your book cover designer needs these 7 things

The book cover design will become the focus of every single author at some point during the pre-publication process, for the indie author it’s another element which can seem daunting, it’s also something that you’ll be doing in tandem with the editing and formatting of the book too, so while you’re trying to juggle many elements it pays to get a little help.

It’s at this point that the most successful authors employ others to work upon their project for them, they’ll use a professional editor and formatter to ensure that the content of their book is both professional in its layout and structure, they’ll also use a professional book cover designer to ensure that the ‘face’ of the book can compete within such a crowded market place (and with over 1,200 books being published daily, it’s crowded). In doing so you can sit back and simply manage the project, liaising with the relevant services when necessary and signing off once happy.  

So when it comes to your book cover and the professional designer to create the front page for your new book, you should take several things in to account first.

1. Know your work – This sounds like an obvious thing to highlight, after all, you wrote the book so you should know what’s important, right? Of course, but sometimes you can be a little too close to the work itself, what this can lead to is trying to focus on too much content for use upon the cover, and as any designer will tell you….less is more. So while you are thinking of the most important elements for your book, set yourself the 30 second challenge, sell your book to a friend in 30 seconds or less, doing this will give you those most important elements (all vital information for your designer).
   
2. Detail – If it’s important for you to have a particular element or character featured within the book cover design make sure you give a full and detailed description of it or the character, you will know the hero of your book intimately, but giving a description which just says they’re male, late twenties with blonde hair will lead to unexpected results.
   
3. Know what you DO like – Prior to contacting a book cover designer get out into your local book shop or go online, look at the books which are closest to your genre and that are the best sellers. Having an idea of what you like and what you don’t like can help you see what the current trends are and what to expect with your own book cover design.
   
4. Size matters – Most book cover designers are able to adjust the size of your design for you, however, establishing what trim size you are going to print your book prior to the design being created can save time (and with some designers) money too. (Please note that the spine of the book will alter with edits so this will be adjusted as you go, the trim size is the size it will be cut to).
   
5. Timescales – A great book cover design can take anything from one to three weeks from start to completion, this does depend upon each individual client of course but you should keep this in mind if you are working towards a specific timeframe.
   
6. Who’s your publisher? – This can be important to establish because of the limitations that some publishing companies put upon their printing process, for example, Createspace only print paperbacks but they have no restrictions upon ink levels, where as Ingram Spark print hardbacks as well as paperbacks but they will limit the ink levels, what this means is that a book cover from Createspace may look slightly richer in color than that of Ingram Spark, again, this is important information for your designer.
   
7. Promoting your book – Having a clear plan as to how you will promote your book will lead you to think of posters, social media banners, postcards, business cards and more. Depending on your budget and expectations for the book it pays to think ahead and see if your designer can create these items now or in the future.