This was my first foray into the world of cover design. I chose spiffingcovers because I liked the name and the logo and the package of support on offer seemed well worth the cost. I was truly amazed when the first draft of my cover arrived by email in just a few days. The image was both realistic and metaphoric, immediately evoking the genre of crime fiction and raising questions in the mind of the viewer. The key works symbolically while also indicating an important aspect of the plot. The earthy colours and the attention to detail enhance the effect, particularly the pooling of blood, the single droplet nearby and the single feather falling. “WOW, what a powerful cover,” one reader has written. “I know you don’t judge a book by its cover, but this cover makes me want to read it,” writes another. “Fabulous cover,” emails a third. But the services extend beyond the cover to providing ISBNs for both e-versions and print versions and a widget. I will definitely be using spiffingcovers for my next novel.

When I originally approached SpiffingCovers to do the cover for my book I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted it to look like. They took all my ideas onboard and managed to improve on them to produce a cover that I was absolutely thrilled with. I also used them to format the e-book conversion so that it was ready to go on sale as soon as it was returned to me along with the cover. That took all the hassle out of preparing it for sale. The attention to detail and cooperation that you will get from SpiffingCovers is nothing less than first class. They really know their game.

So you’ve written your book, toiled over every word, agonised about each sentence, and then suddenly after all that work, it’s finished and you’re done – the end of the journey. You’ve put down your pen and heaved a sigh of relief only to begin the nightmare of editing and proofreading, and worst of all - designing the cover. Where do you even start – and then you realise that writing the book was the easy part!

The old cliche that you can’t judge a book by the cover went out with the dark ages, because nowadays it’s the first thing everyone looks at and you know that this is going to be the most important choice you’ll ever make. Well I got lucky, I hit Google and up popped SpiffingCovers.

Looking back, I think I must have been the most awful client, but the team at SpiffingCovers were so patient, despite the fact that I was unsure about what I wanted! One of the hardest parts for the designer is gleaning the essence of the story and the personalities of the characters from a brief synopsis and transforming that notion into an image which fits the bill for the author. SpiffingCovers have that vision and the patience to do the job.

For me, one of the unexpected delights about my finalised cover was the depth and finish of the graphic design. The clarity was outstanding and translates well whether to my business card or to the huge blown up version on my video blog. This excellence gives an edge to the finished product which screams quality, inviting further perusal of the inner contents.

SpiffingCovers are not just about producing amazing covers either. They offer so much more – giving advice and support about publishing and formatting ebooks, not just for Amazon’s Kindle, but Smashwords and other publishing platforms, and were even able to quote me for publishing my book as a paperback.

The best thing I can say about SpiffingCovers is that now I have used them, I don’t want anyone else to create my novel covers. I found SpiffingCovers during a simple Google search. I had finished my second book and was looking for someone better than the last company I’d used who had seemingly not listened to everything I’d told them I wanted. The funny thing is that during the entire time of working with SpiffingCovers, providing them with my concept, trading ideas and outlining expectations, I never felt the need to pick up the phone once - emails sufficed. They listened, knew what I wanted and delivered it. I guess that’s what happens when you work with professionals. And I must say the outcome was even better than I could have hoped for. They are really good at what they do, so keep an eye out for my next book because it, too will be a SpiffingCovers effort.

Haunting Demons is available on Amazon and iTunes.