Everywhere you look, there’s advice about becoming an indie author. In fact, there’s so much out there, it can feel overwhelming—leaving you with a mile-long to-do list and a sinking feeling that if you don’t tick every single box, your book (which you’ve poured months or even years into) will vanish into the Amazon algorithm, never to be seen again.

I leaped into this endeavour with one simple hope: that someone I’d never met would read and enjoy my book. What I didn’t realise at the time was just how much goes into launching a book successfully—and that being an indie author is, essentially, like setting up your own company.

So here I am.

 Author website? Check.

 Email list building? Check.

 Author blog? Check.

I’m still wrapping my head around marketing, reviews, and ads—but I’m determined to learn, and have fun while doing it! More on that in future posts.

No matter how deep you go into research, most advice for indie authors boils down to two golden rules:

Rule #1: Hire a professional copyeditor (and a proofreader).

 This ensures your novel is free from typos and grammatical slip-ups that can irritate readers and result in 1-star reviews. I found my copyeditor through Reedsy, and we’ll begin working together in June. I’ll share more on that soon.

Rule #2: Get a professional book cover.

 This one made perfect sense to me. After all, the cover is what draws readers in—or repels them if it misses the mark. We all judge books by their covers, whether we admit it or not.

But this is where I stumbled.

I browsed Fiverr and Reedsy, but both required a detailed design brief—and I had no idea what I wanted, let alone what would actually work. I was terrified I’d write a terrible brief, spend a fortune, and end up hating the result.

So I took a different route. After hours of analysing fantasy covers on Amazon and cringing at lists of the worst covers ever (clipart from the early 2000s, anyone?), I realised I couldn’t even begin to write a brief without experimenting first. So I opened up Canva… and reader, I got a little obsessed.

My husband now wakes up to find me in the lounge crafting some new design—ads, banners, Pinterest mood boards—you name it. I started playing around in Canva, inspired by the covers of the fantasy books I love. And I just couldn’t stop. Every day I told myself, “Okay, now you’re ready to hire a pro.” But eventually, I fell in love with my own design—and there was no going back.

So yes, I’m breaking one of the golden rules of indie publishing.

But I can’t help it—it’s so pretty (even if I do say so myself). I’ve decided to go ahead and use it. If it flops, I can always commission a professional cover later and do a quick relaunch.

I also want to give a huge shout-out to Damon at Damonza, who offers incredible cover reviews. He helped me spot what was missing from my design and guided me on how to take it to the next level.

Below is my final version. Now I just hope readers love it as much as I do!