Four Crucial Steps of Book Design—Plus One Most Authors Forget

Designing a book is so much more than crafting perfect cover art. Many elements combine to make a cover ideal, and they are more intentional than most authors, or even readers, realize. Consider these four steps in the design process—plus one critical component that many authors completely forget!

Your Book Designer’s Got You Covered

You wrote the book. Trust me, unless you are an actual cover designer too, hire one. Book design is a crucial step to trust to the professionals. Have ideas? Great, take them to a pro. And leave them in their capable hands.

There’s a real difference between a cover that seems “fine” and one that looks professional, captures attention, and sells! Hiring a designer who works in your genre means handing over your title, your shelf research (more on this below), and your rough ideas, then trusting their instincts on content, color, and creativity in a way you simply aren’t trained to do.

There are a number of elements you can familiarize yourself with first though, and these come from doing your shelf research.

Look at Your Genre's Shelf

Research your title, and subtitle if you have one. Be sure yours is unique, describes the content of your book, and is appropriate with respect to your genre. Then take it a step further.

Visit your genre in a bookstore or online and stare at the covers. Note the fonts, the color palettes, the amount of white space, whether titles are long or condensed. If you look around in other genres, you’ll notice a quiet literary novel and a thriller do not share the same font styles.

Genre conventions exist because they help readers find what they're looking for; ignoring them entirely can make a book look out of place or just plain vanilla. Familiarizing yourself with the standards for book covers in your genre will help you land on a qualified designer and prepare you for informed conversations with them once they produce options for your review.

1—Front Cover: What Your Designer Needs from You

Bring your title, subtitle (if you have one), author name (or alias), and logos/icons for your publisher (unless self-publishing) to your meeting with your cover designer. Talk to them about fonts, cover art and design elements, and let them know if your book is part of a series or a stand-alone work. You’ll discuss a number of elements you discovered from your shelf research.

2—Back Cover: Start With the Promise, Not the Plot

It's easy to pour every ounce of energy into the front cover and treat the back as an afterthought, but the back cover is doing real work. It needs to echo the front cover’s color palette and typography closely so the two feel like one object, not a spectacular front cover affixed to an awkward back cover.

Consider placement for the elements on the back cover and work with your designer to be sure he/she has everything they need from you: the blurb, the author bio, any reviews or advance praise you may wish to include, as well as your barcode.

One component you may decide to write for yourself is the blurb. They are harder to write than you think. Consider asking your editor, beta readers, or other professional to either write it for you or at least edit and provide feedback. Regardless who writes it, you will need to have it proofread just like the manuscript itself.

The blurb tells a reader what kind of experience they're about to have: cozy or unsettling, literary or fast-paced, serious or playful. It does not spell out the plot. It’s job is to sell the book. In order to do that, it cannot simply be a written summary. It must contain compelling language that prompts a consumer to “add to cart” or take it home with them.

3—Spine: Make Yours Stand Tall

Make sure your spine stands tall, and not on its head. Often the spine is the first thing a potential reader sees on a shelf, another reason to hire a professional. I have seen the unfortunate fumble of an amateur who started their title at the bottom of the spine, resulting in a book that appears to be upside down on the shelf—not the way you want to stand out to readers.

When working with your designer, the size of your book and number of pages determines the thickness of your book’s spine. In addition to your title and author name, they’ll need digital artwork for your publisher’s icons/logos. Just as the front and back covers, design standards matter on the spine as well.

4—Get Outside Eyes Before You Commit

Maximize this step! When I prepared to publish my book in 2020, I solicited opinions from my social media followers and my book launch team. It was a really fun way to facilitate surveys and generate anticipation for the impending cover reveal and subsequent book launch.

It was also helpful to find out what people liked and didn’t like about the cover options I presented and why. It gave me specific feedback to convey to my designer and helped me make the decisions that led to my final selection. For example, “the artwork feels too big on this sample cover,” or “I don’t understand how the artwork relates to the story,” or “this scripted font is a little hard to read.” It may sound negative, but this is all very positive feedback to receive before you sign off on your final cover design.

PLUS the Crucial Element Many Authors Forget: Interior Design

The cover sets expectations, and the interior has to visually deliver on them. It’s imperative that the interior typography for the front/back matter (Table of Contents, Acknowledgements, Bio, Epilogue, etc), chapter headers, and subheadings match or complement the exterior design. Any decorative elements (drop caps, section breaks) should also add to the mood of the cover so the book is experienced as a whole rather than multiple pieces stitched together. Your designer will also properly incorporate page numbers, the author name, and book title on the interior pages, as desired. For this reason, the design work for the interior of the book is also called typesetting.

Your designer will need your ISBN, completed copyright page, and all other front and back matter, in addition to your publisher’s logos/icons unless you are self-publishing.

Design Decisions Are a Fun Part of the Process

So many components and decisions go into the creation of a book, and design is a fun part for most authors. Trust your designer. Provide the elements they need to do their work. Give them candid feedback. And remember, clarity beats cleverness. The reader’s first impression matters more than the author’s personal favorite draft. So don’t skip out on gathering external impressions.

Have fun with it! You’ve done the hard work to get here. Your book design is the first step toward putting your work out into the world!

Free Publishing Guide from Andria Flores

If we haven’t met yet, I am Andria Flores: author, editor, and recovering perfectionist. For more articles like this one, connection to a supportive author network, and trusted publishing resources, subscribe to my newsletter today. When you do, I’ll send you my free Publishing Guide as a gift (and I won’t blow up your inbox every week.) My 40+ page eBook is a step-by-step guide through the publishing process, including proven tips, tricks, and links you can use along the way. Get yours here!

Let’s connect! Message me here.