Custom Cover Design
Custom Book Cover Design
Some books need a cover image that does not exist yet: a world, a creature, a character no photo library has. Our custom covers are built around original artwork created for your book, with typography and print files to match.
- Original artwork from our in-house designers
- Sketch approval before final rendering
- Print and ebook files from the same artwork
- Revisions included until the brief is met
When custom makes sense
When a stock image will not do
Licensed photography works well for many books. It does not work when your cover needs something specific that only exists in your manuscript: a dragon with a particular silhouette, a spaceship, a city that has never been built, or a character readers will meet again across a series. Forcing a stock image to stand in for those usually produces a cover that looks generic, or worse, one that looks like several other books using the same photo.
Some genres expect illustration. Epic fantasy, science fiction, many young adult and middle grade titles, graphic-led non-fiction and almost all children's books lean on painted or drawn covers. Readers in those categories notice when a cover has been assembled rather than created.
A custom cover costs more and takes longer than a stock-based one. In exchange you get an image that belongs to your book alone and can anchor a whole series.
What we create
What goes into a custom cover
Concept development
We read your summary and key scenes, study the covers readers in your category respond to, and propose composition ideas as rough thumbnails before any artwork is made.
Artwork and illustration
Original digital painting or illustration in a style suited to your genre, from painterly fantasy to clean vector art for non-fiction and children's books.
Typography design
Title lettering designed to work with the art, sometimes hand-built for the cover, so the title reads clearly at thumbnail size and feels part of the image.
Layout and formatting
Front, spine and back composed as one piece, with artwork extended to cover bleed and a back panel for your blurb, bio and barcode.
Revision and finalisation
Changes at sketch stage, at colour stage and on the finished cover, until the brief is met.
Print and digital delivery
Print-ready full-wrap PDF on your platform's template, ebook front cover, and versions for your website and social posts.
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.
How it works
From sketch to finished cover
Custom artwork is approved in stages, so changes are made while they are still cheap to make.
1. Creative brief
Genre, summary, descriptions of characters or settings that might appear, reference images, covers you admire and your format and trim size.
2. Rough sketches
A small set of quick compositional sketches showing different ideas. You pick one, or combine elements of two.
3. Refined sketch and colour
A tighter drawing of the chosen idea, then a colour study. Pose, expression and composition changes happen here, before final rendering.
4. Final art and type
The finished illustration, cover typography and full wrap. Each custom cover is quoted with its own timeline, agreed when you order.
Your brief
What helps us design a custom cover
You do not need to have the cover pictured in your head. These details make the first sketches far more useful.
- A one-paragraph summary and the tone of the book: dark, funny, hopeful, tense
- Three to five recent covers in your genre that you like, and what you like about them
- Physical descriptions of any character who might appear, with reference photos if you have them
- Key settings or objects that are central to the story
- Plans for a series, so the first cover leaves room for the ones that follow
- Your trim size, platform and expected page count, if known
Series
Designing the first book of a series
If your book is the first of several, say so at the start. A series cover is designed as a system: a consistent title treatment, a fixed position for the series name and number, and an art style that can carry different scenes while still reading as one set. Getting that right on book one is far easier than retrofitting it on book three.
We keep the working files and style notes, so later covers in the series match the first.
Pricing
What a custom cover costs
Custom covers are quoted per project. The main factors are the complexity of the artwork (a single figure against a simple background is quicker to paint than a detailed scene with several characters), the formats you need and whether you are ordering a series. Usage terms for the artwork are agreed in writing with the quote, so you know exactly how you can use it.
If the budget does not stretch to original art, our custom cover lite option creates a professional cover from licensed imagery.
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 custom cover design
Still unsure about something? Talk to a specialist — no script, no sales pitch.
A premade cover is designed in advance and sold with your title added, so it was not made for your story and may resemble other books. A custom cover is designed from your brief, and with our custom service the main image is original artwork created specifically for your book.
Longer than a stock-based cover, because the artwork is approved in stages: sketches, refined drawing and colour, then final art. The timeline depends on how detailed the illustration is and is agreed with your quote. If you have a launch date, tell us when you order.
Small changes to colour, lighting and typography are part of the revision process. Big changes to composition or poses are much easier at sketch stage, which is why we ask for approval before rendering. Revisions are included until the brief is met.
Yes. Send descriptions and any reference images. Some authors prefer a silhouette or a figure seen from behind, so readers can picture the character themselves; we can show both options at sketch stage.
The cover is delivered with versions for your website and social posts. Wider uses such as merchandise, posters or the art without the type are agreed in the written usage terms with your quote, so there is no question later about what is allowed.
It is quoted per book, mainly on the complexity of the artwork and the formats you need. You get a fixed price before any sketching starts. Series are priced as a set and cost less per cover than ordering each one separately.
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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