Your Book, Your Cover—Make It Count

It doesn’t sound fair, but most people do judge a book by a cover. They will judge how it looks on a black and white Kindle, on an iPad, on an iPhone, on a Nook, on a Kobo device, how it looks as a thumbnail, and, of course, how it looks in print. Which is why you’ll want to make sure that both the print and ebook cover stand out. If it’s a print book, you want potential readers to notice it when browsing in bookstores. If it’s an ebook, you want to make sure it’s optimized for all screens, colors, and sizes.

How to do this? Get organized, do some research, and choose a talented designer who gets you, your book, and your brand.

How to hire a cover designer

Before you hire a designer, check out the designer’s portfolio to make sure your vision and your designer’s vision are the same. If you want a cover for a vampire romance novel, make sure your designer has done something similar. If you are looking for a print cover, make sure the designer has done print covers before. Don’t hire a designer just because they know art and have nice design sense; they may not know the intricacies involved with book covers. Checking out the designer’s portfolio is a great place to start.

You want to make sure you discuss how many revisions you are allowed to have before you have to make a final decision.

How to give your cover designer good direction

It’s always best to give your cover designer examples of the type of cover you’re looking for. I always recommend browsing similar books that are in your genre on Amazon. Pick the ones you like and send a list to your cover designer.

You have a lot of options with the design of your cover. You want to make sure you tell the designer whether you want to use a photo, stock image, or custom illustration. If you’re using a photo on your cover you need to make sure you have the proper rights. You can also hire a photographer to take photos for you. You can use a stock image, but make sure you purchase a license. Custom illustrations usually cost the most and you must negotiate with your designer to determine who will own the rights to the illustrations.

Before you start any work, make sure you agree on work terms and a deposit agreement. You want to make sure you discuss how many revisions you are allowed to have before you have to make a final decision. Some designers charge based on how many concepts they show you, and how many design iterations you get to make changes to the cover.

Three things not to do

You could have best book in the world, but if your cover looks like something you designed in Microsoft Word, doesn’t convey the right message, or looks unprofessional, you won’t appeal to readers.

1. DON’T Design a cover yourself
   Don’t ever design a cover yourself. An unprofessional looking cover is a huge turn off for readers (unless of course you design book covers for a living).
2. DON’T go color crazy
   Sometimes authors use too many images and colors in their covers. I always send them a color wheel that helps them see which colors look good together. A general rule of thumb that applies to websites is to stick to four colors, and this also applies to book covers.
3. DON’T go crazy over fonts
   Remember, keep the fonts simple and make sure the title, subtitle, and byline are readable.

Specs to keep in mind

Print cover:
You want to make sure that you tell the designer the exact size of the front cover, back cover, and spine, as well as any format requirements from your print vendor. These specs will vary depending on who you print the book with, but you can directly upload a PDF to most self-publishing services.

Ebook Cover:
Different devices display different cover sizes. If you want one cover that takes care of all sizes, you should make it 1600 x 2400 pixels in JPEG format.

The cover is usually the reader’s first interaction with your book and it’s important that your book grabs them at first sight.

So, whether you’re just starting to write your book or are in final edit mode, you’ll want to give your book cover a think to ensure you know what you want, and get what you ask for.