Should You Hire a Professional Book Cover Designer?

Updated 12/9/24

You've finished editing your novel and decided to self-publish. Now you are faced with a choice. Should you spend the money on a professional book cover designer or design a cover yourself?

Unless you are a graphic designer, hire someone. People do indeed judge a book by its cover. And just as an attractive cover draws the eye, a dull cover can cause readers to move on to a more appealing image. Your best chance of making sure people stop to look at your book cover is to make sure it is designed by a professional.

Judging a book by its cover 

The problem that faces self-publishers is how to evaluate an effective cover. "Good" and "bad" reside in the eye of the beholder. Depending on cultural tastes, what is considered "good" can vary widely. Standards also change over time.

Consider Baen Press, a publisher of speculative fiction famous for its ridiculous book covers. (Some of the most horrendous covers can be found on Good Show Sir, along with hilarious comments.) Those covers were not considered awful 30 years ago. (I know because I bought many of them.) Times change, and tastes change along with them.

Shumate thinks this is a bad cover, and I agree

In an article on Huffington Post, Nathan Shumate presents what he believes to be the 10 worst self-published book covers ever. According to Shumate, a bad book cover looks "amateurish." In other words, it looks as if the author designed it, which reflects what critics think of writers' artistic capacity (as well as industry norms in which DIY is considered déclassé).

But are professionally-designed book covers any better? Frankly, I can't tell the difference between what the NYT considers the best book covers, and what Huffington Post says are the worst. ExWhyZed lists "20 Best Book Covers" that are only slightly less trendy. What is currently popular does not always stand the test of time, or of good taste, so I would caution you against anything that smacks of trendiness.

Ultimately, a bad cover is one that makes your eye move on. If you don't want to gaze at the cover, chances are you won't want to read the book.

What are the qualities of a good cover?

The basic components of a good cover are 1) being able to easily read the title and author and all subheadings, 2) an image that doesn't interfere with the written information, 3) a thumbnail that stands out, and 4) the ineffable quality of memorability. Just like a piece of art, a book cover should be memorable.

My idea of a memorable cover is Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. It is simple, evocative, and aesthetically pleasing.

The theme, expressed beautifully by the image, is spelled out below - for those who need words. And you can easily read both title and author's name. When I close my eyes, I can still see the image and the title. (Those not only stuck with me, they persuaded me to order the book.)

For more memorable book covers - and an analysis of why they do (or don't) work - see Joel Friedlander's Ebook Cover Design Awards.

The bottom line for good book covers is that they make you want to read what's between them.

How do you find a book cover designer?

There are many excellent book cover designers, but locating one who is perfect for your project can be a challenge. To narrow the field, go to Amazon and look at covers for books in your genre. When you come to one that is enticing (would you want to know more about this book based on the cover?) find out who the cover designer is. (You can type "cover design" and the title of the book into a Google search. Alternatively, you can type "cover design" into the "Look Inside" feature in case there is an acknowledgement.) If those methods fail, you can always contact the author (especially if the book is self-published; in traditional publishing authors have no control over cover art). Even if the artists you find through this method do not do freelance work, you now know what you like. When you approach cover designers, you can show them examples of the styles that appeal to you.

An example of a bad pre-made cover

Another strategy is to conduct a Google search for "book cover designers." This will yield you 16 million hits and will make you want to run screaming from your computer screen.  But it is worth it to look at some of these sites. You won't necessarily find the best designers with this method, but you will get a feel for different types of design options - of which there are exactly two: pre-made designs and custom designs.

Pre-made covers

Pre-made book covers are usually cobbled together using stock images. The way it works is you choose an image you like, the designer adds your name and book title, you buy it, and the image is then taken off the market, never to be used again.

Pre-made covers tend to be quite inexpensive. Cheap Book Cover Depot offers pre-made covers for as little as $5. Fiverr is another service that starts at $5. But while cheap pre-made covers are passable, they have a bland, generic quality that does not make them memorable. If you pay a bit more, you can sometimes find a pre-made cover that looks as if it were commissioned.

Book Cover Zone offers covers for $69. Images are from Shutterstock, and authors have the option of rejecting covers as many times as they please.

