Book Design

PHASE 1: Front Cover Design
The front cover drives everything else. It influences spine design, back cover treatment, and interior styling. We start here and refine until you’re thrilled with it.

PHASE 2: Full Cover Completion
Once the front is finalized, I design the spine and back cover. While all three pieces should be cohesive, each functions as its own separate design because that’s how readers encounter them (browsing online, seeing spine on shelf, reading back cover description).

PHASE 3: Interior Design
Before finalizing the spine, I design your interior pages. Why? Because final page count determines spine width. The interior design incorporates elements from the cover (fonts, graphics, color palette) so the entire book feels like one cohesive unit.

PHASE 4: Refinement & Files
Final tweaks, print-ready file preparation on proper templates, ebook formatting, and delivery of all files you need for publication.

Timeline: Cover design can take a couple weeks to over a month depending on complexity and how quickly you approve concepts. Interior design typically takes a few days, depending on manuscript length and complexity.

Throughout the process, collaboration drives my work. This is your book, and I want you to be absolutely thrilled with the final design.

Yes, I offer tiered pricing based on design complexity to accommodate different budgets and needs.

COVER DESIGN INVESTMENT:

Basic Cover – $525
Single high-quality image with professional typography. Minor photo manipulation included (cropping, retouching, color adjustment). Ideal for memoir, nonfiction, some contemporary fiction.

Standard Cover – $695
Styled typography with multiple images composited together. More elaborate design suitable for most fiction. 

Story Scene Cover – $995
Artistic creation of a scene from your book. I source multiple images, blend them together, adjust colors and lighting to match your book’s details, creating one cohesive custom illustration.

What’s included in all packages:

✓ Ebook cover
✓ One print format (paperback OR hardback)
✓ Print-ready files on proper templates
✓ 2-3 initial design concepts
✓ 2 rounds of revisions

Additional print formats: $100 each

Why my pricing reflects value: Full-wrap print covers require precision design on printer-specific templates. Unlike premade or ebook-only covers sold elsewhere, these covers are publication-ready for professional printing with no additional work needed.

For print interiors: I don’t use templates. Every design is custom-created for your specific book. This ensures your interior matches your cover design, fits your genre expectations, and provides the best reading experience for your content.

Why custom matters: Templates force your book into generic layouts that may not suit your content. Custom design means typography, spacing, headers, and design elements are tailored specifically to your manuscript.

For ebooks: I use customized templates as a starting framework, then adapt them to your book’s needs. I’ll send format options once we begin working together.

Budget-friendly option: Browse my premade cover store for ready-to-use covers at lower price points.

Great question! Here’s my design discovery process:

1. Design questionnaire covering:

• Your vision for the book’s look and feel
• Colors, imagery, and style preferences
• Genre conventions and reader expectations
• Examples of covers/interiors you love

2. Visual references: You provide 3-5 examples of covers or interiors you like from other books.

3. I identify patterns in your examples:

• Common visual elements
• Typography styles
• Color palettes
• Design approaches that resonate with you

4. Initial concepts: I create 2-3 designs based on this discovery process.

5. Refinement: We work together through multiple revision rounds to perfect the chosen concept.

This collaborative process ensures the final design reflects your vision while meeting professional standards and genre expectations.

Absolutely. Using printer-provided templates is essential for professional results.

Why templates matter:

• Guarantees your cover fits properly on the printed book
• Ensures spine width is calculated correctly for your page count
• Prevents costly errors during upload and printing
• Avoids cover misalignment, text cutoff, or other printing disasters

What happens without proper templates: Covers may not upload correctly, text might get cut off in the trim area, spine calculations may be wrong, or the cover might not align properly with the book block.

Using the correct template for your specific printer and book specifications is non-negotiable for professional results. This is standard practice in the industry, and it’s how I’ve successfully designed covers for hundreds of books.

You get covers that print correctly the first time—no surprises, no rejections.

I use industry-standard professional software:

For print interiors: Adobe InDesign (the industry standard for book layout and typography)

For covers: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign (professional image editing and layout design)

For ebooks: Vellum, Sigil, and Calibre (ensuring proper formatting across all ebook platforms)

Why professional software matters: These tools allow precise control over typography, spacing, image quality, and file output—creating publication-ready files that meet professional printing and ebook platform standards.

Yes, for an additional fee I can provide source files—but I generally don’t recommend this unless you’re skilled in Adobe Creative Suite.

Why I advise against it:

• Changes can have cascading effects throughout the document.
• Without Adobe expertise, you can quickly turn a professional design into a mess.
• Most authors don’t have the software or skills to work with these files effectively.

Better option: I handle minor changes (typos, small corrections) for you.

My change policy:

• 10-15 minor changes that don’t affect design structure: No charge
• More significant changes: Billed at my hourly rate in 15-minute increments

This ensures your book maintains its professional quality without you needing expensive software or design expertise.

If you need changes, just ask—I’m here to support you throughout your book’s life.

Initial concepts: 2-3 distinct design directions based on our discovery conversation and your visual references.

Refinement: Once you choose a concept, we refine and perfect it through multiple rounds of revisions.

This process balances creativity with efficiency, giving you meaningful choices without overwhelming you with dozens of options.

My goal: Create a cover you’re absolutely thrilled with that also positions your book competitively in your genre’s marketplace.

With years of design experience, I know how to interpret your vision and translate it into professional designs that work both aesthetically and commercially.

Most clients are thrilled with one of the initial concepts and use revisions to perfect small details rather than requesting complete redesigns.

Because you’re getting something fundamentally different.

What you get elsewhere for less:

• Front cover only OR
• Ebook cover that “might” meet print standards OR
• Template-based design used by multiple authors OR
• Design that doesn’t include spine calculations or back cover

If you later want to use that cheaper cover for print, you’ll pay to have it recreated at proper dimensions and resolution for printing—often costing as much as my full-wrap covers anyway.

What you get from me:

✓ Full-wrap design (front, spine, back) for print formats
✓ Properly calculated spine width for your page count
✓ Design on printer-specific templates (KDP, IngramSpark, etc.)
✓ Print-ready at correct resolution and dimensions
✓ Ebook cover included
✓ Years of professional design experience
✓ Personal collaboration on your design
✓ Award-winning quality
✓ Genre-appropriate design that positions your book competitively

Bottom line: Cheaper covers are cheaper for a reason. My covers are publication-ready, professionally designed investments that signal quality to readers and make your book competitive in the marketplace.

If your book matters enough to publish, it matters enough to present it professionally.