Hiring someone to do your book cover design involves a process to ensure you get the best book cover possible. If you’re curious about how it works, or need to make sure your cover design is going well, read on.
The Book Cover Design Consultation
Here at Monkey C Media, we always start the book cover design process with a consultation. Which begins with a client questionnaire. We gather the information such as genre, title, themes, etc. and use those as our foundation.
Next we find comparable titles so both the client and our designer can review them. The comparable titles give the client an idea of what they may like or dislike about similar books. It also helps us analyze genre and subgenre conventions.
Along with all this, we work with the client to choose fonts, art work, color palettes and style.
The Design Part Begins
Once we have all the basics of what the client wants to see in the finished product and the genre conventions and other details are considered, the designer begins their work!
The designer then creates a mock up of the front cover based on all this for the client to review. In the book cover design process, there are usually a few rounds of redesign. Remember, we want to get it just right. Sometimes this can mean a major thing like a color change, but usually it’s just about the tiny details like changing up the font size and spaces or other minor things.
Once everything is perfect and we’ve gone over everything with the client to ensure their satisfaction, we get their official approval to go ahead and do the full cover spread.
The Whole Book Cover Design
When we get the official go ahead, the designer begins creating the cover spread. This means the file created looks just like an open book face down. Meaning the back, spine and front cover are all included.
This is the part in the book cover design process where we work on things like the back cover copy—the book description, bio and author photo, and any blurbs or testimonials—so the designer knows how to fit them on the back cover properly.
The back cover is just as important as the front! As is the spine—it not only needs to look good, this is where your page count comes into play as well. Everything needs to be consistent and the book cover needs to look good from all angles.
To ensure everything is just right and the book cover design is ready for use in the printed proof, we once again get official approval from the client. We need this in writing so we don’t waste valuable time.
All the Final Checks
Finally, the important details are added to the book cover design. These are things like the ISBN, barcode, the imprint name and logo. These are the must haves on a back cover so it can be sold and distributed. We always do a final check on these items.
Then we can upload the book cover design, along with the interior so that a proof can be printed.
The proof is checked by the distributor for errors, and this is our chance to make sure we didn’t leave anything out. Once the proof is approved, they print a version of the book for us and the clients to review. This can take up to three weeks by the time it’s in your hands.
It’s not uncommon that there are some minor changes to be made, even with all the checking and consulting and reviewing. But this is why we order proofs. Because once something is in your hands, it’s easier to spot details. It’s also a good chance to see if your book looks different in printed form than in a file.
This somewhat tedious process is all worth it in the end though! The client ends up with a polished and professional book cover they love and we’re proud of a job well done.
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