6 Useful Skills for Book Cover Designers
A book designer is effectively a cross between an art director and a graphic designer. This means that people who design books must possess a wide array of intersecting skills.
Who are the best book cover designers? Find below a wide array of YA book cover artists and designers. I’ve included both the creators of the art and those who help design the covers. Many work across age categories, but I’ve noted below the names of each artist or designer some of their most well-known YA book cover work.
Also, How do I start designing a book cover?
How to design a book cover in 7 steps
- Find inspiration and ideas for your cover. …
- Choose your cover design software. …
- Find free images or use Shutterstock. …
- Decide on your cover’s dimensions. …
- Get your typography right. …
- Make sure you export the correct files. …
- Test your designs.
How do I start my own book cover design?
How to become a book designer
- Enter design competitions to expand your portfolio.
- Get yourself a work placement, it’s worth all those email asks.
- Internship not your dream job? Make transferrable skills.
- Practice your interview technique, it’s all about research and enthusiasm.
16 Related Questions and Answers
How long does it take to design a book cover?
How long does it take to design a book cover? It usually takes 10-12 working days, but for more complex projects (e.g. illustrations) it may take up to 20 working days.
What is the prettiest book cover?
Most Beautiful Covers Books
- The V Girl: a Coming of Age Story (Kindle Edition) …
- A Shard of Ice (Black Symphony, #1) …
- The Heir (The Selection, #4) …
- Ten Thousand Skies Above You (Firebird, #2) …
- A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird, #1) …
- Godsgrave (The Nevernight Chronicle, #2) …
- Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicle, #1)
What book covers sell best?
Here are 23 book covers to inspire you to create the next best-selling design.
- Psycho, 1959. Image via Shortlist.com. …
- Jaws, 1974. Image via Shortlist.com. …
- Jurassic Park, 1990. Image via Coolartblog.com. …
- The Godfather, 1969. …
- To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960. …
- 1984, 1948. …
- Flowers in the Attic, 1979. …
- The Wizard of Oz, 1900.
How can I design my own book cover?
The book design process in 7 steps
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- Understand the elements of a cover. …
- Research the market. …
- Choose a design direction. …
- Figure out what the design needs to emphasize. …
- Choose graphics and fonts. …
- Collect feedback. …
- Know what the printer needs.
What software is used to design book covers?
The best tools that you can use in order to design a book cover is Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Spark.
How do I make an attractive book cover?
How to Choose a Great Book Cover
- Be Smart About Your Title. The title is one of the most important elements on your cover. …
- Use a Teaser. A good strategy of manipulating the reader into buying your book is providing a teaser on the cover. …
- Pick the Right Font and Background Image. …
- Make the Cover Personal. …
- You Can Go Simple.
What degree do you need to be a book designer?
The majority of designers have only completed a Bachelor’s degree, mentioning that the most valuable training came from having the opportunity to do book design work in-house, where they were trained by very experienced designers; as with this type of work, you absolutely learn by doing.
What makes a book cover stand out?
Introduce your main characters, and simply outline the plot. Then entice the reader with an emotional hook, and allude to the journey the characters will go on – what they stand to achieve or lose. Make sure the blurb conveys the tone of your book; if it’s humorous, readers will think your book is too.
What color book covers sell best?
In addition to black and white, which work great for copy, most book covers look best with two or three colors.
…
Best Colors for Book Covers.
| Red | Energy, enthusiasm, emotion, power |
|---|---|
| Blue | Dependability, trust, thoughtfulness, calm |
| Dark Blue | Deep sincerity, intuition, truth |
Do authors choose their book covers?
But speaking in general terms, authors can usually trust their publisher to give them a cover that will result in book sales—which, many people forget, is pretty much the sole purpose of a book cover.
What is a must read book?
100 must-read classic books, as chosen by our readers
- Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen. …
- To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee. …
- The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald. …
- One Hundred Years of Solitude. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. …
- In Cold Blood. Truman Capote. …
- Wide Sargasso Sea. Jean Rhys. …
- Brave New World. Aldous Huxley. …
- I Capture the Castle.
What are stretchable book covers?
Simply slip one over the cover of your book like a fitted sheet. Because these are washable and have 4-way stretch, they can be reused on many different books. They’re sized for 8” x 10” books or 9” x 11” books at the smallest and can be stretched to fit a variety of book sizes.
Do cover artists read the books?
In this instance, it is up to the designer to speak to the book’s editor or, better still, the author to build a sense of the book’s tone and temperature. I am most certainly in the reading the book camp; the cover is there to serve the content, so the content has to be taken into account.
What makes a good book cover stand out?
The cover should feature a key theme from your book
The best path to a unique, creative book cover design is to visually represent a specific element or idea from your writing. The cover should communicate as much about your book to your potential audience as possible.
How much do illustrators charge for book covers?
A professionally illustrated book cover will cost, on average, between $500-$1,500. A fully illustrated book, as you’d expect, is much more expensive — more like $2,000-$10,000, depending on the scope and complexity of the artwork.
What format should my book cover be?
Ideal dimensions for cover files are 2,560 x 1,600 pixels. 1.6:1 is a ratio you will see in paperback fiction — especially with the smaller, mass-market formats.
How do I make a book cover in Canva?
How to make a book cover
- Launch a new page. Open Canva on your desktop or launch the app to get started. …
- Select a template. Explore Canva’s wide range of book cover designs for your self-publishing needs. …
- Customize your book cover design. …
- Try out different features. …
- Publish and share.
Should I put my face on my book cover?
Many authors think that putting their picture on the front cover will make them famous. This is not necessarily so. Unless you are well known in the media, bookstore buyers will not accept your book which pictures you on the front cover. … Otherwise, your picture and bio belong in the back matter of the book.
How do you create a book cover in Word?
Add a cover page
- On the Insert tab, in the Pages group, click Cover Page.
- Click a cover page layout from the gallery of options. After you insert a cover page, you can replace the sample text with your own text by clicking to select an area of the cover page, such as the title, and typing your text.
