8 Tips for Working With (and finding) a Book Designer – Volume I

Hello authors, fans and followers, and welcome to May! (already!) All this month I'll be discussing Tips for Working With (and finding) a Book Designer. Let's get started at the beginning.

Tip# 1 - Know your genre and target audience. Research what is available for sale in your genre with the big publishing houses. Don’t skip this step, no matter how boring it might be.

These will be your competition, so you’ll want to have a cover that’s on par. Publishers like Harper Collins, Hay House, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin all have marketing specialists on staff. They generally know what sells and how to reach your target market.

Use this information to your advantage when searching for the designer that will help you create a cover that will attract your readers. This may seem like a silly place to start, but the more you know, the better you’ll be at discerning good design from the bad.

Tip# 2 - Research your cover designers style. Look for designers whose style closely matches the books you are seeing in your research from Tip #1. Do you need an illustrator? Are the images hand drawn or photo compilations?

I mention this because sometimes an illustrator is absolutely the only way to go (especially for children’s books). The downside – they tend to be a good bit more expensive, so you’ll want to start saving early. Photo Compilers, such as myself, are generally a bit more affordable.

You’ll want to pay attention to details like the fonts they use and the way they present their titles. Are their covers generally busy and hard to read? (If so, RUN, run fast! And find someone else.)
Stay tuned for more tips next week.