Last updated March 2023

Finding Book Covers

If you've chosen to be a self-published author—or indie author—part of your book creation process will be securing a cover for your book. There are three basic ways you can do this.

If you want art tailored to your needs and desires, you can hire an illustrator who will create a cover to your specifications. The advantages of a commissioned cover include your being able to incorporate your visual ideas, represent highly specific aspects of your manuscript, and control the entire look. A well-done custom cover typically costs around $500-$1,000+, depending in part on the complexity and detail you're requesting. Another major factor is the level of skill and experience of the illustrator; some high-end artists charge $2,000 and up.

Alternatively, you can buy a pre-made, which is a cover an artist created independently but just might happen to be an excellent fit for your book. Artists who are starting out will do pre-mades to showcase what they're capable of creating. However, even veteran illustrators enjoy doing pre-mades because they allow the artist to explore personal creative visions, as opposed to bringing someone else's list of requirements to life and then making a series of adjustments to fully satisfy the client. Pre-mades are less expensive than customized covers, with quality ones typically around $200-$400 and up—and also spare you from having to guess whether an artist will be able to deliver what you want, because you can see the cover upfront and decide whether it suits your needs.

Then again, you can opt for a middle ground approach by purchasing a pre-made from an author who states in the description that he or she is willing to perform limited adjustments to make the cover more tailored to your vision.

The most crucial marketing tools for your book are its title and its cover. As a result, some authors will buy a pre-made, or a pre-made with limited customization, as a starting point and then write the story revolving around that cover. Along the same lines, some cover artists thrive because, in addition to their visual skills, they're great at dreaming up witty and compelling book titles.

Please note that cover artists selling to indie authors often include one or more selections from a stock image library (e.g., Shutterstock.com) to save themselves time and effort, which allows them to keep costs down. So before making a purchase, take care to ask about the licenses the artist has secured to ensure you have the right to use the cover in the ways you desire.

All that said, the following are notable websites and Facebook groups that will help you find cover artists and/or pre-made covers that are potentially great matches for your book. All of these online showcases are free for authors; if they earn any revenue at all, it typically comes from artists paying fees to be listed (e.g., CoverDesignerDirectory.com) or paying a percentage of their sales on the site (e.g., TheBookCoverDesigner.com):

CoverDesignerDirectory.com: Mariah Sinclair provides this gallery of vetted artists who will design a cover to your specifications. Each artist appears via a representative cover, and the covers are organized by genre (Chick Lit, Urban Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Post Apocalypse, etc.). You can click any cover to view the artist's profile and visit his or her website.

TheBookCoverDesigner.com: This go-to resource typically offers over 18,000 pre-made covers. A search box allows you to find covers whose tags match your keywords. Clicking any cover reveals its price, as well as a form for emailing the artist.

Book Cover Design Marketplace (Facebook): One of the largest Facebook groups for book covers, describing itself as "A marketplace for book cover artists to share recent work, sell pre-mades, and for authors/publishers to make commission inquiries." This is a free resource, but requires you to fill out a short form requesting membership.

Book Cover Gallery (Facebook): Another of the largest Facebook groups for book covers, describing itself as featuring "both pre-made covers and artists who will create customized covers for you. A place to connect designers and authors. We feature curated publishing content ideal for the market, including pre-made book covers, custom reveals, interior designs, maps, character illustrations, and more!" This is a free resource, but requires you to fill out a short form requesting membership.

Book Covers and Cover Artist (Facebook): A large Facebook group for book covers, describing itself as being for "authors, publishers, and cover artists to share their work. New covers and art are welcome. This is for book covers. No nude artwork is permitted." This is a free resource, but requires you to fill out a short form requesting membership.

Indie Author Book Covers (Facebook): A Facebook group laser-focused on indie authors, describing itself as "A place where indie authors can find pre-made covers or connect with a designer for custom work." This is a free resource, but requires you to fill out a short form requesting membership.

Finally, to learn what to look for in a great book cover and how to work with a cover artist, consider turning to Cover Your Book: An Author's Guide to Working with a Designer to Maximize your Sales by Rebekah Haskell. You can read this book for free if you subscribe to Amazon's "Kindle Unlimited" feature.

Finding Children's Book Artists

If you're aiming to create a children's picture book, or some other children's book that requires an illustrator, how you proceed depends on your publishing path.

If you want to be traditionally published, and you're not an ace illustrator yourself, then you should write only the manuscript. If an acquisitions editor at a publishing house likes what you've done, that editor will use his or her skills and experience to match your words to the most appropriate illustrators available, and then then present you with a short list of top children's book artists to choose from.

If you want to self-publish, though, then you'll need to locate and hire an artist on your own. Respected organization The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) provides a free online gallery that lets you search for children's book illustrators based on such criteria as Art Style, Art Mediums, Region, and Availability for Self-Published Book at SCBWI.org/illustrator-gallery.

In addition, you can opt to join SCBWI, which will allow you to hang out with members who are illustrators, as well as access the society's manual on the development process titled The Book: The Essential Guide to Publishing for Children.

Another fine resource is website ChildrensIllustrators.com. It provides a gallery of illustrators, searchable by alphabetical name order and country, at ChildrensIllustrators.com/portfolio-directory.

Lastly, there are numerous excellent guidebooks to help you on your journey. Two that focus on the visual are Writing Picture Books, Revised and Expanded: A Hands-On Guide From Story Creation to Publication by Anne Whitford Paul and Picture Writing: A New Approach to Writing for Children and Teens by Anastasia Suen.

Finding Graphic Novel Artists

If you want to create a graphic novel, there's no single clear path.

In some cases you might be better off sending your script to publishers and hoping one of them likes it enough to hire a team of artists to bring it to visual life.

Often, however, you'll first need to deliver proof of concept by producing comics pages—even if they're just short stories. In such cases, unless you're an illustrator yourself, you'll need to hire an artist, or team of artists, to create penciling, inking, lettering, coloring, etc.

One place to find comics pros is the site DigitalWebbing, which is an online gathering place for the comic book community. It includes a section titled Help Wanted—Paid Jobs if you're looking to hire, and also a section titled Help Wanted—Collaborations if you're seeking an artistic partner who'll share financial risks with you.

Another notable resource is the popular discussion site Reddit.com. Among its many forums is r/ComicBookCollabs, where comics creators can find each other to team up; r/Comics, where you can post a description of your needs to a vibrant community of artists and writers; r/ComicWriting, where you can post questions to fellow writers; and r/ComicBookArt, where you can see work from a wide range of artists.

Finally, if you aren't intimately familiar with comic books or graphic novels, you might check out my book The Sandman Companion, which is an analysis and interview book with superstar writer Neil Gaiman about his landmark series The Sandman.

I hope this page ends up being of some help to you. If you spot any errors, or if you know of a resource that belongs here, please feel encouraged to email me at hy@hyreviews.com.

For help with any kind of book, please visit BookProposal.net.

Email: hy@hyreviews.com