Eight Questions to Ask While Hiring a Book Cover Designer
Hiring a brilliant book cover designer is one of the most important steps in ensuring the success of your book. While the importance of a book cover designer cannot be undermined, finding the right match to help you in this endeavor can be challenging.
Here are some of the most important questions to ask before hiring a book cover designer.
- Inquire About Relevant Experience
When hiring the right book cover designer, the relevant experience must be the most important thing you must seek. You must only hire a book cover designer if they have worked in your genre. Do not just take their word for it if they say that they have relevant experience. Instead, you can ask them for some book covers they have designed for your genre.
Take a look at some of the best book cover designs to see if they are an expert in their field. If you are satisfied with their work and industry expertise, you can consider working with them.
Even if they do not have relevant experience, you can consider making things work if they are willing to research and become familiar with trending tropes in your genre. However, working with book cover designers with relevant experiences is always a better idea.
- Learn About the Process
Every book cover designer has a unique process of developing a concept for a design. You must always inquire them about this process before finalizing any details. Things can become complicated if you and your book cover designer are not on the same page.
You must have an idea of how a book cover designer approaches your brief and brainstorms ideas for your book cover. In addition, you must also learn about how they research genre trends and audience preferences to create a book cover.
All this information can help you determine whether a book cover designer will be the right match for what you have envisioned.
- Ask About Customization
Every experienced book cover designer has access to the best image libraries. These libraries can help a designer create brilliant, high-quality covers for their clients. However, things are different when clients ask for custom images on the book cover.
As a client, you can ask your book cover designer for custom designs. You must ensure that your book cover designer can make custom images and give you the sole rights to do so. They can undertake a photo shoot or create custom artwork for your book cover.
While custom book covers can cost significantly more than covers with library-bought images, they can also make you stand out among your competitors.
- Request the Portfolio
Among the important things you must ask your book cover designer for is always to remember to ask for their portfolio. It is a document that helps you see the skills of a book cover designer and beyond.
A book cover designer’s portfolio showcases the best of their designs for clients to see. In addition, some book cover designers also share their design process on the portfolio so that the clients know exactly what it is like to work with them.
In addition, book cover designers also proudly showcase any design awards or industry recognition that highlight their skills and reputation. Reviewing these details on a designer’s record can help you make your decision with confidence.
- Question about Fees
Every author has a budget dedicated to their journey of becoming an author. Designing a book cover is one of the crucial aspects of becoming a published author. There are several other factors to which they must dedicate their budget, such as marketing, publishing, distribution, and much more. You must let hiring a book cover designer maintain your budget.
You must pay attention to your budget while hiring a book cover designer. Hence, it is always a good idea to ask the book cover designers you are considering hiring about the charges for their services. Some cover designers list their pricing packages, while others may provide a custom quote.
Whatever their payment structure, make sure that it is comfortable for you. This way, you can ensure a smooth partnership.
- Request for the Final Product
You must also ask your book cover editor about how they will share the final product. After all, every book cover deserves to receive a high-quality file to be used on their book cover as they like. You can ask for this file in a JPEG and PDF file of your final design.
As soon as you receive the file, make sure that it includes all the components of your book cover, including the front cover, the back cover, and the spine.
Also, be sure to request the editable file if necessary. You can ask for a Photoshop or Adobe file, depending on the design software being used. If you plan to edit the file yourself, make sure to discuss it in advance.
- Demand the Turnaround Time
Every author is on a schedule and must meet their deadlines. They take every step of the way, keeping their deadline in mind. In order to ensure the book cover designer does not hinder your schedule, you must discuss turnaround time with time beforehand.
Whether you have to meet the requirements for a pre-order or send out advance reader copies, ensuring that your book cover designer knows and respects your deadlines can save you from last-minute embarrassment.
While book cover designers must adhere to your schedule and pre-decided deadlines, you must also ensure that the quality of your project is not compromised on the way.
- Discuss the Communication Style
Lastly, it is important to ensure that you set your communication expectations upfront. Since book cover designers have several clients to deal with at one time, they may not be able to respond to you promptly. However, they must get back to you within 24-36 hours.
It is always a good idea to ask your designer to let you know about their unavailability beforehand in case of a vacation or any emergencies so that you do not panic at the last minute.
