Cover Design
Book Cover Design Services
Readers decide in a second whether a book is the kind they read, and the cover is what they decide on. We design covers that signal the right genre at thumbnail size, and supply files that meet your printer's and retailer's specifications.
- Designed by an in-house team, never subcontracted
- Ebook, paperback and hardback files
- Spine and back cover sized to your page count
- Revisions included until the brief is met
The problem
A cover is a label, not an illustration of the plot
Authors often want the cover to show a scene from the book: a key moment, a character, an object that matters. Readers browsing a store page do not know the plot yet. What they are looking for is a signal that this is their kind of book, and they read that signal from typography, colour, imagery and composition long before they read the title.
That is why covers in a genre tend to share a look. A cosy mystery, an epic fantasy, a business book and a literary memoir each have conventions that readers recognise instantly. A cover that ignores them may be beautiful and still be skipped, because it tells the wrong reader to pick it up.
Our first step is to study the current covers in your category and agree where your book should sit among them: fitting in enough to be recognised, distinct enough to be remembered.
Formats
Covers for every format you publish in
Ebook covers
A front cover built to be read as a small thumbnail on a phone, at the proportions ebook stores recommend. Title and author name are set large enough to survive the shrink.
Paperback covers
A full wrap: front, spine and back, with bleed, a spine width calculated from your final page count and paper type, and space left clear for the barcode.
Hardback covers and jackets
Case-laminate covers or dust jackets with flaps, set to the specific template your printer provides, which differs from the paperback one.
Audiobook covers
A square version of your cover for audiobook retailers, recomposed rather than cropped so nothing important is lost.
Series design
A layout system that carries across several books, so readers can spot the next title in the series and the set looks right side by side.
Cover refreshes
A redesign for a book already on sale whose cover looks dated or sends the wrong genre signal.
Not sure which option fits?
Send us the brief. You will get a scope, a timeline and a fixed price within 24 hours — no obligation.
- A genre review of comparable covers before any design starts
- Initial cover concepts to choose from, then refinement of the one you pick
- Typography designed for the cover, not a default font dropped onto an image
- Licensed images or original artwork, with the image source recorded
- Back cover layout for your blurb, author photo and bio, with barcode space
- Print-ready PDF built on your printer's cover template
- Ebook cover as a high-resolution JPEG, plus a version for social media and your website
How it works
Our cover design process
1. Brief
Title, subtitle, genre, a short summary, the readers you are writing for, a few covers you like, and your trim size and platform if you know them.
2. Concepts
We present initial concepts built on what readers in your category expect, each with a short note on why it is shaped the way it is.
3. Refinement
You choose a direction and we refine imagery, colour and type until the brief is met. We test it at thumbnail size before calling it done.
4. Final files
Once your interior page count is final, we build the full wrap for print and export the ebook and promotional versions.
Print specifications
Why the spine waits for the interior
A front cover can be designed early, but the print cover cannot be finished until the interior is laid out. Print-on-demand platforms calculate spine width from the page count and paper type, so a book that gains twenty pages in layout needs a wider spine. Amazon KDP, for example, also sets a minimum page count before text can be printed on the spine at all.
Print covers also need bleed, extra artwork beyond the trim edge that is cut off in production, and important text kept clear of the edges. We build every print cover on the template your platform generates for your exact trim size and page count, so it passes the file check first time.
Choosing an option
Custom artwork or a lighter design
Not every book needs commissioned illustration. Many non-fiction, thriller and romance covers are built from carefully chosen licensed photography and strong typography. Fantasy, science fiction and children's books more often need original artwork, because the world on the cover does not exist in stock libraries.
If you want original art, see our custom cover design service. If you need a clean, professional cover on a tighter budget, the custom cover lite option uses licensed imagery. For a digital-only release, our ebook cover design service focuses on the front cover alone.
Pricing
What book cover design costs
Covers are quoted per project. The price depends on whether you need original artwork or licensed imagery, which formats you need (ebook only, or ebook plus paperback and hardback), and whether the design is a single book or a series. You get a fixed price before work begins, and image licences are included in the quote rather than added later.
Free proposal
Tell us the goal. We’ll send the plan.
Share your requirements and a strategist gets back to you within 24 hours with scope, timeline and a fixed price. No obligation, no sales pressure.
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Response within 24 hours
Usually much sooner during business hours.
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Talk to a strategist
Not a call centre — the person who scopes your work.
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Fixed pricing upfront
You approve the number before anything starts.
Prefer to talk?
[email protected]Questions
Questions about book cover design
Still unsure about something? Talk to a specialist — no script, no sales pitch.
It is quoted per book. An ebook-only cover using licensed imagery costs less than a full-wrap print cover with original illustration, and a series is priced as a set. You receive a fixed quote covering design, image licences and the formats you need before any work starts.
The title, subtitle and author name exactly as they should appear, the genre, a short summary, and a few covers you like and why. For print, we also need your trim size, paper type and final page count, which can come later once the interior is laid out.
Yes. Each platform generates its own cover template from your trim size, page count and paper choice, and the templates are not interchangeable. We build a print file for each platform you use, so both pass their file checks.
You receive the final files for use on your book and its marketing. Where licensed stock images are used, the licence terms of the image library apply, and we record the source of every image. Usage terms for commissioned artwork are agreed in writing before work starts.
Yes. Most platforms let you upload a new cover for an existing edition. Tell us what is not working, whether it is sales, genre fit or simply how it looks next to newer releases, and we will design a replacement in the same trim size and page count.
Revisions are included until the brief is met. If you change the brief itself, for example a new title or a different genre direction after concepts are approved, we will tell you before doing any extra work and quote it.
Works well with
Pair it with the rest of the stack
Ready when you are
Ready to work with the pros?
Get a free proposal in 24 hours — scope, timeline and fixed price. No obligation, no lock-in contract.
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