Nice pre-made cover by Go On Write

Among the pre-made cover designers, there is one who stands out. Go On Write offers pre-made covers starting at $45 that are more than worth the price. The designer, James, has real flair and a solid sense of design. Some of his pre-made covers rival any of the commissioned work you will find. (James also does commissioned work.) Take a moment to browse through the categories on his site. (And compare them to the image of Sci-Fi Book One. See the difference?) If you have to buy a pre-made cover, James is your man.

Commissioned covers

Covers that are individually designed cost more (in the hundreds) but will give you the security of knowing your book cover is the equal to anything designed by an artist working with a major publisher. There are two methods of obtaining a commissioned book cover: 1) competitive services in which you place an ad to be viewed by hundreds of designers, and 2) contacting individual designers directly through their websites.

Bidding Sites

99 Designs is a graphic design service that allows you to post your project in a pricing category ($299-$1199). Depending on your plan, a set number of designers - between 30 and 60 - submit their book cover designs. You have a week to give feedback to designers. After that you choose which design you want. In essence, 99 Designs is a contest.

Crowdspring, another bidding site, allows you to see all submissions for a single cover. This is a highly instructive feature, as it allows you to see a huge variety of cover concepts.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this system. The advantage is that you get to compare a number of different styles and interpretations, which may broaden your horizons. The disadvantage is that you are under the gun in terms of time. Making a decision quickly, especially if you think the design needs tweaking, may not be in your best interests.

Individual designers

My personal preference is to work directly with a designer. Hiring an individual designer allows you to hone your book cover until it is exactly what you want - and the final product will be unique. You will pay more for the design than pre-made covers, but the promise of complete satisfaction may be worth it. I've listed a couple of good designers below. Look at their portfolios and terms to get an idea of what a designer should offer.

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Nu-Image Design

Dan Yeager, the owner of Nu-Image Design, is very professional. You have to pay half up front, but he won't quit until you are completely satisfied with the final product. Turn-around time is very fast, and his prices are quite reasonable. The cover for my ebook cost less than $250. He also does full print set-ups.

To the left is the book cover Dan Yeager designed for me. It is elegant, memorable, and the information is easy to read.

Ness Graphica

Alexander von Ness has almost 20 years of professional experience in graphic design and over a decade as Art Director in a branding agency. He is a multiple winner and finalist of international graphic design contests in the category of book cover design. I have not worked with him, but his covers are impressive. Like Dan Yeager, he will do limitless revisions until you are satisfied. Prices are generally in the $400 range.

Von Ness works quickly. He promises a first draft within three days.

Design for Writers

Andrew Brown ans his team have been designing book covers for decades. You can see examples of his work on his Facebook page.

More:

Mark's List

Smashwords provides a list of affordable ebook cover designers - both pre-made and commissioned work.



DIY

While I don't normally recommend making your own cover, if you have an eye for design there are plenty of resources at your disposal.

Making Your Own Book Cover? Best Free Programs for Graphic Design

40 Sites Where You Can Get Fabulous Free Photos

Once you have finished your cover, however, don't assume it's ready to grace your book. Get a second opinion from a professional. (I can almost guarantee that you'll have missed something crucial.)

Making Your Own Book Cover? Best Free Programs for Graphic Design

Updated 10/6/24

If you have a flair for design, and don't have a lot of cash to spare for a professional service, you can make your own book cover for free.

There are dozens of graphic programs that don't cost a penny and provide high quality graphics. Features range from simple editing tools (rotation, special effects, text insertion) to 3D design and animation. As far as image manipulation is concerned, the sky is the limit.

I've listed some of the most popular (and easiest to use) programs below.

Related posts: 40 Sites Where You Can Get Fabulous Free Photos

Caveat: If you don't have design skills, hire a professional. (A poorly designed cover will sink your book.) This post will help you find a great book cover designer. Most designers on this list are surprisingly affordable!

Should You Hire a Professional Book Cover Designer?

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When designing a book cover, keep in mind the following:

1) Your book cover will appear as a thumbnail, so make sure the title is clearly visible.

2) Don't get carried away with too much detail. Busy cover images get lost in a thumbnail.

3) Advertising studies have revealed that people are most attracted to faces.

