I’m thinking of raising my prices again, and looking around to check the “going rate” for book cover design. On my book covers site I make a big deal of pointing out that my covers are cheaper than createspace’s $1049 Custom Cover Premier Plus. But I just checked and that cover design option has disappeared. They used to have an even more expensive illustrated …

I was chatting with friends at the London Book Fair when one of them reminded me of a presentation on book cover design; which I felt duty bound to attend. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much, since I consider the cover design strategies I recommend for indie authors to be avant garde and not mainstream. But Damien Horner (@Damienhorner) delivered a 5 minute …

Note: this post caused some very angry comments and discussions, but since the topic is so important and relevant to indie authors, I’m leaving it up. I hope – if any effect on them at all – that it helps the authors mentioned sell more books. Both authors have been remarkably patient, understanding and magnanimous. Today my book cover design …

I talk SO MUCH about book cover design, but I thought it would be easier to just see all the important stuff in one simple book cover design checklist. So before you publish (or if you see someone’s hideous cover and want to gentle encourage them to make a better one) please share and use this graphic. If you don’t …

I see a lot of authors asking for feedback between a few cover design choices. This always has mixed results, since people on Facebook don’t know anything about book cover design, they probably aren’t your target market, they probably aren’t ideal readers of your genre, and they aren’t designers. So what inevitably happens is, authors think, “The results are pretty …

All rules are meant to be broken, and I won’t swear that I never use these fonts (I even included some in my genre-based lists of fonts you CAN use). But you can only break the rules if you learn them first. If you’re not a designer, steering clear of these overused (and gag-worthy) fonts is the safer bet. I …

A few years ago I made this epic list of 300+ fonts to use for every genre. But the truth is, I rarely use those anymore, and some are even cringeworthy. So recently I spent a lot of time going through my collection and choosing NEW fantasy fonts I love. Keep in mind: most of these have decorative swirls or …

This month I was asked to be a guest judge on the Author’s Database 2013 indie book cover design contest. It was an interesting experience, both in seeing the quality of what’s out there, and becoming more familiar with my own guidelines for quality cover design. There was a wide variety, and I was supposed to choose a first, second …

Today I saw that Hugh Howey had posted an article on book cover design. “That’s cool,” I think. Hugh Howey is one of the most successful self-publishing authors in the world. He started out with pretty unprofessional book covers that embody the design tastes of most indie authors (they focus on scenes and symbolism and details, instead of being simple …

If you’re a book cover designer or indie author designing your own book cover, you may need to make a barcode from your ISBN. Here’s a free and simple online tool you can use to generate high-resolution, print ready barcodes for your book cover.   I’ve moved the tool to my main cover design website, you can use it here: …