Premade Book Covers – An Interesting Option
Have you considered using a premade book cover for your book?
If you’ve decided you’re going to self-publish your book, at some point you’ll be in the market for an eye-catching, aesthetically pleasing book cover—one that will help your book find its target audience and fly off the shelves (or the internet). Unless you’ve got an incredibly talented sister or friend who does such things, you’ll need to find a book cover designer.
Fortunately, there are many excellent book cover designers out there; Google “book cover designers,” and you’ll see. But before you start your search, be aware that there are two main kinds of book cover designs: custom and premade. Custom means the designer creates your book cover from scratch. It’s a unique cover designed to make it clear to buyers what your book is about, and why they should purchase it. Going with premade, on the other hand, means you select a cover from the designer’s catalog, and the designer adds your title, name, back cover text, and so on.
Premade Book Cover Pro & Con
Many authors opt for premade book covers because they are less expensive than custom, and there is such a wide selection of premades that it is quite possible to find the right one for your book. But if you do decide to go the premade route, it’s important to be aware of the following:
- Some firms remove a premade cover from their catalogs once it is sold, but others do not and may resell it to someone else. This means that your cover could end up on someone else’s book. Check the designer’s resale policy.
- Find out if the technical specifications of the cover are compatible with the publishing service or printer you wish to use. For example, if you intend to publish through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, ask the designer if the cover will be compatible. You don’t want a cover that’s not going to work!
- Some designers charge extra if you request minor revisions to the premade design, such as a change in background colors or other small alterations. Find out before your bill starts mounting!
- Make sure you’re buying the proper kind of cover: print book or e-book. Some firms offer only e-book covers, so be careful you don’t purchase the wrong thing.
To help you get started in your search for premade book covers, I’ve described eight firms below. I’m not necessarily recommending these firms, simply making you aware of them.
THE COVER COLLECTION
Website – www.thecovercollection.com
What they say about themselves – “Here at The Cover Collection, we create covers that will help your book sell. With over 20 years of design experience, we know how to put a cover design together that will stand out from the rest.”
Price – £30 to £200+
Categories – The premade book covers are divided into various categories, including romance, thrillers, children’s, sci-fi, and horror.
Can anyone else use this cover? – “We sell a cover once; it’s removed from the site and never resold.”
COVERMINT
Website – www.covermint.design
What they say about themselves – “We offer quality, high-resolution pre-made and custom ebook covers as well as full ebook and print packages for many different genres.”
Price – $69
Categories – “Choose a high-quality, pre-made professional ebook cover from a variety of genres including Sci Fi, Romance and Thriller. We customize the cover to fit your author name and book title.”
Can anyone else use this cover? – “After a cover is sold it is removed from the site.”
E-BOOK LAUNCH
Website – https://ebooklaunch.com/ebook-cover-design
What they say about themselves – “Beautiful cover designs for ebook and print.”
Price – $99
Services – “For $99 you get:
- One unique, premade ebook cover
- Changes to the title, subtitle and author name
- Any specific color changes to the text or background
- 3D mockup to use in the marketing of your book”
GO ON WRITE
Website – www.GoOnWrite.com
What they say about themselves – “Professional pre-made book covers for $50 or less. Over 5,000 to choose from. All genres and categories. “
Price – $50 or less
Categories – The premade book covers are divided into various categories including womens, children, animals, cityscape, abstract, sci-fi, paranormal, Western, action, and fantasy.
RLD (Robin Ludwig Design)
Website – www.gobookcoverdesign.com
What they say about themselves – “Exclusive, unique premade book cover designs!”
Price – “Premade Book Cover Designs” are $69, which includes a premade e-book cover design, limited minor revisions, ready-to-upload JPG e-book cover, standard paperback 3D rendering, stock, and graphics.
Can anyone else use this cover? – “Our premade designs are only sold to a single client and are not templates. We do our best to use unique photography, techniques and layouts on each design.”
SELF PUB BOOK COVERS
Website – https://www.selfpubbookcovers.com
What they say about themselves – “SelfPubBookCovers is the world’s leading marketplace for high-quality, affordably-priced pre-made book covers…”
Price – Many are $69.
Services – “Over 30,000 professionally curated book covers available; more than any other provider. New covers arriving daily by hundreds of designers from around the world for a varied selection of different design styles to choose from.”
Can anyone else use this cover? – “Once a cover is sold it is never sold again.”
COVER DESIGN STUDIO
Website – www.coverdesignstudio.com
What they say about themselves – “You Can Design Your Own Book Covers.”
Price – For DIY (do-it-yourself) templates, prices range from $19 to $59.
Note – This firm offers DIY book cover templates instead of premade book designs. You download your selected template, add in your title, subtitle, and author name, and are set to go. You can customize the DIY cover design if you wish. There were over two hundred and fifty DIY cover templates available on the company’s website as of October 1, 2017.
If you’re looking for a cover…
….you’re probably self-publishing your book. For a look at the nuts and bolts of publishing on your own, see our “Introduction to Self-Publishing.”
IF YOU’D LIKE HELP WRITING YOUR BOOK…
Contact us! We’re Barry Fox and Nadine Taylor, professional ghostwriters and authors with a long list of satisfied clients and editors at major publishing houses.
For more information, call us at 818-917-5362 or use the contact form below to send us a message.
We’d love to talk to you about your exciting book project!
Please Note: Although we’re based in Los Angeles, California, we travel around the U.S. and abroad to meet with our authors. We do not ghostwrite screenplays, books for children, poetry, or school papers.