4) Avoid white - at least around the edges. Your book cover will appear against a white background.
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Picmonkey - A free photo editor and collage maker that works in your browser. You can get a good idea of what Picmonkey can offer on Pinterest. Features: text, overlays, photo touch up, collage (simply upload images), and editing tools. Picmonkey is easy to use, so if you are a novice, start here.

Paint.net – A free image and photo editing software for Windows based PC's. This program was voted #19 out of the top 100 programs of 2007 by PC World. It has full support for layers and special effects, the tools are top notch and highly recommended by many users. There is a strong online community for support and frequent updates to the software. Comparable to Adobe Photoshop.

Ultimate Paint -  Offers a freeware program with more than a hundred advanced image effects and correction filters. Works with Windows.

Pixelmator - An application for Macs that produces high quality images. It's not free, but you can try it for 7 days without paying a cent. They provide tutorials, support, and a blog to help you get going.

Gimp - A free editing and retouching software program that can be used with Mac, Linux and Windows (anything after XP). Gimp has many of the features of Photoshop: layers, clone tools (to copy pixels), blur and sharpen tools, color gradients, image enhancement, and so on.

Inkscape - A professional vector graphics editor for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. It's free and open source. Features include: layers, drawing, text tools, shape tools, moving, and many more. The website has an image gallery and tutorials.

DAZ Studio - A program for making 3D images and animation. Particularly useful for sci-fi and graphic novel illustrations.

iPiccy - This free online program allows you to do just about everything Photoshop does, but without the hassle of trying to figure out how to do it. Very user-friendly. There's no registration; just upload your photo and start editing. (Many thanks to Kristin for the tip!)

Krita -Krita is a sketching and painting program designed for digital artists. Its intended purpose is to provide robust tool for digital painting and creating artworks from scratch. Krita’s tools are most relevant to digital painting, concept art, illustration, and texturing. 

Literary Chocolate

I ran across this interesting article not too long ago and it merely confirmed what we all know. Chocolate is an aphrodisiac. What we didn't know was that subliminal scents can sell books, and that these odors can be genre-specific. Chocolate, obviously, helps sell romance novels.

It doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to come up with scents that would sell other genres. What scent do you think would induce someone to buy a mystery novel - blood? Gunpowder?

Smell is our most powerfully evocative sense. An article like this tempts me to speculate whether it would be possible to develop book covers that release certain aromas.

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Chocolate: The Scent That Could Save Struggling Bookstores

Inquisitr, July 21, 2013

Can the smell of chocolate really help save a struggling bookstore? Belgian researchers report the enticing aroma of chocolate inspired bookstore shoppers to stick around longer, and boosted sales of certain genres.

Writing in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, a research team led by Lieve Doucé of Hasselt University describes a 10-day experiment conducted in a general-interest bookstore in Belgium.

Great news for independent booksellers striving to keep their shops profitable in an Amazon-dominated marketplace. Researchers in Belgium have discovered a simple, inexpensive way to keep customers in the store longer and, quite possibly, boost sales.

They report shoppers are more likely to engage in leisurely browsing—and ultimately purchase books in certain popular genres, including romance novels—if the store is infused with the scent of chocolate.

For approximately half of its open-for-business hours (either morning or afternoon, depending upon the specific day), the scent of chocolate was dispersed into the store from two locations. The smell was subtle enough that it wasn’t immediately noticeable, but strong enough so that it could be instantly identified once it was pointed out.

Researchers tracked the actions of every fifth customer to enter the store—a total of 201 people. They report that when the scent was activated, shoppers showed a greater tendency to take their time, check out a variety of titles, and/or chat with an employee.

In addition, when the aroma was present, shoppers were less likely to search out one specific book and take it directly to the cash register. Something about the store’s environment made them want to hang out a bit longer than they perhaps had planned.

They report sales for books in the first category increased by an impressive 40 percent when the chocolate smell was in the air. Perhaps even more encouragingly, those in the second category also rose, by a more modest but still substantial 22 percent, over the hours when the store was scentless.

Interestingly, the customers were more likely to check out the crime thrillers and history volumes when the aroma was absent. The scent of chocolate apparently steered people away from those genres.

