If The Inputs Are Essential…

I gave all of my cover business
to one cover designer.
For years, that worked very well.
She had more work
and I had awesome covers.

Then she started missing deadlines
and not responding to emails.
Her heart was no longer
in the cover design.

But she also didn’t want
to admit that.

Covers, for Indie writers,
are essential inputs.
We can’t publish stories
without covers.

I only had one source
for this essential input.
I had to scramble
for a replacement cover designer
and, because I couldn’t afford
a delay,
I had to spend more money
and time
contacting and working with
multiple cover designers,
hoping one of them
was professional enough
to finish the task.
(Not completing a cover
is, unfortunately, common
for cover designers.)

I will never work
solely with one cover designer
again.

If the input is essential,
ensure you have
several sources for it.
Don’t depend on one supplier.