What to expect from your book cover designer

What to expect from your book cover designer What to expect from your book cover designer You’ve written a brief and commissioned a designer. What’s next? In this guest post, bestselling book cover designer Simon Avery explains the process of working with a cover designer, from the first concepts up to the final payment.  Professional cover design is part of what makes a bestselling title. So it’s no wonder that successful indie authors are serious about the process. Once you’ve tracked down a cover designer you like, the first thing you’ll need is a good brief (which you can learn how to do with this guide). But after you've come to an agreement to work together, what comes next? Round One – The concept stageThe first and longest part of the process is the concept stage. In a nutshell, your book cover designer will take your brief and produce several potential ideas for a cover.Behind the scenesFor me, the concept stage takes between 1-2 weeks. In this time I create 10 or so designs, many of which will never see the light of day. The best 3-5 will be sent as concepts to the author to give a feel for how the final cover could look.In the concept stage I’m also doing a  number of things:Consulting image librariesA good designer will subscribe to a big selection of image libraries. This ranges from well-known libraries like iStock and Shutterstock to smaller specialist outlets. For example, I might consult a library that stocks edgy urban images. This also means my clients get pictures that are not in wide circulation. Image libraries charge for picture downloads. Some designers charge extra for this but I personally include it as part of my fee. The final concept stageArmed with the favourite concept, I then tidy up and polish. This is my favourite part of the process. I add any suggested changes. For example, an author might ask to change the eye colour of a character or make some element more or less prominent. For the most part, however, I’m just finalising the chosen concept ready to publish.The big finish!The cover is done and the author might use it to Tweet and gain social media prior to publication. When authors are happy with their cover they ‘sign it off’, meaning I forward them all the artwork and they pay me.Check out Simon Avery’s profile on Reedsy:  https://reedsy.com/simon-averyWant to learn more about Reedsy's book cover design professionals and how to work with them? Click here!