Hello! And welcome to Kairos Book Design. Whether you’re an author who for whatever reason has to make your book cover yourself, or you’re an aspiring book cover designer looking for some guidance to level up your skills, you’ve come to the right place.
When I was just discovering an interest in book cover design, I scoured the internet for books and blogs to help me learn the practical side of it. What did I find? Plenty of books on design theory, or books full of examples of book covers through history, but nothing that sat me down and said, “Here. This is what you need to do, step by step.”
Unfortunately, step-by-step, bullet point instructions are exactly how my brain works.
So instead, I figured it out by trial and error over a period of seven years. And I came from this (which I unfortunately charged someone for)…
…to this.
And this.
I don’t know why I couldn’t find any resources to help me, or if I just missed something, but I had to make that journey for the most part on my own. I got some general tips from graphic designers who weren’t specifically book designers, and there were a few lightbulb moments, including one wonderful designer who shared her cover design brief questionnaire that she sends to her authors.
I hadn’t realised before that moment that I could (or should) ask tons of (some seemingly irrelevant) details about a book, or that I should be asking them for comp titles for their book.
Learning about comp titles in particular was a turning point for me: the moment I realised I should be looking at other book covers and imitating them. Not copying them, but analysing them—for what does and doesn’t work, how designers presented different elements like the text, what trends I could pick out in different genres. And then imitating what had worked for them.
Another thing that considerably levelled up my game was watching speed design videos on YouTube. There are a few channels that share timelapse videos of designing book covers, but even non-specific photomanipulation timelapses were really helpful. They showed me what my workflow might look like, gave me insight into how certain effects are achieved, and introduced me to some techniques and software functionality I didn’t even know existed.
But I never found it all in one place, and really it was just an accident that I stumbled on guidance like that at all. So, I created my Substack newsletter and this blog to provide the resource I needed and never found.
I’ll be using this space to share practical, actionable tips for creating professional book covers, because I’ve made it my mission to fill the world with beautiful self-published books, and nothing makes me sadder than a cover that looks like it was made in Paint. Your books deserve better, whether you’re able to hire a professional or not!
Here are some of the topics I’ll be covering in upcoming posts:
- Easy hacks to make your text look polished
- A guide to copyright and licensing photos and fonts
- Where and how to find good stock photos and fonts
- My own design process and how you can apply it to your own book
- Fonts to avoid to have your book taken seriously
- Common design mistakes I see on book covers
- What to look for in a cover designer, and how to work with one
- Tips for designing covers for a book series
I have a whole document full of other topics I plan to cover, but I also want to hear from you! What burning questions do you have? What do you struggle with when you’re designing a cover? What are some elements that make you love a cover, or aspects that ensure you’ll never give it a second glance?
Drop your thoughts in the comments here or send me an email at benita@kairosbookdesign.com and I’ll be sure to respond, whether directly or in a whole new post.
Thank you for joining me, and I’ll see you soon with some tips you can implement today to instantly make your text look more polished!
Why should you subscribe for free to my Substack newsletter instead of to this blog?
Well, if you do, you’ll get 10% off ANY of my cover design or formatting packages and ANY premade covers, and $5 off my critique service! Plus, I’ll be creating resources that will be available just for newsletter subscribers.
Kairos Book Design and Editing 