability partners really helps me stay focused on the project I'm working on. Having someone to talk to about my work can also help me get more excited about it, thus making me put more effort into it and thus stay accountable in a way as well. However here too, I don't really know anyone who could help me with it. So once again I ask you - do you have accountability partners? And if so, how did you meet/connect?

If you made it this far, first of all thank you, and I'm sorry - I did not mean for it to get this long. And once again, if you have any piece of advice to offer I'd love to hear it (you can send it via a PM too if you'd prefer). I've received some excellent tips and insight from the people here before, so I'm excited to see what you might suggest this time around as well

[GumshoeComix]

I love beta reading, and I'm sure there are a lot of other people here that are the same.
I like reading and helping out with rough drafts cause boy I've been there and the advice I give is often the advice I've received, it's just how we grow.
Just keep in mind It takes me a long time to read, I have eyesight problems that cause migraines if I look at any screen too long ;w;

--
as for covers, there are a lot of websites where you can make your own cover for free including AI programs. which works for novels much better than comics. It might be good as at least a placeholder if you're set on a commission.
although imo your cover is better than what those websites can make, it's bold it stands out, and it shows the main characters dynamics. Perhaps if you want to change it just wait and save up some money then ask on the forums whos willing to make a cover.

[RainbowCat]

Hey there Let me try to give you my experience with those points. I'm a writer with a novel published on Tapas and a reader (and sometimes I draw as well but not good enough to call myself an artist)

Covers... well, some people find them really important. As a reader, I don't really pay attention to how professional they look, I just try to find out if the story looks like something I could be interested in. I think good covers are more important for comics than for novels but that might just be the way I see it. For my novel, I made the cover myself, tried to keep it simple enough so it still looks good Try to find out what you want as a cover and if there are easier ways to do it. Or maybe you can really do an exchange and offer your proofreading skills.

I never looked for a beta reader but did beta read a few novels. Normally, people just make a post here or on other forums, asking for beta readers, and people who have time offer their help. I found a really good friend that way because she was searching for a beta reader and I had some free time, so I replied to her post and we started talking, quickly becoming friends. Other times, people just sent me their work and I read it, job done. There are many places on the internet to reach out to people, you just probably need a bit of luck to find someone who has time when you need them.

I totally get the part about needing someone to talk to about your project (Although I mostly need someone who tells me I'm not as much of a failure as I think I am on certain days ) For me, that person is the friend I met for beta reading. She motivates me a lot to keep going with my stories. (But I'm also lucky enough to be a mod on another writing forums, so that helps with finding people who aren't only on Tapas ) I'd say just try to find people who you like talking to and then maybe they're up for being your accountability partner

[Surihpas]

First of all thank you for much for the reply! I really appreciate it.

I completely agree about beta reading - though I never got the chance to do this for anyone, I've had the privilege of providing reviews and critiques, and often much of the advice I can give is that which has been given to me as well. Also, not to be presumptuous, but is that an offer from you to give some of my stuff a read? If so, thank you so very much that is so generous of you, and I'll definitely keep that in mind. Just have to get my own thoughts in order first haha.

And thank you, though the cover I mentioned in this thread is actually for a different story. The one I have up on the site is definitely a placeholder case where I just wanted to dip my toes I guess with getting something out there to begin with. But thank you nonetheless. And if you don't mind me asking, are there any websites you're familiar with/recommend? Clearly I'm very much a stranger to this specific corner of the internet lol.

[GumshoeComix]

Yes, I'm down for beta reading, but again I'm sorry if it takes a while

Also that makes much more sense with the cover being for a different story and yes I can send you some links and see which ones you like best

https://www.canva.com/create/book-covers/ (Go to photos instead of templates a lot of them are royalty-free stock images, when when you're done just download. The default is pdf but you can switch it to png)

https://www.coverbrowser.com/ai an AI that generates book covers if that sounds neat to you
https://neuralblender.com/ - AI that generates album covers but works a bit better

https://www.postermywall.com/index.php/sizes/book-cover-template this one's similar in that it works off of royalty-free stock photos.

I cant seem to find the website i used for my old wattpad stories :< rip

they should all be fine for a placeholder cover

[Surihpas]

That is so not something to apologize for! The offer is already so generous as is. Like I've said I need to kinda make sense of my own thoughts first but if I'll have something I decide I'm ready for some people to see I'll definitely reach out and see if you're still down.

And thank you so much for those! Canva is the only one I'm familiar with so that's a lot of new information and resources I'm excited about.

Really, thank you for all of this. I truly appreciate it.

[GumshoeComix]

no problem
you can DM me your story whenever you think its ready and Ill check it out ^^

[system]

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