How to Choose the Right Book Cover Designer

Your book cover is the identity of your brand as an indie author and It's the first thing your potential reader is going to see. So, how do you choose the right book cover designer?

Let's start with the obvious

As much as this seems obvious I've seen many authors make this mistake so I thought it was worth it to mention it here. If you're a romance author you should be hiring somebody that specializes on romance covers. I would even suggest that you should be even more specific and hire a professional that is in your subgenre. It doesn't make sense for you to hire somebody who mostly creates thriller covers for your romance novel. Yes, you might be lucky and get an amazing cover but chances are that your design might not be up to standards because your designer is not familiar with the trends in your genre. So be patient and take your time searching for the perfect designer.

You get what you pay for

A very common mistake I see amongst new authors is hiring a cheap freelancer just to get the ball rolling and publish their book. The problem with that is that most of the time you will get a very bad cover design and nobody will want to buy your book because people do judge books by their covers and you will end up having to invest more money on your cover and paying twice.

It's all about the first impression

Let's say you found the perfect professional for you and you decided to message them about your project but it took them a whole week to reply to you. You decided to ask more questions about their services and it took them another week to respond. One of the main compliments I get from my clients is how quickly I reply to messages. As an independent author, you are going to need someone trustworthy on your team. Your book cover designer has to have your back and you have to have that piece of mind that if anything goes wrong your designer is gonna be ready to fix it and that it might not take long. Imagine you have a problem today, but you only get a hold of your freelancer a week later.

The best artist is not always the better option

I'm sure you have a specific designer that you most definitely love the work of and it is your dream to have their art on your cover, but first and foremost you must ask yourself if this person is a nice person to work with. Because, as much as your cover deserves a beautiful art piece you also deserve to protect your mental health. And, as an indie author, your book cover designer is gonna go along with you throughout your career, and if you're not happy with the service that you are getting right now it is completely normal to hire a new person. What you don't want is to struggle every time you need to publish a new book. And it is also completely normal to hire a freelancer that wasn't your first choice cause you think they are gonna be easier to work with.

How much freedom are you willing to give to your designer?

As an artist myself I'm willing to give 100% freedom of choice to my clients and let them decide whatever it is they want in their cover, but not every artist is going to be the same way. If you already have an idea in mind and all you need is somebody to execute it, I would suggest you tell that to your designer beforehand. Some artists need to have complete freedom to create their masterpieces, so you need to take that into consideration when looking for somebody to hire.

If you enjoyed this article and found it helpful consider checking out our group for indie authors as well as our book cover services.