How to Request a Book Cover Design

Judging a book by its cover? 

Below is our latest guide, some tips & tricks, and the steps we take to ensure book covers are created with design, content, and your readers in mind.👇🏻

1. Select your brand profile.

You will be asked to select which brand profile you would like to link with your request. Everything from font and text size to custom graphics, images, and colors must be addressed. If you have an official brand manual, please select it here. This will help us better understand your brand's visual strategy and will dictate what style we approach when creating your graphics.

👉🏻  You can choose an already created brand profile, allowing your designer to have access to those brand assets you want added or used as inspiration, making the process faster and easier.
👉🏻  You can request a completely new visual identity, in which case you can always create a new brand profile or simply use the upload button below for any designs, assets, or inspiration we should follow. 

☝🏻 For how to create brand profiles and link them to your requests, check 👉🏻 Brand Profiles 

2. Copy, size, and format 

👉🏻 What size and format do you need?
Print or digital? Portrait or landscape? What size do you need the book cover to be and what file formats do you need us to provide? This information is essential to know from the beginning of the project so that no time is wasted on incorrect formats. 

For example, in the digital world, each market has different requirements and recommendations for book covers.  Here’s a handy list with the most common dimensions and file requirements for the most popular self-publishing book sites:

• Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing - 2560 x 1600 px / JPEG or TIFF
• Apple iBooks - 1400 x 1873 or 1600 x 2400 px / JPG or PNG
• Barnes and Noble - height & width at least 1400 px / JPG or PNG
• Kobo - 1600 x 2400 px / JPG or PNG
• Smashwords - 1600 x 2400 px / 

👉🏻 What's the exact copy you want to include?
Besides the title and the author's name, your book cover should send a clear message. You’ll want your cover to stand out by looking eye-catching, yet ensure it naturally fits into your genre.
Before you submit the brief to your designer you need to mention also what graphics or images you want to show. Once you have a solid plan for what the cover should contain, your designer can start thinking about the concept. 

5. Inspiration 

What other similar concepts do you like and why? You can upload them as attachments, share them as links or even save them and select them as your brand profile.
You can also upload a book cover that you want us to redesign.

☝🏻Where to find inspiration? Check our Ultimate Guide to creating efficient Mood Boards.

🙌🏻 After you've successfully completed all sections of the brief and submitted the project, your assigned designer will start working on it and will deliver the first draft on the next business day (sometimes 2 for complex requests). If revisions are needed, no worries, you can easily communicate with your designer using the chat in the ManyPixels app.

💡Tips & Tricks! Your assigned illustrator will provide daily updates until the project is completed. Here is a rough estimate of what you can expect to receive on a daily basis  

👉🏻 daily output.

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Ready to submit your first book cover request? Pick the right plan for you here.

Didn't find what you were looking for? 👀 Check out our Scope of Service or contact us directly.