What is the difference between a $149 cover design and one that costs $1500?
What is the difference between a $149 cover design and one that costs $1500? The easy answer, of course, is $1351. This is one of the most debated topics in many of the online news groups, although it’s mostly debated between designers who charge the $1500 price or more as justification for their pricing. In reality there is very little visual difference in the final product between the low end and the high end “design”. It’s a matter of time… the designer’s time… and your money.
One of my earliest experiences with graphic designers was during my time selling commercial printing in New York City for a Baltimore printer. My background is print production. To me, print production starts when the designer gives the printer whatever they think is “press ready” and my job is to get it through the press, onto paper, through the binder and into boxes and shipped to the customer. While I have a great respect for designers and their creative abilities, I sell the on time delivery of the printed product. I can’t print it if the designer doesn’t give it to me in a printable format… in a timely manner.
One particular memory was a Christmas retail book catalog that I used to print for an art book publisher. It was the first year that this publisher produced a retail catalog. The designer they picked to assemble this catalog was one of their regular designers who they used to design beautiful art books that sometimes sold for hundreds of dollars. The need to get a Christmas catalog out to the public in time to deliver product before Christmas is obvious to most. While full color art books can sometimes go weeks or even months late with few negative side effects, a Christmas catalog received in January is not much good to anyone. This particular catalog was running late… dangerously late. Late to the point that I volunteered to visit the designer and see what was going on. When I arrived at the designer’s studio I was greeted by the sound of Mozart. The designer was sitting at his table, listening to the music, staring off into space. Hello….. . The designer slowly turned to see who was intruding into his space. You can imagine how the rest of the conversation went. It took me about 2 minutes to figure out that this catalog would be lucky to be ready by the following Christmas. I made a quick phone call to the publisher and told them that they either had to get this designer to change the channel from Classical music to Rock and Roll and speed up the design process or change designers, if they wanted to have a chance of coming out in time. Ultimately, they changed designers, the project was ready for me in a few days and the publisher had a very profitable Christmas catalog. Why am I telling you all this? At my company, we play Rock and Roll.
Whether you are talking about design, editorial, printing or marketing, the underlying cost is based on an hourly pay rate. Aside from materials, if I charge you $100 for something that takes me one hour to do, my hourly rate is $100/hour. If that same $100 item takes me 2 hours, I make $50/hour, 4 hours, $25 and so on. It’s a matter of production, whether it’s a machine or an individual. Now let’s reverse the above and say that my hourly rate is $100 and I am going to charge you by the hour. If I can do the project in an hour, you’re charged $100. If the same project takes me fours hours, you’re charged $400. Which way would you rather have it work…. flat rate or by the hour? My guess is your choice is flat rate, especially in these economic times. The trick, once you have settled on a flat rate, is to find the service that is most productive. It’s a bit of a balancing act but I think you get the picture. Remember, it’s the end product that matters. That is what you are selling to the consumer. Yes, a cover can help sell a book but the consumer could care less whether that cover cost you one hundred or one thousand dollars. They only judge it by how it looks and feels. Take a minute to take a look at the cover design samples www.rjcom.com/design/custom/samples/index.php and then come back to the article.
If you visited the above link you will have noticed that there is very little appreciable quality difference between any of the sample covers yet these covers ranged in price from $149 to $1195. The difference between the $149 and the $1195 cover is simply a matter of time, not final quality. All covers are equally pleasing to the consumer.
The $149 cover is called a Hybrid because it is a combination of do-it-yourself and custom. If you go back and look at the samples again, you’ll see that the Hybrids are specially marked. As you look closer at these hybrids you’ll notice certain similarities between many of the covers. This is because the author’s selection of one of the basic cover designs. At this point we offer twelve basic designs. The word “template” normally conjures up a very negative picture. You have all seen books created using templates. If you try to insert a square picture into a rectangular hole, you’ll end up with a distorted picture. The reason for this is that 99% of the template programs out there are just that… what you see is what you get. It is an automatic or, at best semi-automatic process with very little, if any, designer intervention. The end result reflects this.
With the hybrid once you select a style, picture and biographical date, an experienced graphic designer assembles the cover to give it a professional look. This is why covers using the same base design all have slightly different looks. The upside of this cover is obvious. You get a professional looking cover for only $149. The downside is the amount of personal interaction with the designer is minimal. If you feel the need to micro-manage the design, the hybrid is not for you. A perceived downside is that your cover utilizes the same basic design of a variety of covers. I say perceived because the odds of your cover ever landing on the same counter or desktop with another cover using the same design is about the same as hitting lotto. Most people who utilize this design are authors who plan on selling a few hundred to a few thousand books. You can always come back and purchase a custom cover if your book achieves widespread distribution. As far as a cover photo, this works in a similar manner other then instead of a dozen choices you have a choice of one of hundreds of thousands of photos from Photos.com. You can always supply your own photo or illustration as well. And yes… you can put your picture on the back cover… at no additional cost.
