Premade Book Cover Design
For many independent authors, the cost of contracting a custom book cover falls outside of their preferred budget. The solution has become premade book covers, created on spec by graphic designers in their free time.
Premade covers are a productive way to keep my design skills honed between projects. Experimenting with different styles and visual tropes without boundaries or preconceived notions — only the goal of designing the cover of a book I’d want to read — keeps my imagination nimble. And, as a devoted typography freak, I love having an excuse to play with all my new favorite fonts.
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Premade Book Covers
More Premade Book Cover Designs
Premade Book Covers: Before & After
Virtually no book cover designed on spec will be a bang-on match for an author’s vision. So I collaborate with authors on minor changes and tweaks that will make the existing design the right image to promote their story. Here are a few examples of premade book covers revised to suit their buyers’ needs.
A Formal Affair | Cape & Louboumachins
Laurie Pyren needed a major revision to the premade layout. To suit her theme, I sketched a cape with some motion dynamic and added light and shadow effects to match the dresses. Then I edited the title block and added sexy heels.
Irreconcilable Differences | Come Back to Me
Jenna Avery needed few revisions from the premade design. First I darkened the model’s hair to suit her heroine, and then removed the cross necklace. In the paperback expansion, I also added a blood-splash feature to the spine.
The Forest Queen | Karanlikla Aydinligin Dansi
Aycan Yilmaz wanted virtually no changes to the existing premade design. All that was needed was to tweak the title block to accommodate the longer words and expand the design for paperback with a pretty floral accent.
Bats | Chiromancist
This design was part of the complete rebranding of a ten-book series and box set; for full details, see Book Series Rebranding: 7 Forbidden Arts.
Obstruction of Justice | No Halo Required
Travis Casey needed some simple but impactful revisions to the premade. I changed the font to one with a Q that would let us hang a halo, plus added volume to the man’s hair to suggest an afro and trimmed the woman’s hair. This design was expanded into a three-book series; for more details, see Expanding a Premade Book Cover Into a Series.
One Last Con Job | The Snake’s Canyon Caper
R.L. Donovan loved the clean iconic vibe of this premade, but wanted to add more color and change the silhouettes to suit her characters. I also added a background color bar to make the author’s name pop and brought the rainbow colors and title blue into the paperback design. This design was expanded into a two-book series; for more details, see Expanding a Premade Book Cover Into a Series.
The Fling | My Dirty Little Secret
The conversion involved very little revision. I simply tweaked the title to fit and expanded the design’s black and red theme for the paperback version.
All the Lies She Told
Melissa Shirley liked the existing title and layout, so we kept them. The primary work was expanding the ebook cover for paperback and finding the right model to represent the twins in her story.
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