A book cover is more than decoration—it signals genre, tone, audience, and professionalism before a reader ever reaches the blurb. Drawing on expensive lessons from The Chic Crone, I explore thumbnail testing, print colour, designer briefs, series branding, and how the right cover helps the right reader recognise your book.

At first glance indie publishing looks overwhelming. My advice is not to look at the whole thing at once. That way madness lies. Break it down into individual pieces, work through them one at a time and celebrate ticking them off on the master document.

Finished the manuscript? Congratulations — and welcome to the next challenge. In this first Adventures in Self-Publishing essay, I explore the shift from writer to publisher, the reader-facing decisions that follow, and why self-publishing is more than pressing upload and hoping for the best.