If/When To Hire Book Cover Art Designer

If you intend to submit to agents/publishers, don't hire anyone to make a cover. The publisher will produce the cover. You might get some input. You might not. They have the final say.

If you intend to self-publish, you can do what you want. But don't get so caught up making covers that you don't finish the book.

How much control do you have if a big publisher picks it up? Virtually none.

How much control do you have if you publish it yourself? Virtually complete.

In general, the smaller the publisher, the more influence you will have, but you shouldn't think of it as "control" unless you would be willing to walk away from a publishing deal in order to get what you want.

Coming into the negotiations dead set on using an image you've already invested in could be a red flag for many credible publishers.

I suggest delaying gratification if at all possible for as long as possible.

On the other hand, a good cover can catch their eye and save expenses for a "new" author. My wife's niece did what I consider to be an excellent cover for my second work. She normally charges $600.00, I have her contact information if you want it.

I think it is astoundingly unlikely that anything other than a very small publisher will be at all pleased if you turn up with a ready made cover. Publishers have a huge and complete data set which shows them what type of cover will maximize sales, not just what looks nice.

veinglory said:

I think it is astoundingly unlikely that anything other than a very small publisher will be at all pleased if you turn up with a ready made cover. Publishers have a huge and complete data set which shows them what type of cover will maximize sales, not just what looks nice.

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Agreed.

Andreas_Montoya said:

On the other hand, a good cover can catch their eye and save expenses for a "new" author. My wife's niece did what I consider to be an excellent cover for my second work. She normally charges $600.00, I have her contact information if you want it.

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Did the cover she made for you save expenses and catch a publishers eye?

I'm not clear on how it can save expenses for an author to pay for a cover. I've always assumed that a book cover is a standard investment on the part of a publisher. If publishers are asking people to provide their own art, that's concerning.

By the way, your niece made you a lovely cover. You should promote her work in the artists-for-hire sticky.

That is a great cover, Andreas.

As for daydreaming about cover art, it's fun. Just don't get caught up in it. You need a mms inside the cover, first.

Gale Haut said:

Did the cover she made for you save expenses and catch a publishers eye?

I'm not clear on how it can save expenses for an author to pay for a cover. I've always assumed that a book cover is a standard investment on the part of a publisher. If publishers are asking people to provide their own art, that's concerning.

By the way, your niece made you a lovely cover. You should promote her work in the artists-for-hire sticky.

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Not yet, she just finished it. I will upload it today. What I mean't by saving expenses is that if you do have a cover and an agent likes it, it is less expense for them. I got one cover free and the other at half price, she had to alter it several times.

Createspace has a cover creator that is pretty good for free.

Except an agent doesn't have anything to do with covers. An agent sells your work to a publisher and a publisher is the one who creates covers. And I can say for certain that most publishers would not appreciate a cover they didn't design themselves, most would actually reject such a cover. They aren't grateful to save a little money with design, they want to be in charge of design and marketing. Often times so much so that the author has absolutely no input. If you do come across a very rare publisher who would prefer the author to spend the money on a cover . . . well honestly I wouldn't trust a publisher who had so little financial investment in their authors . . . but let's say for some reason this publisher is still amazing, well at THAT point you could get a cover made. But getting one made ahead of time is a wasted expense for an author. And honestly, having a cover for a book that doesn't have a publishing deal already won't impress anyone, it will, actually be the surest sign an author knows very little about the publishing industry.

Also let's suppose you're a talented artist and cover designer... if the publisher decides to work with you as the artist/designer, this will happen after the deal is signed. Art projects like that happen in various stages, where you talk about basic concepts, show some idea sketches, agree on a general direction and so forth. You don't just turn up with a completed cover.

AND if you are a talented artist and cover designer and the publisher wants to use your work you should get paid extra as the artist and designer, or at the very least any costs in creating the cover should be covered by them (when I did the cover for OUTCAST for my publisher, the reimbursed any costs involved).

I'm echoing almost everyone else's comments here. Don't even think about getting a cover done if you're interested in getting an agent and a contract with a good trade publisher. You'll be wasting your time and money, and might well put people off working with you.

Andreas_Montoya said:

Not yet, she just finished it. I will upload it today. What I mean't by saving expenses is that if you do have a cover and an agent likes it, it is less expense for them. I got one cover free and the other at half price, she had to alter it several times.

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The agent isn't the person who will have control over the cover, though. Covers are handled by the publisher after they purchase the rights to the book. Publishers have their own people who are in charge of designing covers, and there's a good chance they'll want to hand the process over to them. Also, I think a lot of publishers, especially larger ones, would rather not have too much involvement from the author when it comes to designing the cover. Because frankly, most authors aren't experts when it comes to art, graphic design, or marketing. Authors can certainly make suggestions or veto designs that they really hate or feel misrepresent the work, but it's usually best to let the publisher do their thing. If you're working with an experienced publisher, they're experts at designing covers that will look good.

And honestly, while nice, I don't think saving the publisher money should really be the main concern. Working with a publisher means that you're selling your book to them. In exchange, the publisher takes on a lot of responsibility for marketing and selling the book to the public. If you spend your own time and money on things that are generally the publisher's responsibility (like the cover), then there's less advantage to working with a publisher in the first place.

veinglory said:

I think it is astoundingly unlikely that anything other than a very small publisher will be at all pleased if you turn up with a ready made cover. Publishers have a huge and complete data set which shows them what type of cover will maximize sales, not just what looks nice.

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This is true, and what Old Hack said is true. That being said there are moderate sized publishers (such as one that Emily Veinglory and I are published with) who let you have a lot of say in the cover art.

I had a lot of say in the cover art you see in my avatar and signature, because my publisher provides authors with a cover art form where you can have some input. But I gather from other authors that the Big Five don't give you any say?

And no publisher will respond favorably if they think they're being dictated to about cover art. None will appreciate you hiring someone on your own.