If you don’t like the idea of the hybrid cover and wish to work a little closer with the designer, you have a choice of three levels of custom covers. There are three levels of custom cover offered. None of the choices include the designer staring out into space listening to classical music. They all involve an increased level of time and options. The Basic $250 design is more than sufficient for at least half of the people who do not use the hybrid service. This entry level custom cover includes 20 minutes of telephone time in addition to standard email communication. You will receive an original front cover design, utilizing the information you provide, including any photo from Photos.com. If you like the first design, as most authors do, you go right to complete cover and final proofs. If you don’t like the first design, the designer will supply a second, for your approval. As with the hybrid, the author photo and bio are included in the final design. The designer will use the cover text copy that you provide. Text guides are available to help you but the final copy is up to you.
If you do not want to search the photo database yourself or don’t think that 20 minutes is enough “phone time” you might want to upgrade to the Deluxe Custom cover. The deluxe cover costs $475 and includes up to an hour of telephone time with the designer in addition to email correspondence. Another big difference is that the designer will do your photo research for you and supply up to seven different possible images. They will also provide up to an hour of Photoshop work to further customize your cover. As with the basic cover, you will initially be supplied one front cover design. If the first idea doesn’t work for you, you’ll get a second. Keep in mind that with either of these, you won’t automatically get two choices. The idea is to have it average out over dozens of authors. Remember, it’s all about time. If every author required two choices, the pricing would be higher. For those of you who live in the New York Metro area, you may also choose to visit the office and sit down with the designer. With the deluxe cover, you can split your personal hour between in-person and phone time. That’s up to you. There is no “in person” time included in the basic or hybrid designs.
The top of the line in cover design is the Premium Cover. The cost for this is $1195. Less than 10% of the thousands of publishers we come in contact with need this kind of service. This is the ultimate for people who have a hard time making up their minds. With this cover, you get up to two hours of either in-person or phone time in addition to email contact. You get up to four different cover design ideas, photo research for up to 20 photos and up to three hours of Photoshop time. Generally I would discourage this choice because I would rather see you print more books but it’s up to you.
As for the $1500 and $2000 covers, I can’t begin to tell you what you get for the additional money. My company doesn’t offer anything over the $1195 premium and I recommend that very sparingly. My guess is if you listen real hard when you are talking to one of these $1500 designers, you’ll hear classical music in the background. When you do, ask them to change the station and revise their price for the Rock and Roll world of self-publishing.
Last 5 posts by Ron Pramschufer
- How do you think the current financial situation in the US will affect Self-Publishing? - October 2nd, 2008
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- Bookstore Distribution—Self Publishing Dream come true or The Emperor’s New Clothes? - July 8th, 2008
- I want to self-publish a book. Where do I start? - May 29th, 2008
- What do you think about Amazon’s announcement that small publishers need to print with their printer in order to be listed on Amazon? - April 17th, 2008
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November 17th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Ron one thing I learned is you get what you pay for. Any body who pays $149 for a cover design may get a so-so cover that looks home-made or home-spun. Those kind of covers in my opinion begin to erode credibility in the product. As you know there is a lot more to a cover than the front; there is the back cover layout, there is copy, photos to put in or retouch. To expect a designer to do the whole thing for $149 is like walking into a hi-end restaurant in New York with a 2 for 1 coupon and try to get as much dinner as you can for free. I’ve had clients intentionally get me to work for a flat rate and then expect a carte blanche. I would say that 400-700 is a reasonable price for a cover. It also depends on how much creativity is required.
Ken,
You must not have read the whole article. $400-$700 is in the middle of the $149-$1100 that I was talking about. As you point out, it’s the difference between flat rate and carte blanche. It has nothing to do with creativity, it’s about the amount of time needed to accomplish what the author/publisher is trying to accomplish.
Ron
November 17th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I participate in a couple of self-published author groups, and it seems that covers are a consistent challenge for the determined “do-it-yourselfer” and even for authors who are best buds with a graphic designer who has all the tools. Some do get it right — but many eat up a lot of time and money with multiple proofs and trial-and-error corrections in an attempt to get an inexpensive custom cover — when a Hybrid produced by someone who knows exactly what the printer needs would be much faster, potentially less expensive, far less stressful, and (as you pointed out) ultimately just as effective.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Hi, Ron. As a print designer (full-disclosure), I’d like to share my thoughts on this subject.
The biggest problem I run into is clients who fail to understand the value of a well-designed book. 99% of the public simply does not understand that good design takes time — multiple iterations, talking with the client one-on-one (in person, via telephone, or via email), researching/planning the project (read: book), and understanding the image the client wants to project w/ their book.
The client (read: author) ends up with a subpar product because they aren’t prepared to make an investment. They see the low price of a template or DIY publishing and are drawn to that. They simply do not have an appreciation for, and subsequently ignore, the value of good design. Good design takes time; not only that, but good design is subtle and covert: 99% of the public simply doesn’t realize good design when they see it, although they are drawn to something that is well designed.