These results lead the authors to offer some practical advice: “Retailers can make use of pleasant ambient scents to improve the store environment, leading consumers to explore the store.” Ideally, they add, the scents should be congruent with the merchandise on sale—say, the salty smell of the sea for a surf shop

It’s certainly worth a try for hard-pressed independent bookstores—or even for a certain struggling chain. Indeed, the customer-pleasing power of chocolate might even inspire thoughts of a merger. Who wouldn’t want to shop at Barnes and Nestlés?

40 Sites Where You Can Get Fabulous Free Photos

Fantasy - Pixabay

Updated 1/26/24

Whether you are blogging, writing articles, or designing a cover for your book, there is nothing that attracts readers more than a fetching image. Eye-catching images not only draw the reader’s attention, they establish a mood, set a tone, and express what you can’t say in words. A great image will also inspire a reader to linger, and to want to learn more about you and what you have written.

Fortunately, finding beautiful images has never been easier – or cheaper. You can, of course, purchase stock photos from any number of services. However, if you are on a limited budget, you can now get great photos for free. These are some of my favorite sites for finding fantastic free images.

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1. Morguefile

With 400,000 images, Morguefile used to be my first stop when I was hunting for a photo. (Now it’s Pixabay.) You don’t need to jump through hoops to download, and no registration is required.

You are allowed to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt images. Attribution is not required. Like most other sources for free photos, Morguefile prohibits use of any photo in a stand alone manner. However, unlike some other sites, you are free to use photos for commercial purposes (e.g. the cover of your book).

2. Free Images

Spilled Milk by Alecsandro Andrade de Melo

Free Images, formerly Stock.xchnge, has an enormous selection of good quality photos .

You can use all of their images for non-commercial purposes, but be sure to check the “restrictions” tab if you plan on using an image for a book cover or on anything else that you sell. The top photos — and they are always the pick of the litter — are not free.

© Jamie Wilson | Dreamstime Stock Photos

3. Dreamstime

Dreamstime has over a million images. It’s a little harder to search than either Pixabay or Pexels, and registration is required. But once you figure out how to use this site, there are riches to be had. 

Attribution and a link back are required. The maximum number of copies allowed for free images is 10,000. Note: Not everything on this site is free.

4. Freerange

Freerange has an eclectic mix of photos, from abstract paint spatters to squirrels. They post their newest photos on the first page, which makes for an interesting introduction to the site. You can search by category, and by most popular and newest. You must register to download. Commercial use is not allowed.

Freerange shares revenue from ads on its site with photographers who submit their photos, which is a nice gesture.

Alien Worlds by micromoth

5. RGB Free Stock Photos

All images on RGB Stock Photos are free for personal and commercial use. (The terms of use for commercial purposes are that you need to contact the artist for written permission.)

Some of these photos are truly captivating. RGB also ranks its photographers, so you can search images by their most popular artists.

Image credit: pixabay

6. Pixabay

Pixabay is a German-based service with over 150,000 creative commons photos.

You will find some truly spectacular, professional looking photos on this site, in several different sizes.

From the site: "To the extent possible under law, uploaders of Pixabay have waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to these Images. You are free to adapt and use the Images for commercial purposes without attributing the original author or source. Although absolutely not required, a link back to Pixabay would be nice."

(Many thanks to Thora York for suggesting this great site.)

7. U.S. Government

Did you know that all federal government images are freely available for reprinting? (That is because your tax dollars pay for them.) To be honest, the majority of these images are about as interesting as a tree stump, but among the dull, uninspiring images that are the hallmark of government publications, there is an occasional gem.

It all depends on what you are looking for.

8. Public Domain Pictures

This site has thousands of free photos, many of which are truly spectacular. Not all are available for commercial use, but you can use any of them on your blog. At the bottom of every page there is a section for paid stock photos, so make sure to check.

9. Google

If you want to find an image quickly, you can take the google shortcut.

Go to google images. Search for the image you want (e.g. burger and fries, football, etc.). When the images pop up, click on "search tools" on the nav bar at the top of the page. On the nav bar that pops up, click "usage rights." Then click on the "reuse" category that applies to you. (The top category, "Not filtered by license," means the image may be protected by copyright.)

