Design a book cover for a millennial's guide to homesteading | Book cover contest (2024)

FAQs

How do you make a book cover design? ›

In the realm of books, a good cover is more than just a pretty face. It serves as a powerful marketing tool that can attract potential readers, conveys the essence of the story, and enhance sales. The importance of a good book cover design cannot be overstated, and Bingo-media understands this significance.

A professional book cover designer typically costs about $500-$800 for a single project. However, a simpler cover from a less-experienced designer would cost less, while an elaborate cover from a Big 5 designer would cost quite a bit more.

Dark background colors like black or navy blue form book covers that convey a sense of seriousness, suspense or authority. Pastels such as pale yellow or green soften the look and, therefore, are often suitable for book covers of heartfelt stories and lighter subject-matter.

Too Much Text or Too Many Visual Elements

Too many things on the cover become too hard to understand. It is easy to lose structure and hierarchy. Never cram too many visual symbols from the story. Don't include every important person, gun, cityscape, religious symbol, etc.

It's sole purpose is to sell the book to readers, and includes essential elements such as the book's title and author name. Other elements to potentially include could be a subtitle, images, series number, or any accolades that you think will bring in more of the right readers.

Marianne Issa El-Khoury, designer at Transworld says, “This truly depends on the designer and how they prefer to work: some need to read the entire manuscript before starting, others need to sketch hundreds of ideas before developing them more on their computers and some jump right into it from the information on the ...

Book covers offer the first glimpse into the content of a given text. That first glimpse can be the sole deciding factor in determining whether the potential readers pick up the book or not. Children's books, for example, entice their young target audience with colors, typefaces, and images.

What software do book cover designers use? ›

What sites or programs do you recommend to use for someone designing a book cover for a novel they plan on self-publishing? InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and free online versions of these programs are the professional tools for book cover design.

Usually the graphic designer will create the final book cover layout using Adobe InDesign. If you would like to incorporate your own illustrations then you need to learn additional software such as Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop.