How to Communicate with Your Designer to Get the Best Book Cover Design

 

by Vasalysa Zaturets

You can write an award-worthy story, but nobody will find it out if your book cover design doesn’t appeal to the target audience. Book cover design matters, and here’s why:

• It creates the first impression and proves that the story deserves the readers’ time and money.
• No advertising campaign is possible without an eye-catching book cover.
• An attention-grabbing book cover is essential for building your author’s brand.

But how do you get a book cover design that fulfills all its functions? Everything starts with a communication with your designer. The clearer your requirements and expectations are, the better result you’ll get.

In this blog post, you’ll learn five essential steps for effective and successful communication with a book cover designer. Follow them and enjoy the process of creating a book cover that will intrigue the readers and make them want to read your story!

Step 1. Fill in a detailed brief

Every cooperation with a designer starts with a brief. Try to make it as detailed as possible to give the designer an understanding of your book and the hooks in your plot. Here’s what the brief should include:

• Author’s name and book’s title. You can also include a subtitle, tagline, series name, and book number.
• Page count and book dimensions. Though a designer can start working without these details, make sure to add them later. 
• Self-publishing platform. The final cover must meet a particular platform’s standards, otherwise you won’t be able to publish your story.
• Format. Indicate whether it’s a paperback, hardcover, ebook, or audiobook.
• Optional elements. You can add a blurb, reviews, and author bio.
• Genre. Readers have certain expectations about each genre with its unique color palette, imagery, and typography.
• Brief plot. It will help book cover designer choose images and elements that highlight the hook of your story.
• Description of the characters. If you prefer a character-based design, the artist will portray the protagonists on the book cover.
• Settings. Each place and era is characterized by particular objects and symbols that create an authentic atmosphere on a book cover.
• Series info. Let the artist know if you write series. In this case, designer will create a cover that will serve as the basis for all the parts.
• References. A few examples of book covers you love will help the designer better understand your vision.

Step 2. Indicate what emotions you want the cover to evoke

We don’t choose books by chance. Instead, we want to feel a particular emotion missing in our everyday lives.

Romantic comedy books attract people who are thirsty for positive and love vibes. Thrillers and horrors appeal to those who want to be intrigued. Fantasy and science fiction stories grab attention if readers search for adventure and unknown worlds.

That is why it is so vital the book appeals to its target audience. So here is a little tip for you. When filling out the brief, specify what emotions you want the book cover to evoke. Based on this information, the designer will select a specific color scheme, images, and typography.

Step 3. Be responsive and cooperate with a cover designer

The best book covers are the result of mutual effort between an author and a designer. Brainstorm different ideas with the designer, share your feedback on the concept, comment on revisions, and pay attention to all the details. 

Be generous with your feedback, and if you have any doubts, changes, requests, or additional information, feel free to share it with your designer as soon as possible. Some designers have limitations in the number of revisions, so the sooner you share all your comments, the better.

Step 4. Trust your designer

Everybody should do their jobs. For example, writers know how to choose the right words and intrigue readers with plot twists. And designers know how to create a marketable and eye-catching book cover.

Of course, you should share your wishes and suggestions and give feedback on the cover design. However, at the same time, trust the artist, allow them to take the initiative, and create without limits.

Book cover designers possess unique skills and expertise in their field, including knowledge of design principles, typography, color theory, and visual communication. In addition, they know how the market works and how to grab potential readers’ attention.

Remember that you are in the same boat, so both the author and designer want a book cover that sells.

Step 5. Feel free to stop the cooperation if you have reached a deadlock.

Sometimes, things may go wrong despite your best efforts and compliance with all the communication rules. For example, you feel the designer is not moving in the right direction, and the book cover doesn’t match your vision after all the edits and concepts.

Here’s a little cheat sheet to understand that designer isn’t right for you:

• You did several rounds of revisions, but the concept still doesn’t match your vision and you’re not even close to it.
• The concept doesn’t look good to you, but designer can not suggest other ideas.
• A book cover designer doesn’t consider your feedback and can’t explain why they used certain elements on the book cover.
• You feel exhausted and stressed and don’t enjoy cooperation at all.

However, such situations are totally okay. Sometimes a designer may not be a match, and no one is to blame. In this case, it’s important not to drag it out. Instead, it would be best if you stopped cooperation right away. Value both your and the designer’s time.

Summing up

To sum up, honesty, openness, and constructive feedback are the main things in communicating with a book cover designer.

Before you send any message to the designer, re-read it and make sure everything is clear. Then, if necessary, check yourself with the following questions:

• Am I clear and frank enough?
• Is there something I can specify and describe in more detail?
• Can I add references and examples to what I’ve said?
• Do my suggestions sound ambiguous? How can I make them more specific?

Remember that the more distinct you are, the better result you will get. 

by Vasylysa Zaturets (@Miblart) April 16, 2023

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What about you, scriveners? What has been your experience working with a book cover designer? Feel free to share it in the comments below! 

NOTE: The comment elves seem to be on a drunken binge this week. First they sent all of Vasylysa’s responses into the spam folder. Then they refused to put them in their proper places after each comment. So I have moved the comments to their proper spots, but now they’ve made it look as if I wrote the responses instead of Vasylysa. On behalf of the inebriated elves, I apologize to you all.

About Vasylysa Zaturets

Vasylysa is a content writer at MiblArt – a book cover design company located in Ukraine. She loves to write about books, writing and self-publishing and helps indie authors understand the power and importance of a book’s cover design in the marketing process.

MiblArt is a book cover design company for indie authors that provides such services as photo-manipulated and illustrated cover design, logo design and branding, formatting and layout, marketing materials design. We believe that book cover is the main marketing tool and do our best to help authors get a cover that sells. You must love your design, or you pay nothing!

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And today’s THE DAY! Anne is in Morro Bay at the Coalesce Bookstore on Main Street (the inspiration for Camilla’s Morro Bay Bookshop.) Anne and company will present dramatizations of two scenes from Catfishing in America and 3 other brand new books by TV star Mara Purl, Tony Piazza and Lida Sideris. They will have help from professional voice actors CS Perryess and Ilona Stone. The presentation begins at 1 PM. And there will be cookies!

Featured image courtesy of Masterfile