Julie Broad (founder of Book Launchers) explains why nonfiction book covers are critical sales tools and advises authors to hire professional designers unless they are exceptional at design. She gives a practical hiring checklist (genre/category, color preferences, 5–10 sample covers with reasons, trim size/specs, request for multiple formats and original source files), readability and genre-fit checks (thumbnail legibility, standout words), approximate cost ranges from Reedsy for self-published covers, and a bonus tip to mock up potential covers among the top books in the category.
Questions this video answers
6 × 9 inches
Softcover, ebook, 3D version; also audiobook and hardcover if applicable
Relatively new designers: $300–$500; experienced designers: $500–$800; top-tier/award-winning designers: $800–$1,500
Original source files (editable master files)
Chapters
Next to the title of your book, your book cover is the most important sales marketing material you can create for your book. Getting it right is worth investing time and money. But no matter what approach you take to get your book cover, make sure you've thought about these things. Hi, I'm Julie Broad, author and founder of Book Launchers, a fantastic company that will help you write, publish, and sell, and a nonfiction book that grows your business and builds your brand. I've got a bit of a confession to make. When it comes to visually creative endeavors, I'm seriously lacking in that creative department. I disliked art class in school. Coloring bores me and well, ask me what my book cover should look like and I go it should look good. Thank you. So I'm not a cover design expert. That's why I have always paid a premium price for cover design. If you're an amazing designer, you might be able to do your own book cover. But remember, this is the second most important thing to sell your book, so it's quite likely best left to a professional. I'm not very good at telling you how things should look. I'm good at hiring for it. And here's what you need to do to hire someone to create a great cover for your book. Number one, know the general category and genre of your book so they can make it fit. Number two, have a sense of the colors you may like. Number three, find five to ten book covers you like and bonus points if you can tell the designer why you like those covers. Number four, know your cover dimensions and formats. This is called trim size. Trim Trim size is the publishing term for book size. After each copy is printed and bound, the book is mechanically trimmed. You know, trimmed, so the size of every page is uniform. The trim size relates in dimensions in width times height format. In the US and even in Canada, the trim size is denoted in inches. Typical nonfiction books are six by nine, but there's other formats. Of course. I talked about book sizes in this video right here. If you want more details for that. Now this is important. When you go to hire your book cover designer, write request covers for softcover, ebook, 3D version. And if you know you're doing an audiobook or a hardcover, ask for that too. Every one of those formats has different specifications, so make sure you're specifying every kind of COVID that you need. Super important tip. I also always ask for the original source files so I can make changes in the future with another designer if necessary. You can't always count on being able to hire and find the Same designer in the future. Now your designer's also going to need some obvious stuff. The title of your book, the subtitle, your name, or if there's other names. You need to include any images you want included on the COVID Any blurbs. Check out this amazing video on getting celebrity and authority endorsements for your book. Notice your author picture is not on that list. You can put your picture on the front cover, but unless you're a celebrity in your niche, I wouldn't recommend it. Now here's what you want to watch out for. Number one, can you read the title in thumbnail size and print? Cover size, Talking title and subtitle. Number two do the important words the words that will matter to your ideal reader. The do those words stand out? Number three, does the COVID design fit with the genre while still having something that catches the eye to make it stand out? A horror book cover, for example, is going to stand out in the leadership category, but not for the right reasons. Number four, is it a cover you are proud of? How does it make you feel? Something to think about. What is this going to cost? Reedsy R E E D S Y has an article that outlines the average cost of covers for self published authors. They said a relatively new book designer will charge between 300 and $500. Experienced designers will charge between 508 DOL and top tier rock star award winning cover designers will charge between 800 and 1500. At the end of the day, the most important thing is you have a cover you're proud of that looks great in print and stands out as a thumbnail. If you like this tip, smash that thumbs up button and make sure you subscribe to the channel so we can hang out again soon. Oh, you're still here. Well here's a fabulous bonus tip because you stuck around till the end. One thing we do for our clients to check the COVID design and is when we're not sure or we get it down to two or three covers, we take the top 20 books in the category and mock up what our client's book will look like in the top 20. That way you can be certain which book cover stands out amongst the books it's competing with while also fitting in the group. Cool, right? So you can do this. You don't need a graphics designer. Just take a screen capture, paste it into PowerPoint and stick that cover design that you're wondering about on top. Now you'll know.