Make sure you check on the source before you use the image. Some of the images that appear on a "reuse" search have watermarks, which means they are protected by copyright.

10. Freeimages.com

Free Images is a site owned by Getty. It offers over 390,000 quality images and illustrations that can be used virtually without restriction. (Images cannot be used in a stand-alone manner for commercial purposes.)

Registration is required for downloads, but you can simply save an image to your computer if you want to skip that step

11. Pexels

All photos on Pexels are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means the pictures are completely free to be used for any legal purpose. The pictures are free for personal and even for commercial use.

You can modify, copy and distribute the photos without asking for permission or setting a link to the source.

Attribution is not required.

12. Every Stock Photo

Everystockphoto.com is a search engine for stock photos - 29,368,214 of them. You can search by category, by top photos, and by popular photographers. You have to sign up, but it's free.

This site is not as easy to use as pixabay, and the search function is a little cumbersome. But if you are looking for something very specific, chances are you will find it here.

Photo: NASA

13. Free Stock Photos

This site has a limited set of photos, mostly place and nature pics, and all have the site name prominently stamped on the photo. (They may all have been taken by one person.)

You may not find what you are looking for here, but their side bar has an impressive list of other sites that offer free photos, some of which I have not seen elsewhere.

14. Kave Wall

Kave Wall is best used for textures, some of which are truly glorious.

All of their images are free under Creative Commons, which means you can copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, remix, transform, and build upon the material as long as you supply attribution. Full resolution of their photos is not free.

See their license agreement here.

15. Stock Vault

This site is a grab bag. Some of the images are unusual, artistic even. Others are mundane to the extreme. They have a wide selection, so it is worth hunting around as you will not find most of these images elsewhere. They also feature vector images.

16. Flickr

Millions of flickr photos are available under Creative Common licensing. Under Creative Commons you can use, alter, or reproduce work online. Some flickr users require attribution, some only allow non-commercial use.

There is a convenient key on the right side bar that explains the various restrictions. Photos are organized according to the key, which makes it easy to find the category that best suits your needs.

17. Unsplash

This site gives you access to high-resolution photos. You have to register, but it's free. In addition to site downloads, you can also request to have photos delivered to your inbox.


The advantage of using a high-resolution image is that a graphic designer can easily modify it to make a clean, professional-looking final product.

All photos published on Unsplash are licensed under Creative Commons Zero which means you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for free, including commercial purposes, without asking permission from or providing attribution to the photographer or Unsplash.

18. New York Public Library

NYPL has a collection of more than 672,000 images in the public domain.

This site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more. Collections are organized according to theme. You can also search for a specific image, or theme.

Click HERE to enter the NYPL collection.

19. Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met has released more than 375,000 images that you can use for free. These are high-resolution images that can be used for any purpose. There are no copyright restrictions. (Creative Commons Zero designation.) The museum will partner with Creative Commons, the Wikimedia community, Artstor, the Digital Public Library of America, and Pinterest, which will allow the museum to promote its collection around the world.

20. J. Paul Getty Open Content Program

Getty’s Open Content Program is an initiative to make available, without restrictions, as many of the Getty’s digital resources as possible. The Getty Trust and its operating programs — the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation — as well as their departments, including Getty Publications and the Research Library at the Getty Research Institute, are not affiliated with Getty Images. The Open Content Program is an initiative of the Getty Trust and is not connected in any way with Getty Images.

You can search or browse the Getty’s open content images on Getty Search Gateway.

21. Pikwizard

Pikwizard offers thousands of high quality photos in many searchable categories. They have a generous licensing agreement, allowing users the right to utilize Pikwizard photos on blogs, cover art, business cards and brochures, textbooks, and more. You can even edit the photos online, right from their site. (That's Machu Picchu in the photo. I've been there twice. It's almost as impressive in real life.)

More sites

Designer Pics

Startup Stock Photos

Jay Mantri

Travel Coffee Book

Foodies Feed

Picography

Splitshire

New Old Stock

Picjumbo

Life of Pix

Public Domain Archive

ISO Republic

Kaboompics

Little Visuals

New Old Stock

Gratisography
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Aggregation sites - These sites feature several free photo sites.

The Stocks

All The Free Stock

Stock Up