How to Get a Book Cover - YouTube

(The sound of a pen scratching.) LOGO.

Hellooo  everybody! Today we're talking about one of the  

most important parts of book marketing,  and that's book covers! You guys ask me  

a buttload of questions all about book covers.  You want to know whether or not you should hire  

a professional designer. You want to know when  to hire a designer, how to hire a designer. All  

kinds of stuff! Because of this, I am answering  your 10 most popular questions all about book  

covers! Before we get into it, today's video is  sponsored by my good friends over at Book Brush,  

so we gotta show ‘em our love! Book Brush is  a one-stop shop for creating marketing images  

specifically for authors. I make nearly all of  my book marketing images directly through Book  

Brush, because the quality of their imagery is  gorgeous, the designs are extremely professional,  

and most importantly, the platform is EXTREMELY  easy to use. Book Brush has an instant mock-up  

feature that allows you to create hundreds of book  mock-ups in minutes. You can also make Facebook  

banners. You can make Instagram ads. You can make  Amazon ads. Whatever! And I'm SUPER excited to  

announce that Book Brush just recently released  their very own cover creator tool, which allows  

you to create your own book cover within minutes!  “But Jenna, you said you shouldn't create your  

own book cover!” And I stand by that! Most of  the time, authors should not create their own  

covers. However, not all writers are authors, and  there are some situations where creating your own  

book cover makes sense. I'll be covering that at  this point in the video. To show you how easy it  

is to use the cover creator tool, I am going to be  making a place holder cover for my upcoming novel,  

The Savior’s Sister right now. All right, I'm  here at Book Brush’s cover creator tool. The  

first thing we need to do is pick our size. I'm  going to choose an ebook. And now I can pick  

the various ebook sizes. I'm going with Kindle.  Now, we can either create our cover from scratch,  

or we can use their templates. They've got  community templates already available. There are  

a ton of them, and they're SO nice! I immediately  saw this one; very fantasy, fits very well for The  

Savior’s Sister. Now we've got to edit the text.  The Savior’s Sister. As you can see, it's looking  

a little funky, so we can edit the text further.  I think I'm going to change the size. Much better!  

And maybe update the shadowing a bit. Ooh, that  looks really cool. Now, I'm going to edit my  

name. Jenna Moreci. Now, I'm not crazy about this  layering in the background, so I'm going to edit  

the background here. And you can play around with  background transparency, background color, sizing,  

a million different things! You can also remove  the background, so if there's any imagery in the  

background - for example, the sword - I could  remove the background entirely and just leave it  

white and replace it with something else. I don't  want to do that. I think I want to play with the  

overlay. Ooh, that looks really, really cool.  I think I'm going to be doing a little bit more  

editing of the text. I like that. And I think  we're done! At this point, I can go ahead and  

download it, and I have a temporary placeholder  cover for The Savior’s Sister! Wasn't that fun?  

Book Brush has a special offer just for my  subscribers! Stick around until the end of  

this video, and I'll dish out the details then!  And just a heads up: if you want to learn more  

about book marketing or writing books or pretty  much anything book related, you should DEFINITELY  

subscribe to my channel! I post new videos on  Wednesdays with a bonus video sprinkled in,  

so be sure to ring that bell so you can be alerted  as soon as a video is uploaded! First, let's talk  

ALL about book covers in three, two, one, go!  Number One (1): What is a book cover designer?  

A cover designer, also known as a cover artist, is  a graphic designer who specializes in book covers  

and book marketing. If you're publishing a novel,  it's important to work with a cover designer  

SPECIFICALLY. They know ALL about industry  expectations and regulations. They know about trim  

size and formatting. Another artist or graphic  designer may be talented, but that doesn't mean  

that they know specifically what would work for a  book cover, what would look good on bookshelves,  

or what kind of book covers sell. Cover designers  are knowledgeable about the industry and compare  

their skill set with your vision. Number Two (2):  Why do book covers matter? Your book cover is your  

number one most important piece of marketing  material. Think about where people buy books.  

