Speaking from the design-perspective, there is a bit of a stigma attached to pre-made design products. While they are more budget-friendly, especially to someone going the self-published route, they can also look cheap. They may not fit the book's story, or feature a person that looks nothing like any of the main characters. Some pre-made products available on the market are created by amateur or beginner designers who are not practiced in informational hierarchy and are not polished in their work.
Most veteran designers encourage their clients to go the custom route, which allows for a cover that, most of the time, can better represent the story within its pages. The artwork isn't stock, the end product is polished and professional, and the client also is able to have a lot of input in the final product. However, the price point will always be higher than that of a pre-made cover.
The goal of LV Book Design is to help all authors, self-published or traditional/publisher based, reach a final product that not only they love but their readers will love as well. No matter the budget. With that in mind, I came to decision to offer high quality, pre-made covers. I didn't feel like I was offering all I could to self-published authors. Having seen first-hand the self-publishing process, and the costs that accumulate, I wanted to be able to help provide my veteran expertise to those who don't have the budget to hire a designer to create a cover for them from scratch.
There are cover artists out there who have low prices–but the old saying "You get what you pay for" holds it weight in most of these cases. I have been a designer for over ten years, and worked in publishing of one sort or the other for all them. I started LV Book Design to focus on my favorite form of publishing: the book. I wanted to offer my professionalism, my dedication to the craft, my enthusiasm for the art of writing and my many years of polished experience to self-publishing authors every where. So I sat down, and approached this project with the mindset of designing covers that I would personally be interested in picking up and reading. Normally, I have my clients fill out a questionnaire that helps me reach the right audience with the right message and the author's vision. With creating pre-made covers, I had imagine what story each cover was telling the world. Whether or not it fits with the product it eventually will go on doesn't matter to me. What I hope is that an author will see one of these designs and go "That one is perfect for my book!" Another hope is that perhaps an author or aspiring author will just be browsing and one of my covers will be inspired to tell its story.
I'll be updating the shop each month with new designs, and just know this: once a cover is sold, it will no longer be for sale. I want to help my clients as much as possible, and no one wants to share a cover!
As always, I wish you all the best and happy writing!