beautiful eBook cover design

Here are some of the important questions you need to ask to your client before getting started.

What kind of book cover do you need?
Double-check that your client is looking for an eBook cover and not a printed book cover.
What is your eBook’s genre?
Like it or not, readers will judge an eBook by its cover. Self-help and sci-fi have vastly different cover styles, so make sure you meet the expectations of potential readers.
What’s your key message?
Ask your client to define one key message and use it to inform your design.
What do you want included on your cover?
Ask the author if there are subjects, images, awards, reviews or biographies they would like included on their eBook cover.

Designing an eBook cover

It’s all about the front cover
While printed books can be identified by their spines, an eBook only gets attention up front. Think about how you can make your cover stand out in a grid of competing books.
Make the reader feel something
Choose colors, imagery and typefaces that help evoke a key emotion in your readers and also offer a sneak peek into the plot.
The shrink test
Readers often buy eBooks based on a small image. Make sure your design is legible as a thumbnail.
Ditch the details
Your eBook cover only needs the bare minimum: a title, author name and cover art. Everything else will be on the book’s landing page.

Here are a few things you need to do before handing over your eBook cover design to the client:

Can you read the thumbnail?
Double-check that the images and text are legible when shrunken down to thumbnail size.
Do you have stock imagery
Even if the image has been modified, your clients need to know that you’ve used stock images in the design.
Is your cover mostly white or very light?
Add a border. Most website backgrounds are white, and a thin border will make sure your eBook cover doesn’t disappear into the background.

Once your client has approved the final book cover design, you’ll need to handover all of your files. Required files

Additional guidelines