If we're talking brick-and-mortar establishments  like Barnes & Noble, your book is going to be one  

of hundreds or even THOUSANDS on the shelves.  If we look at online retailers like Amazon,  

your book cover is one thumbnail amid millions.  That means the consumer’s first impression of  

your book isn't going to be the story itself or  even the blurb, it's going to be the cover or  

the spine. This means your book cover’s number one  goal is to catch your reader’s attention, which is  

why it's imperative that you choose a cover that  is both striking in full-size and as a teeny tiny  

thumbnail. Number Three (3): What types of writers  should hire a professional cover designer? If ALL  

of the following applies to you, you should  DEFINITELY hire a professional cover designer.  

One, you are writing a novelette, novella,  collection of short stories, or a novel. Two, you  

are publishing this work either as an e-book,  paperback, hardback, audiobook, or all of the  

above. Three, you are going to be publishing  this work publicly. That means it will be  

available for purchase either at online retailers,  brick-and-mortar establishments, or both. Four,  

you are going the self-publishing or Indie route.  A big chunk of writers fit these points, and if  

you fit them, you probably need a cover designer.  Number Four (4): What if I'm going the traditional  

publishing route? If you are going with  traditional publishing, whether you're working  

with the Big Five or a small press, you do NOT  need to hire a cover artist. Your publishing house  

should provide a cover artist for you. It's one  of the perks of the gig! If they're NOT providing  

an artist for you, that's sketch as fuck. Get out  of there! Number Five (5): What type of writer can  

make their own cover art? While I emphasize that  a vast majority of self-published writers SHOULD  

hire a cover designer, there are situations where  you can potentially make the cover yourself. One,  

you are a professional graphic designer or cover  designer. It's important to note that just because  

you're a graphic designer doesn't necessarily mean  you're qualified to make your own cover. Most,  

if not all cover designers are graphic designers, but not all graphic designers are cover designers.  

It takes a specific skill set in order to know  how to make a marketable cover. That said, I do  

know professional graphic designers who have made  their own covers and they turned out great! But  

they heavily researched the industry to make sure  they'd nail it. Additionally, I'm talking about  

PROFESSIONAL graphic designers. NOT people who  dabble. I, myself, dabble in graphic design, but  

I would never pretend that I'm competent enough  to make my own cover. Two, you are listing your  

work for free. Plenty of writers do not sell their  work for profit; they make it available for free  

so that they can build their audience. If that's  the case, since you're not going to be making a  

profit off of your work, it's understandable to  design your own cover. Three, you're posting your  

work on your personal website. Lots of writers  share episodic stories or short stories on their  

blog or website in order to gain experience and  exposure. In this case, it makes perfect sense  

to design your own cover, because your work is  not going to be listed alongside thousands of  

other covers on Amazon. Four, you're posting to  Wattpad or similar sites. Lots of writers and  

hobbyists use websites like Wattpad in order to  share their stories. These types of writers can  

definitely make their own cover. It wouldn't  make sense to fork out hundreds of dollars  

on a story you're just writing for fun. And five,  placeholder covers. Lots of writers, like myself,  

like to use placeholder images when they're  talking publicly about their work in progress.  

This is a marketing tactic so you can get people  excited about your work in progress before it has  

an official book cover. In this case, writers  create their own cover, usually with the words  

“Coming Soon” somewhere on it so people know that  it's temporary. Number Six (6): Where do I find a  

book cover designer? The Internet, obviously...  Google book cover designers, and you're good to  

go! Also look at the books you're reading,  specifically books with covers that you love  

and are in your genre. The cover artist is often  credited somewhere in the book itself. If not,  

you can check the author's website or shoot them  an email. Keep in mind traditionally published  

authors are going to be working with in-house  cover designers, so if you're self-publishing,  

you'll want to be looking at other Indie books.  Number Seven (7): When do I hire a cover designer?  

If you're only releasing a digital book like an  e-book or a Wattpad story, you can design your  

cover at any time. However, I recommend waiting  until you've at least finished the story because  

the cover is going to be largely dependent on  the story's content. If you're creating a story  

that will also be sold in paperback or hardback,  the timing of designing the cover can be tricky.  

