I have been thinking a lot about cover design lately. I just finished all my personal rounds of edits, working with a critique partner, beta readers and sent my fourth novel, the first in a new trilogy off to my editor. I thought it would be a good time to share my thoughts, what I have learned from my own experience, observed in books for sale, and from others seeking advice in the many writer’s forums I belong to. I am by no means an expert here, and still learning.
Of course, if you are traditionally published or intend to go the traditional route, all decisions here will likely be handled by your publisher. Some small publishers may work with you on the design but likely will at least guide you through the process. My thoughts and opinions here are aimed at people like me who have decided to self-publish, and therefore have both the pleasure and curse of handling every aspect of the publishing process themselves.
Can you design your own book cover?
A better question is should you design your own book cover. Anyone can grab a bunch of images and drop some text over it and call it a book cover. Amazon has book cover design software available in their KDP publishing suite. And there are apps like BookBrush that also offer this feature. I have not used either one of them, though I do use both sites for other aspects of marketing and publishing. But even using software designed for the purpose will not guarantee a professional looking cover. It is wise to remember that your cover is likely the first thing people will see and use to determine if they want to read your book, so the cover should be the best and most professional you can make it.
Do you have a background in art? Have you studied design elements and book covers in your genre? Do you have access to stock photos that you can use without copyright infringement, meaning you either paid for a license to use them, or can truly prove they are free? If the answer is no, you probably will want to hire someone with experience to handle the art for your cover. You can find freelancers all over the place for a range of prices. Sketch or mockup your ideas if you can. If you think they are good enough to use for your cover, then workshop them in critique groups and get feedback.
I am a doodler by nature and like to play with photo manipulation. GIMP is a free program much like Photoshop, and I mocked up my first two covers. I knew they weren’t high enough quality for the actual covers but were good enough to get the concept across.
What type of art should go on my cover?
This will be a combination of personal preference and genre expectations. Is the book fantasy, young adult, middle grade, nonfiction, etc.? Spend some time looking at book covers in your genre and get a feel for what is popular, and what speaks to you. Covers can be simple and elegant, or deeply detailed. But whatever else the cover does, it should convey both genre and tone of the book. If I can’t glance at a title and cover art and have a good idea what kind of book it is going to be, then the cover hasn’t done its primary job.
Also take note of book covers you don’t like. There is a trend in fantasy, especially in self-published books, to have a buxom woman, stepping out of a fireball, vamping for the ‘camera’ on the book cover. No matter how good the art, these covers read as cookie cutter self-published to me. This is just my opinion, but a scantily clad woman wielding lightning and staring directly into the viewer’s eyes tells me little about the story, and because it has been done so often, makes me think ‘generic’. I think it also sets an expectation for the reader as to what your characters will look like, and this holds true for male or female characters depicted in detail. I do enjoy detail in character description and like to paint a vivid picture for my readers in the book itself but slapping a cookie cutter wench on the cover takes away the bits the reader may fill in from their own imaginations. So, I tend to gravitate towards covers that have a scene from the book, or even just iconography from the world. Characters depicted seen from behind, far away, or maybe a quarter profile, or wearing a deep hood work too. Just keep the character details to a minimum. There, rant done.
Choosing an artist or cover designer.
As I said before, there are a lot of freelancers out there, and for a wide variety of budgets. Some paint, some will photoshop stock photos, and some a combination of the two. If you ask about cover design in any of the writer’s forums on Facebook, you will likely have several people respond, offering their services. There are freelancers on Fivver and a site call 99 Designs where people can bid for your project. They could offer full service, meaning they will do everything down to the text layout, or just the artwork, leaving you to either do the text layout yourself, or hire another person for that piece of it.
Before you hire someone, I would ask to see their portfolio, review their website, and understand exactly what services they are providing. If they are using any kind of stock photos, make sure that they have the licenses required to avoid any copyright issues. Also, ask if they are granting you sole ownership of the image, meaning they won’t reuse or resell the same image or parts of it to someone else.
I was fortunate to meet an artist through one of these writer’s groups. I approached her after she posted a cover she did for another client, because I loved her style. It was unique while still fitting the fantasy genre. I sent her the mockup for my first book, and loved the end results so much, I hired her for the second and third books. I didn’t even do a mockup for the third book, just told her my ideas. Her name is Shivana:
Her work is fabulous!
Text layout and design.
Now this is one place I would recommend trying it yourself if you have a mind to. Of course, if you are hopeless at design, it’s best to hire someone who knows what they are doing but with a little practice and effort, you can make text look good. I mentioned the program GIMP earlier. This is a free program to download and use and is similar to Photoshop. There are tons of tutorials and information available online. If you don’t have, and don’t want to pay for photoshop, GIMP has you covered.
One of the benefits of laying out all my text myself, is that as I have had to reformat my covers for audiobook and hard back, I have been able to jump into my saved cover files and make the changes myself. And I was able to try out an endless number of fonts until I found one that I liked.
I have a subscription to Creative Fabrica where I can download unlimited fonts that are available for commercial use. The font on my first three covers is Walpurgis Night, for the record. But there are other sites where you can download open-source fonts for free. Just make sure your fonts are easily legible. I have an inordinate fondness for really scripty swirly fonts. But fortunately, I also have a friend who is a graphic designer, and she is always willing to steer me toward fonts that are both fitting and easy to read.
Your cover artist should be willing to send the art back to you in the specific dimensions requested. Requirements can vary a little depending on the print size of your book, so it is good to have a little wiggle room around the edges for adjustments. And the full piece should consider both the back and front of the book. If you have a stylized front and only need a black or white back and spine, that is one thing. But if you want the art to wrap continuously around the cover, make sure it is discussed with your artist. The back should also be set up for your blurb and whatnot so typically the back should have less contrast, and either be dark or light to accommodate. This was the final art returned to me for my first cover, in a high-res image, and without the watermark.
I did all the text layout for my first three books in GIMP, following a similar layout and style. In this screen shot you can see the guides I added marking the spine and center line on the front and back covers. I was able to size and move all the text around until I had it where I wanted. I didn’t add much formatting to the text other than a drop shadow to make the text pop a bit. And I probably got a little crazy with the swooshes. But one really good thing that happened, was just as I was getting ready to publish, I searched my own name on Amazon. Originally, I was going to publish under Jennifer, but found there is another author, who seems to write under the bodice ripper genre already on Amazon with a fairly large catalog of books. I was able to update my cover easily to my shortened name for a little differentiation.
And I am happy with my first three covers. There is always room for improvement, and I decided I wanted to make my next cover even better. I sent some mockups to my cover artist already, but I need a new font, and I think some better text graphics for the next one.
YouTube it.
While researching text effects that I can do in GIMP, I came across this tutorial. Lots of great insight and information. The gentleman in the tutorial is using Photoshop. And while most of the effects he uses are available in GIMP, I am finding there is greater flexibility in Photoshop. I downloaded a free week trial of Photoshop to play with.
The first text image I did in GIMP, the second in Photoshop, both trying to follow the tutorial. I am really digging the effects in Photoshop more, though I think with a bit more practice I could probably get there in GIMP. I have 5 more days to decide if I want to pay $10 a month for Photoshop. But both are an upgrade to my previous text designs. Not sure if I will stick with this font yet. I like it, but as the gentleman in the tutorial says, it is commonly used for fantasy book covers. The font is Cinzel Decorative and is available here -->
Note, this blurb isn’t necessarily the final for this book, and the picture is just a free stock image I threw in there until I get the real art. I'm not even sure if this is the final title. :)
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