-----------------------

Design Basics for Book Covers

The front cover of the book usually has a title, artwork or photo, and the author's name. The spine has the title, author's name and publisher logo or name. The back cover usually has items like author bio, description of the book and reviews of the book. See example below:

Items Needed

To design the book cover we need:

• Book title, author's name, subtitle if any
• ISBN number (if you want to sell books through any vendor) and price of book if it is to be included in the bar code
• Back cover copy which usually has a short description of the book, author information and reviews and quotes by others, as well as the publisher information and logo if any.
• Spine copy which usually consists of title, author and publisher logo
• Page count for interior pages to determine spine width, as well as color of paper used (cream or white)
• Printer name and contact information

-----------------------

Artwork and Photos

A good book cover has high quality art and/or photos for the cover. If you are supplying digital files, they should be 300 dpi at full size or higher. Allow for 1/8-1/4 inch bleed around the edges. Also for photos, allow space for proper cropping. Stock photos can be purchased online for a reasonable price at places like dreamstime.com or istockphoto.com. Before purchasing any photos it is a good idea to download the free comp image and then when the design is nearing completion, then the photo can be purchased. That way you can try more than one design for the book cover.

-----------------------

For more information

Back to Top