Creating a Book Cover

Susan Earlam

March 3, 2021

You may have missed, or not, that I’m publishing my novel, Earthly Bodies soon.

One of the most exciting parts of this for me is getting a cover for the story.

I wanted to share with you my brief for the cover design and share the process I went through.

Creating a book cover is communicating what the book is and what the reader should expect thematically, through the visuals used and the font of the title.

As a creative, and once an artist, always an artist, I have to tell you that I was tempted to create the cover myself. And to be honest, I could have. But even though I’m pretty handy on Canva and other design software, have a good eye, (can blow own trumpet) book design is in a different league.

I’m also very discerning and had looks I wanted to avoid, and I knew if designed it, I’d never be happy with it and it wouldnt be as professional as I wanted it to be.

The pitch was;

Beautiful nature but something is off…

I collected a lot of book cover images from authors and novels that are similer in theme to Earthly Bodies.

You see, the golden rule is stand out, but not in a bad way. HA!

Creating a book cover is communicating what the book is and what the reader should expect thematically through the visuals used and the font of the title.

I created a slideshow of the images and covers below, along with what I didn’t want (not pictured) and using 99designs I set up a brief that designers could respond to.

I included the synopsis of the book, along with some more mood board type images which evoked the kind of feeling I wanted the book to share.

Within 99designs you can also browse portfolios and invite designers you like to participate. As it turns out one of the designers I invited to take part did create the winning design.