The Self-Publishing Author’s Intro to Book Design—Part 1: Cover Design
Hey everyone! Today, I’m excited to dive into the basics of book design that you, as a self-publishing author, absolutely need to know. After 15 years as a book designer and nearly a decade working one-on-one with authors just like you, I’ve seen a lot of common patterns emerge.
You Aren’t the Only One Who’s Confused
Let’s be honest—when it comes to book design, most people are pretty confused. The process can feel a bit nebulous, and finding clear information online is often like searching for a needle in a haystack. While there’s plenty of self-publishing help out there, the information on book design is largely piecemeal and—frankly—just plain amateur.
I think this lack of solid information is due to the nature of us book designers. We tend to be introverted nerdy types, who prefer to hide behind our screens 😆. I’ve ventured out of my cave because I so desperately want more authors to have the information you need to publish high quality books.
You Need to Prepare for Book Design
Understanding how to prepare for book design is crucial. (Yep, there’s work you have to do in between writing your manuscript and hiring a designer.)
Knowing this stuff up front will certainly save you time, and will likely save you money.
Unfortunately, I often have authors come to me saying, “Okay, I’m ready for book design, and I need to have the book out by x date.” They may have a specific event or awareness month coming up that they want to align their book release with.
The problem is they haven’t left nearly enough time to properly complete the full book design and production phase. And even if they have—they aren’t ready to start—they don’t know what trim size they want, where they’re printing the book, and often aren’t even 100% certain that they won’t change their book title.
My goal is to help you skip the inevitable headache of thinking you’re all ready for book design, only to discover there’s way more to do. Trust me, it can throw off your entire schedule or mess up your project plan. Or even worse—lead to extra fees or delays down the line if your designer just takes what you have and runs with it.
Download the free checklist
I’ve created a checklist-on-steroids that outlines the basics every author needs to know and do, no matter what kind of project you have. You can download this PDF for free here.
Read on as I go over the first part—front cover design.
Step One: Front Cover Design
Cover design almost always comes first because you need the least amount of things in place to get started. Your front cover design can occur while you're still finishing edits on your manuscript.
The front cover design sets the tone for the entire book design. It’s important that the book interior design is cohesive with the cover design—including fonts, perhaps some special design elements pulled from the cover, and just the overall feel.
And here’s a tip: getting your front cover design done early is a huge win for marketing since you’ll have that cover image ready to use as you promote your book leading up to the launch.
Finalizing Your Book Title
Nail Down Your Book Title
One of the most crucial pieces to finalize before diving into front cover design is your book title. This is something that many people overlook. I’ve seen numerous opinions online suggesting that changing the title later (after cover design has started) is no big deal.
But I couldn’t disagree more.
When working with a truly professional designer, the text of your title—the individual letters—are treated like more like artwork than editable. Each letter will be carefully spaced and carefully melded into the overall design. Even altering just one letter has the potential to significantly impact the design. Depending on the difficulty in making the change, this could lead to delays and/or revisions fees.
Take for example, this cover design that I created as a concept for an author.
It takes a lot of detail-oriented work to wrap the vine image around the letters. And this is a fairly simple example. While it can be easy to make changes to front cover text, it’s certainly not guaranteed to be.
I would be wary of working with a designer who advised otherwise, because they most likely aren’t designing to the highest level if that’s the case.
So, here’s what I highly recommend: have your title finalized, including your subtitle and any other front cover text. The only exception is if you plan to include a short endorsement or blurb on the front cover and you don’t have it yet. In that case, just ask your designer—before they start—to leave space for it. Aside from that, all front cover text must be set in stone before your designer gets to work.
Understanding Trim Size
Next up is the trim size of your book. “Trim size” is publishing lingo that refers to the physical dimensions of your printed book.
Common trim sizes for text-driven books like nonfiction, memoir, or novels include:
6 x 9 inches
5.5 x 8.5 inches
5 x 8 inches
The bottom line? Your book design files, including both the cover and interior, need to be prepared at the exact size they’ll be printed at. The printer will print the file directly onto the paper of your book, without making any changes. If that size isn’t correct from the get-go, changing it down the road could create a lot of work for your designer, resulting in delays or potential fees for you.
Choosing Your Printer
You also need to know where you're planning to print your book. That’s because different printers offer different trim sizes and sometimes require different file setup specifications (that your designer needs to know about). While all printers provide the most common trim sizes, it's smart to at least have a shortlist of potential printers to discuss with your designer to ensure there aren’t any special considerations you need to address beforehand.
Printers also offer different formats, which is a important consideration. More about that below…
Picking Your Book Formats
This leads us to the next point: your chosen book formats, which are also dependent on the printer. Formats include:
Softcover (paperback)
Hardcover
E-book
Audiobook
They can also include spiral bound, saddle stitched (this is for short paperbacks like children’s books that are essentially stapled together), and some other less common options like board books.
A hardcover book can be split into two types:
Dust-Jacketed hardcover: This book has a paper wrapping around it with flaps (aka, the dust jacket)
Case-bound (or case-wrapped) hardcover: This is where the cover design is printed directly on the book’s cover surface, without the paper wrapper. Most textbooks and many nonfiction books are in this format.
Deciding on the formats for publishing your book is crucial since different printers provide different options. I recommend that just about every author should have a softcover and e-book format, while hardcover is optional.
An important note is that IngramSpark offers both dust jacket and case-wrapped hardcover formats, while Amazon KDP, a very popular printing choice, offers only the case-wrapped version without a dust jacket.
Cover File Requirements
Each different format of your book will require a different cover file. While the design will be the same across formats, the file setup from your designer will differ. Each format may have slightly different dimensions or technical specifications, so your designer must know your chosen formats up front to provide an accurate quote for your project.
Note that while you can have 2 different trim sizes for a hardcover and softcover version of your book, it will cost extra because it will require 2 different book interior files, which is a significant amount of extra work.
Deciding on Your Cover Finish
When it comes to the cover finish, you’ll need to choose between a matte or gloss finish. Most printers will offer these two options, although other textures might be available depending on where you print your book. If you have a strong preference, let your designer know early in the game. This information will help guide the design process and keep everything running smoothly.
Some designs may look better with either a matte or gloss finish, and as a designer, I genuinely appreciate knowing my client’s preferences at the outset.
The “cover finish” is more industry lingo—it means the surface texture/finish of your book’s cover. Almost all printers offer a choice of matte or gloss, although other textures might be available depending on where you print your book.
If you have a strong preference for one or the other, let your designer know. I personally appreciate knowing my client’s preferences from the start if they have one.
If not, that’s completely fine. I’ll choose what I think what will fit best for their final design, readers, and genre.
Wrapping Up
And there you have it! Those are the crucial considerations when preparing for cover design. I’m excited to cover the rest of the steps in upcoming posts.
Remember, all this info and more is included in the free checklist, so make sure to download a copy.
If you have any questions or requests for specific video topics around book design, please let me know—I’d love to hear from you!