Book Covers That Sell Your Story In Two Seconds

A cover is quoted as a fixed price once we know three things: the format or formats you need, whether the artwork is typographic, stock-based or custom illustrated, and whether it is a standalone book or part of a series. Typographic and stock-based covers sit at the lower end because the imagery already exists; a custom illustrated or photographed cover carries the cost of creating that artwork. You get an itemised quote before any design work starts, and it does not change unless you change the brief.

Two to three weeks for a standalone cover is typical: a few days on the brief and category research, about a week to present concepts, then a round of revisions and the print-ready files. Custom illustration adds three to six weeks because the artwork has to be drawn before it can be laid out.

You see multiple distinct concepts, not one design in different colours. They are genuinely different takes on your book so the decision is a real choice, and we tell you which one we would back and why rather than leaving you to guess.

Revisions on the chosen concept are included rather than billed as extras. What is not included is switching to a different concept after development has started on another, or a brief that changes into a different book — we requote that in writing before doing the work.

Yes. Copyright in the finished cover is assigned to you in writing on final payment, so you can use it on the book, in advertising, on merchandise and on your website without further permission or payment. Where a cover uses licensed stock imagery, that licence is bought in your name for the uses your book needs, and we tell you what it covers.

Both, depending on the brief and your budget, and we always tell you which. A well-chosen, heavily worked stock composite can make an excellent cover, and it costs less than commissioning a painting. If your book needs artwork that does not exist, we commission an illustrator instead.

Spine width is page count multiplied by the bulk of the paper stock your printer uses, so it cannot be guessed. We need your final page count and the printer or print-on-demand service you are using; if the page count changes later we adjust the wrap and resupply the file.

Yes. The barcode is generated from your ISBN and placed on the back cover to the size and quiet-zone rules retailers require. If you do not have an ISBN yet, we can register one in your name as part of publishing.

That is what the print-ready file is built for: correct trim, 3mm bleed, CMYK at 300 dpi, spine width matched to your page count and paper, and text kept clear of the safe margins. Send us the printer you are using and we supply to their template rather than a generic one.

Yes, and cover redesign is a common job. If a book has been out for a while and is not selling, the cover is the first thing worth testing, because it is what a reader judges before they read the blurb. We look at your category and your current thumbnail before recommending it.

Yes. Series work is designed as a system: a shared layout, type treatment and colour logic that flexes per title, so books two and three look like siblings rather than cousins. Tell us at the briefing stage even if only book one exists.

Audiobook platforms need a square cover, usually 3000 x 3000 pixels, not the portrait shape of a book. It is an adaptation of the same design rather than a new one, and we can supply it at the same time as the print and ebook files.