Our Book Cover Design Process — What to Expect
A friendly walk-through of how we design your book cover: what we need from you, how concepts and revisions work, and why we design for genre fit above personal taste.
A good book cover isn't just pretty — it's a marketing tool working for you 24/7 on a crowded Amazon shelf. The best covers come from a genuine collaboration: your story, your taste, our design craft, and hard-earned knowledge of what sells in your genre. This page walks you through how we work so there are no surprises — what we'll ask of you, how the concept and revision stages work, and where the honest trade-offs live.
1Before You Order: What We Need From You
Right after you order, we send you a quick intake form — a guided series of prompts rather than a blank Word doc. It takes about 10 minutes and captures everything below. You don't need to write a formal brief; just have these ready.
A one-paragraph synopsis
The story in a nutshell — hooks, tone, stakes. Don't overthink it.
Genre and subgenre
Thriller is different from psychological thriller is different from cozy thriller. Be specific.
Three comp titles
Recent bestsellers in your category whose covers you admire. These anchor the design direction.
Mood and tone notes
Dark and moody? Bright and hopeful? Corporate and clean? A few adjectives go a long way.
Non-negotiables (if any)
Things you definitely want or definitely don't want. Avoid telling us what the image should be — tell us the feeling instead.
2The Design Brief
We take everything from your intake form and distil it into a short, one-page brief: genre, tone, typography direction, imagery approach, the feeling a reader should get in three seconds. You confirm it before any design work begins. This is where misunderstandings get caught cheaply.
💡 Pro Tips
- Read the brief carefully — if something feels off, say so now
- Lean on our judgement for the visual direction, but be clear about anything you feel strongly about
- A confirmed brief is the contract for the concepts stage
3Concept Stage
Based on the signed-off brief, we produce initial concepts. The number depends on your package: eBook Essential includes 1 concept, Print Ready includes 2, Launch Bundle includes 3. Each is a fully-realised direction — not a rough sketch.
⚠️ Important
- Concepts are genre-first, personal-taste-second — this is deliberate
- Switching to a completely different direction after concepts are delivered counts as a new concept request and is priced separately
- Refining and polishing one of the delivered concepts = revisions (included, see below)
4The Genre Reality (The Honest Bit)
Here's a truth we'll tell you upfront: covers are marketing tools. They're optimised to catch the eye of your ideal reader scrolling Amazon in thumbnail size, not to match your living room wall. Sometimes the concept that converts best isn't the one that would make the most beautiful art print — and when those two pull in different directions, we'll recommend the one that sells books. You have the final say, of course. But we'd be doing you a disservice if we didn't share the data-backed reasoning behind our suggestions.
💡 Pro Tips
- Trust the genre conventions — readers use them as shortcuts to find books they'll love
- If you're unsure, look at the top 20 books in your Amazon category. Notice the patterns.
- Ask us why we made a choice — we'll happily explain our reasoning
5Sourcing the Artwork
We source artwork in three different ways depending on your package and the creative direction: licensed stock photography, custom illustration, and AI-generated imagery. We always disclose which we used and what you can and cannot do with it afterwards.
💡 Pro Tips
- Licensed stock: cheap and effective, but not exclusive — other books may use the same base image
- Custom illustration: fully yours, fully exclusive, but costs more and takes longer
- AI-generated: somewhere in between — we'll tell you if it was used
- Your package description specifies which sources are included
6Revisions (Included)
Every package includes a generous number of revision rounds on your chosen concept: 2 rounds on eBook Essential, 3 on Print Ready, 4 on Launch Bundle. Revisions are refinements to the concept you selected — typography tweaks, colour shifts, layout adjustments, swapping imagery elements within the same direction.
💡 Pro Tips
- Typography: font changes, size, weight, positioning
- Colour palette: shifting mood, swapping background tones
- Layout: repositioning title, subtitle, author name
- Imagery: swapping a specific element while keeping the overall direction
⚠️ Important
- Pivoting to an entirely different concept after you've picked one = a new concept, not a revision
- After the included rounds, extra revisions are £15 / $19.99 each
7Changes After Final Files Are Approved — $100 Flat
Once you've approved the final files (print-ready PDF, eBook JPEG, mockups) and we've closed the project, any change request means rebuilding every output in the delivery bundle. That's a flat £80 / $100 per change — not per file, per request — regardless of how small the tweak looks. This is a standard fee that protects everyone: it gives us room to do the work properly and gives you a predictable number to weigh the change against.
💡 Pro Tips
- Triple-check title, subtitle, author name, and tagline before you approve
- View the cover at thumbnail size on your phone before signing off
- If you're unsure about anything, ask us — we'd rather answer than see a $100 change land later
⚠️ Important
- This applies to every change after sign-off, including text swaps, colour shifts, or element tweaks
- If we made the mistake (e.g. wrong subtitle), we fix it free — that's on us
- The cheapest change is the one caught during revisions — use that window
8Content on the Cover
Title, subtitle, author name, and a short tagline (if you have one) are included in the design. If you need a full back-cover blurb and author bio written from scratch, that's our separate Back Cover Copy add-on — unless your package already includes it.
💡 Pro Tips
- Send us the final wording of your title, subtitle, and author name early — we'll use them in concepts
- If you haven't written a tagline, that's fine — we can design without one or suggest options
- Back-cover blurb writing is a craft in itself and not bundled into basic design packages
9What You Get at the End
At the end of the project, you receive a package of final files ready for every platform you plan to sell on.
Print-ready PDF
Full wraparound cover (front, spine, back) with correct bleed for your trim size — ready for KDP or IngramSpark.
eBook JPEG
Kindle-spec, IngramSpark-spec, and generic RGB versions.
3D mockup (if in package)
Ready-to-use promotional imagery for social media, ads, and your website.
10A Small Note on Collaboration
Cover design is one of the most personal parts of publishing a book — which also makes it the stage where expectations can most easily miss each other. Be honest with us when something isn't quite landing, and give us room to explain why we made the choices we did. When both sides bring that energy, we end up with a cover you love and that also does its job selling your book. If anything on this page isn't clear, just ask before you order.
Ready to start? Browse our Book Cover Design packages to pick the right fit for your project. Still have questions? Drop us a line — we're happy to talk through your genre and direction before you commit.