Cover Art for a Self-Published Book – Hiring a Professional

In this blog post, we will once again be considering the cover art for your self-published book. Previously, we looked at some ways that you can do your own cover art; in this blog post, we will instead be thinking about hiring a professional designer or artist to do this for you. However, we will start by considering why cover art is so important for your book and as a self-publishing author.

Why is Cover Art Important?

Once you have your book ready for publication, it is important to make sure you pay attention to its cover as well as the words! People really do judge a book by its cover, so yours needs to look appealing and draw potential buyers in.

Think about when you go shopping for new books, whether in a physical bookshop or online. How do you know which books to look at? Sometimes you might be looking for a particular author, or maybe you got a recommendation from a friend. However, if not, you have to browse through the books to choose a new one. It’s likely that the first thing you notice will be the cover.

The cover of a book tells you a lot at a glance. Compare covers from different genres. You will notice that they use different colours, different fonts and different designs. Some might use drawings or illustrations; others tend to have photos. You should be able to instantly recognise what genre your book is in so that you attract the right readers.

Research

As you can see, it is very important to have the right cover art for your book – but what is the “right” cover art? You will need to do some research to give your book the best chance of getting buyers.

Start by looking at the covers of other books in your genre and make notes about what you see. What sort of things do they all have in common? What colours do they use? What is the predominant font style? Block capitals? One that looks more like handwriting? Look at what sort of illustrations, if any, there are. Consider both what these illustrations or photos are of and what art style they are in.

Once you have started your research, it is time to put together a detailed plan of how you want your book cover to look. This will be what you give to the cover artist or designer you choose, so it is important that you are sure what will suit your book and include as much detail as possible so that you get the cover you are expecting.

However, it is still possible to make alterations after you have submitted your plan, but bear in mind that revisions may well attract an additional fee. This is especially true if they would mean that the designer had to start from scratch – this would likely be a whole new job. Some minor revisions may be included in the original price, so check with your designer before they start work what sort of alterations are allowed and how much these alterations cost.

So, what sort of thing should your plan include? Think about how and where you want any illustrations to appear – front cover, back cover, over the spine? What sort of thing should these be of? You can give examples of book covers to show the designer the sort of image you are looking for. Include information about what sort of colours you would like, as well as the font for the title and your name.

Finding a Designer

Now that you have your plan, it’s time to start looking for a professional designer who will do your vision justice. You want to make sure you choose someone who is both good at what they do and easy to work with. It is worth talking to the designer for a while before working with them to make sure you both have similar expectations.

One good place to start looking for a designer is in established, well-respected directories. What these are will depend on what country you are in, but you should be able to find these quite easily. Designers will pay for a listing in the directory, which should also list what qualifications they have and what they have worked on before. Research what training and program knowledge is expected of a serious designer in your country and start from there.

You could also ask for recommendations from your fellow writers. This has the advantage of giving you an honest review of the designer. However, everyone works differently and what works well for other authors may not be the best option for you.

Wrapping Up

I hope that this helps you decide whether you want a professional designer and how to find one that suits you. In my next blog post, we will be looking at some of the advantages of having a paperback version of your book.

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