How To Prepare A Book Cover Design Brief

If you are writing a book - whether it is is an ebook, paperbook or hardback - and you really are serious about seeing it in print and selling it, then the cover will be a key component of its success. Think about one that caught your eye when you last went into a bookshop, or even looked at some online. Usually ebook covers are flat images (which online bookstores might display), plus an alternative 'curved cover' for a sales website display. These can be readily prepared using freely available software and some effort.

Cover Design Complexity

However, if you want to see your work on prominent display and you are thinking about using a POD (print on demand) printer, then you will need a really good cover that stands out and also to manage the design process yourself. Additionally, there are lots of elements that need to be sourced, such as a barcode and ISBN. There are strict technical specifications to be met if your work is to get through the POD publishing process without re-work costs. If you want a really outstanding book cover, then unless you are a graphic artist with the requisite eye for design and skills, get it done by an expert. Once you have located a professional, then you should provide a specification.

To avoid misunderstandings, prepare a Book Cover Design Brief. You can refine it with your designer, but at least you will both be working with the same cover requirement.

Your Basic Ideas

Your designer will need to start somewhere, so a book synopsis will need to be included, and you may have views on an overall design concept. Some flexibility is desirable - the designer is the expert and don't limit his or her artistic scope excessively. The classification should fall out from the synopsis, but do be clear. 'Mediterranean Cookery' would probably be a cookery book, but could be a travel guide, even a piece of fiction. Consider this when you select your designer, as some specialise in particular genres.

If relevant, it can be helpful to the designer to include brief descriptions of the principal character(s). Will this be one of a series?

Key Ingredients of a Book Cover Design Brief

You should specify the 'trim size' of the book - its final size - as this will specify the amount of space the artist has for layout. If you want a hardback cover, then you may need a dust jacket design and the particular thickness of hardcover will be important.

The final version of the brief will need to be specific about the exact pagecount, ISBN, cover price, binding format and a host of other items, but the artist can work up some initial concepts whilst you are pulling together the final items.

Will your covers include Reviews - maybe newspaper, other authors (usually, though not always, on the rear cover)? These can be an important part of marketing and you will need to advise the artist on this, so that the provision for some reviews can be included in the overall design (though the specific detail of the reviews may not be available at the time of initially commissioning the design work).

The brief must specify the print-on-demand company you intend to use. Each company has its own technical requirements that a final cover design must meet (by passing a 'pre-flight' test which software such as Adobe Professional offers). Re-work can be very expensive if you miss a print deadline say for the Christmas gift sales peak.

You may specify images for marketing, for email campaigns, and for book catalogues such as Nielsen Bookdata. And finally, will you be producing a Kindle ebook? If so you will need a front cover image, and you may even choose to add a rear cover image within your ebook.

These are just a few of the items that your Cover Design Brief must include. There are many more, but once you have your first template brief, then you can improve and recyle it for your next book with the obvious amendments.