Cover art, in this case, typically lines up with  formatting. Your cover artist is going to need to  

know your exact page count so they can figure  out the width of the spine. Because of this,  

most authors I know usually hire their cover  artist while their book is being professionally  

edited. They get the ebook and audiobook covers  first, then once the book is finished being edited  

and formatted, they move on to the back covers and  spine. Number Eight (8): What should I look for  

in a cover designer? First and foremost, look at  their portfolio! Are their covers any good? Or do  

they suck ass? Second, look at the genres. Plenty  of cover artists create covers of all kinds,  

but there are some who specialize. Some designers  specialize in young adult, others specialize in  

romance, which is useless to you if you're writing  adult sci-fi. Third, look at their rates. Make  

sure they're comparable to their competitors and  make sure it's something you can afford. Fourth,  

look at their schedule. It's probably not gonna  be made public, so you're gonna have to shoot  

‘em an email. Cover artists often book months  in advance, so you're gonna want to do this  

long before you plan on needing your cover. And  lastly, ask around! Check to see if other artists  

have worked with this designer and what they  thought of them. Please note it's important to get  

recent reviews. A referral from years ago isn't  necessarily relevant today. Businesses change,  

so you want to make sure the feedback is timely.  Number Nine (9): How much does a book cover  

typically cost? It completely depends on the skill  level of the artist, the demand for their product,  

and the size of the package. Not that kind of  package, get your mind out of the gutter! Cover  

art tends to come in packages. On the cheap  end, we have pre-made covers, which are book  

covers that are ready to go, they just need a  title slapped onto them. On the expensive end  

of the spectrum, we have book cover packages that  include covers for ALL different book styles,  

as well as formatting. That's ebook, paperback,  hardback, and audiobook, which means four book  

covers and four formats. Additionally, some cover  art packages include banners, marketing images,  

ads, bookmarks, book mock-ups, I could go on.  Because of this, the vast majority of cover art  

packages I've seen have been between $50 to $1,000  U.S. dollars. However, I have seen pre-made covers  

as cheap as $25 bucks, and I have seen crazy  elaborate packages made by well-known artists  

that were as expensive as $3,000. If you're going  to budget for cover art, make sure you take into  

consideration EVERYTHING you're expecting. If  you're publishing multiple book forms, it's  

gonna be more expensive. If you wanna include  formatting, it's gonna be more expensive. If you  

wanna work with a famous artist, it's gonna cost  you up the ass! And Number Ten (10): How can I use  

book covers to my advantage? First of all, we  have social media! Once your book cover is made,  

plaster it everywhere! Twitter header, Facebook  header, Instagram, Tumblr, wherever! Second,  

we have teasers! Lots of authors create teaser  images in order to hype an upcoming book release,  

and your book cover should be on most, if not  all, of those teasers! Third, we have the press  

kit. Most authors ship out a press kit to people  of influence so that they can help boost the book.  

Your book cover should ABSOLUTELY be in your press  kit ‘cause it will entice these people to promote  

you! Lastly and most importantly, we have cover  reveals. Cover reveals are an ENORMOUS marketing  

opportunity! They create a TON of hype leading up  to a book release and they incentivize readers to  

buy your book. I recommend hosting your cover  reveal on your most popular platform. It's also  

common to enlist other writers to help you with  the cover reveal, and it's common to hold some  

kind of cover reveal giveaway. All in all, the  goal is to create excitement and HYPE! The cover

reveal is a giant party on the Internet, so have  fun with it! So that's all I got for you today!  

Thank you SO much to Book Brush for sponsoring  today's video! If you're interested in using  

their cover creator or any of their marketing  image tools, I HIGHLY recommend them. They are  

SUPER affordable. However, the first 50 people to  use code JENNA20 will get 20% off any paid plan  

for the LIFETIME of their account! That means year  after year, you will continue to get 20% off your  

plan! The discount DOES NOT EXPIRE, but it's only  good for the first 50 people who click the link,  

so do it now! It's in the description! Don't  forget to subscribe to my channel! I post new  

videos on Wednesdays, and if you want to be  alerted as SOON as I upload, ring that bell!  

The Savior's Champion is available in ebook,  paperback, hardback, signed hardback, as well  

as audiobook! If you are new to audiobooks,  you can listen to TSC on Audible for free!  

I have all the info listed below! And be sure  to follow me on social media! I'm on Instagram,  

Tumblr, Facebook - and of course, you can Tweet  me @JennaMoreci! Bye! (Older Male Voice) This  

is Wembleton. If you haven't subscribed  to Jenna's channel, then by all means,  

go for it! The people will love you for it! Go on,  press the button, ding that bell! See you soon!