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by Gary Val Tenuta, owner/designer at Book Covers & Videos

Book cover designed by Gary

When Aggie asked me to write this article on what to look for when choosing a book cover designer I had to chuckle. Not because it was a funny request. It was a perfectly reasonable request because, after all, that’s what I do. I design book covers. What made me chuckle was the fact that since I’m a designer I’ve never had any reason to think about how to go about looking for one. But after giving the matter some thought I came up with a few tips about what you should look for when choosing someone to design the cover of your book.

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How Important is the Cover?

Very! Let me elaborate. Although I’ve been a professional graphics designer most of my adult life, I actually got my degree in social psychology. Don’t ask. Long story. However, one of the things I was interested in was communication between individuals and groups.

This includes the idea of perception (how we see things) and the judgments we make based on those perceptions. The concept of first impressions is a biggie. Studies have shown that when someone meets you for the first time they are likely to make an evaluation (a judgment) about you within the first 30 seconds.

The first 30 seconds! That evaluation is based on several factors including how you’re dressed, your body language, maybe the first words out of your mouth, your overall demeanor, and so on. It has also been noted that if that initial evaluation is less than positive, to any degree, it is very difficult (if not impossible) to change that first-impression judgment for the better.

Interestingly, believe it or not, the same phenomenon holds true for book covers. In spite of the old adage about not judging a book by its cover the fact is people do tend to judge books by their covers –– and probably in much less than 30 seconds.

Think about this. The cover of your book is the first thing a person sees. It’s that all-important first impression. What kind of a first impression is it going to make? It had better be a good one! With all the gazillions of books out there, if yours doesn’t grab the potential reader by the eyeballs and make them want to reach out and pull it off the shelf (or to scroll down the amazon page to at least read the synopsis) then they’ll surely go on to the next one that does command their attention.

Of course the idea of commanding attention can be either in a good way or a bad way. We’re back to that judgement thing again. Does the cover grab someone’s attention because of its professional quality, its intriguing concept, its dramatic impact? Or does it command their attention because of its blatant amateurish quality? If a potential reader perceives the cover as amateurish they’ll probably assume the work between the covers is the work of an amateur as well. So remember: Professional, good. Amateurish, not so much.

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Look For Experience

Although your brother-in-law––who makes a fine living as a restaurant manager––may be pretty good at creating fliers to announce the Tuesday All-You-Can-Eat Special, asking him to design your book cover may not be the best idea.

Does he know the difference between a full-wrap cover and a 3-piece cover? How about the difference between RGB and CMYK? Does he know how to accommodate the printer’s requirements for a full bleed? Does he even know what a full bleed is? Does he know the 72 dpi image that looks so great on the computer screen won’t cut it when the artwork goes to press? How about composition? Is he familiar with the psychology of color and how to create mood and movement? And what about the 10-foot rule? The what? I could go on but you get the point. An experienced cover designer will know all of these things and more.

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Look For Talent and Creativity

I was going to list each of those two factors separately but it occurred to me that when it comes to book cover design they both hold equal weight. A person might have the artistic talent to draw really good horses or to paint pictures of roses in full bloom, but not a lot of creativity when it comes to giving those horses or roses that special –– sometimes almost indefinable –– something that turns them from ordinary to extraordinary. Does the artist have the ability to grasp the essence, the mood and/or the message of the story and, through the use of color, composition, and typography, create a visual representation of those attributes?

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Author/Designer Compatibility

When it comes to designers there are some real Prima Donnas out there who are quite certain every creative idea they have has been ordained by the gods and they’ll be only too happy to tell you so. In other words, they don’t really care about any ideas you may have. After all, you’re just the author. Right? (I hope you detected the sarcasm dripping from that last statement.)

Fortunately, the Prima Donnas seem to be few and far between. Most people in this business are personable and friendly and recognize the value of your input as the author of the book. But before you commit yourself to any designer make sure they’re willing to provide a couple of initial design concepts to choose from and, furthermore, that they are willing to make whatever modifications to the design necessary (within reason, of course) to meet your satisfaction.

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How much should you expect to pay?

Design fees can vary anywhere from around $200 to as much as $1000. You’ve heard the old saying, “you get what you pay for”, right? Well, when it comes to book cover design that’s not always the case. I’ve seen covers designed for around $200 that are as good as some that cost over $800.

The best thing to do is look at the covers the designer has in his/her portfolio and decide for yourself if the work is worth the price. I understand that even the $200 range can be a considerable amount of money, depending on your budget. But do keep in mind what I mentioned earlier about how important the cover really is. It’s going to be one of the most critical elements of your whole marketing campaign. It will be the focus of that all-important first impression. Make sure it’s a good one.

If you’re new to this whole business of being an “indie” author I hope these pointers will be of some help when you go looking for a cover designer. And hey, when you go shopping for a designer I’d appreciate it very much if you would put me on your list. Stop by my website (www.bookcoversandvideos.webs.com) and check out my work. Hope to see you there!

Bio: Gary Val Tenuta is a freelance graphic artist, cartoonist, illustrator, and book cover designer at Book Covers and Videos, and author of the novel, The Ezekiel Code. His articles and illustrations have been published in magazines in the U.S. and in the U.K. He lives near Seattle with a big black furball of a cat named Bear.

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See all posts in this series, A Self-publishing Journey

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