The price of book cover design varies, because each project is different. Some covers are more minimal, others are complex – basically, the cost depends on how much time our team will spend on working on it. This applies to all types of artwork - based on professional stock photography, graphics, AI tools or photo manipulation.
Check out our guide on how much it costs to self-publish a book, which looks at other factors you need to consider. Also, you may need to register an ISBN for you book, so you can find more about that here. And if you're at the beginning if your writing journey you can find out how long it takes to write a book here.
Our team is very experienced, and our process is very simple. This allows us to work more efficiently and to communicate changes without losing time. Plus, we involve our clients in our design process and work closely with them, which leaves little room for errors.
This means every project is assessed and managed in such a way it saves our team time, which saves you money.
What else is included in the price?
Apart from studio time, we factor in the price of professional licensed stock photos and graphics. The price depends on how many images we need to buy. We source them from various online photo libraries, like. The price for an image license varies but it’s usually around £5 - £10 per image on average.
Many photos are available for free online, however they might be marked for personal use only, or require appropriate attribution when used. You want to avoid these, because you may get in trouble if you don’t have the permission to use them or forget to credit the photographer. That’s why having the right license is essential.
Some clients are talented enough to take their own professional photos. This obviously makes things cheaper, and since they’ve taken the photos, they’re the copyright holders.
If you're on a budget, you can check our our premade book covers. Kick-start your self-publishing career for a fraction of the cost!
What about using commercial fonts?
Fonts are another thing that is considered when pricing a book cover. In 9 out 10 cases we use our own, already purchased commercial fonts, so the price isn’t affected. We’ve built a large library of fonts over the years, so we rare need to buy new font sets.
However, if we have to buy a new font, we’ll have a chat with you and decide whether it’s worth the cost. Some fonts are cheap, around £20 – £30, others can go over £330. And in some cases, we can modify existing fonts to give them a bit of uniqueness to fit your story.
Are there any additional fees if I decide to go with you?
No. Before you pay us a deposit, we’ll send you a full breakdown of what’s included in the price and how much the whole project will cost. We’ll confirm the price up front. There aren’t any fees, or hidden costs. We offer transparency, and you’ll always know what you get for your money.
Reasons why you should pay for quality book cover design
It’s true that you can get a cover designed for a £20-£50 from someone you know, but people always judged books by their covers. And you always want to make this great first impression, catch the eye of a potential reader, and sell a few extra books along the way.
Here are few reasons why you should invest more in your book cover design:
- Professionally designed book cover will increase your sales.
- We have the in-house expertise to design, illustrate, and format your book cover.
- You’ll be confident that you’ll get the best possible service.
- We use the latest Adobe CC software and invest in Cloud solutions which help us share our work and make the design process more efficient.
- You’ll get a book cover which will pay for itself.
- You’ll be proud of your book cover, and would love to show it to all your friends and family when it’s ready.
- We are trusted by many authors – here’s what they say about our work.
By hiring a professional book cover design agency, you know that you get the best possible service, at the best possible price. The project will be handled with care from start to finish.
Other questions we get asked
1. What does a book cover designer do?
A book cover designers work closely with authors to create the artwork for their books. Designers usually use multiple tools and techniques to produce a book cover that attracts attention and ultimately helps sell the book.
A key skills is communications because they have to understand what the author has in mind, what the story is about and who the target audience is.
Our team also can harness the power of the latest tools to generate images for book covers using AI.
2. How long does it take to design a book cover?
It usually takes 10-12 working days, but for more complex projects (e.g. illustrations) it may take up to 20 working days.
3. What stock images do you use?
We buy licensed stock images from websites such as ShutterStock and iStockPhoto. All photos used in our covers are paid for and licensed for commercial use, so you don’t have to worry about royalties and crediting photographers.
4. What is the average cost of book cover design?
Generally speaking a cover based on stock images and photo manipulation will cost between £270 - £450. Book covers based on illustrations can cost anything from £500 - £1300 depending on the complexity of the artwork.
However, each project is unique so we don’t have a set pricing. We have ‘from’ prices to give you some guidance, but it’s best to contact us with your details. We’ll then get back to you with an accurate price.
If you have any other questions, check out our FAQs.