In addition, the cover is but one small part of a book’s design. Sure, we will judge a book by its cover when browsing the shelves at our local retailer. The layout, choice of typefaces, structuring of front matter, etc. — all of these things and more play a part once the customer picks up the book and begins to leaf through it. A beautiful cover will not do you any good if the interior is not well-thought out; likewise, if the cover is not “pretty” then the customer is likely not going to be interested in what’s inside. I can grant that some designers are overpaid or overrated, but I feel like you’re giving good design a bad name, Ron.
Desktop publishing has saturated the market — no one wants to pay for a professionally designed cover anymore when they can take advantage of a $150 template — it’s a buyer’s market for designers, unfortunately. And, unfortunately for enterprising authors, they will too often choose price over value, ending up with a poorly designed book. They won’t understand this on an academic or technical level — but, then again, design (good or bad) is intuitive. There is absolutely a difference between a $150 cover and a $1,500 cover — the difference is subtle, but, if done right, noticeable.
Ben,
I’ll answer this like I answered an earlier post. First off, 99.9% of the self-published books will not see the shelves of a bookstore and if they do, it will be a few copies places on a shelf spine out. A self published book is sold by the self-publisher, not by the cover. The cover can’t be offensive but there is absolutely no reason for a self-publisher to spend a fortune on a great cover design. I’ll put my money on a confident, agressive self-publisher with an OK cover over a self-publisher who thinks that are going to sit back and watch their wonderfully designed cover sell their book.
Ron
November 17th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I met with the publisher of the current #1 NYT bestseller (in paperback trade fiction). He said that the cover of the book is like the curbside appeal of a house. It’s gotta look good. There are tons of books out there. And there are tons of average looking covers. For me, when I publish, I plan on spending $1500 to get a ‘knock your socks off’ cover. Why? Because nobody has heard of me. I don’t have a reputation - yet - as an author. So the only thing I will have going for me is that my book looks incredibly attractive… enough so that someone who has no clue who I am will purchase my book on Amazon and “give me a shot.”
That’s why someone should spend $1500 on a cover. It’s like upgrading your kitchen. You’ll get your money back on resale.
Matt,
Keep in mind that covers do not sell self-published books… self-publishers sell self-published books. Give me an agressive, confident author with a pleasing cover over the best designed cover in the world and an author who thinks they are going to sit back and watch the cover sell the book.
Ron
November 17th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Ron’s team produced my cover and book (”A Journey Well Taken: Life After Loss”)under the Basic plan, and I’ve had untold compliments on the way the book turned out. Ron, you should put my book on your display page. I was interviewed by US News and World Report (6/23/08), and the book also just finaled in the USA Book News 2008 National Best Books Award. I tell everyone who worked with me on my book! Elaine Williams
November 19th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Thanks and quite a complete article Ron. I plan to publish it in my December monthly ezine, The Book Coach Says. You covered all the bases. I’m sure my subscribers will get value from it.
Judy Cullins
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
What it comes down to is seeing the portfolio of the designers. The difference in the dollars spent spent is whether they are capable of creating a resonance that will apeal to buyers since the cover is the first component buyers will see. Face it, we are a visual culture. It’s very seldom that an author or clients who know little about creating that resonance that will attract the eye will know what is good and bad design. When you know little, you’ll likely fall for anything because all you’re able to see is the final package - your words in book form. It’s well worth doing your research and getting to know what the designer is capable of as a creative and business person who can develop an eye-catching product in a timely fashion. The customer will only read the summary if, first, the cover appeals to them.
November 24th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Thanks for the article Ron. Wanted to ask, I self-published a book without ISBN 3 years ago - big mistake - through our nonprofit’s “publishing division,” IT Publications, & now want to add an ISBN to the back cover.
Is that doable? I know how to do it for a new book, but what about an older one? Can I retro do it? How?
No problem. You can buy barcode stickers to paste on the back cover of your existing book (I use PIPS). Once you go back to reprint, you can make the changes in the printing.
Ron
txs,
David
November 27th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I believe that you get what you pay for and I believe in paying people for their time. A boilerplate, cookie-cutter solution looks like just that. No matter how you dress it up or demonize those fancy designers listening to their classical music.
Sure, a template-based design is just find for lots of projects, but there are also times when you’d want a 2,500 custom design.
And, no I’m not a designer.
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Doug, the difference is experience and specialization. Does a designer bring more to the table than just their time? Find one who does and you’ll reap the return on your investment for years. Many trade vendors are not sensitive to cover design but reviewers, distributors, and wholesale buyers routinely accept or reject books by simply looking at the cover for a few seconds. Competition is too intense to skimp on your cover. Publishers who prosper know that to succeed, a book must do more than simply exist. It must sell, and the cornerstone is the cover. As a career book cover designer, I am compelled to respectfully add this comment.
December 29th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
One of the key things with cover design, no matter how much it costs, is to understand good design, and to be able to communicate effectively with your designer. That way they know what you want and it will take less time and you’ll be happier with the result.
Recently I had an author request a design concept for their book that I knew would be a tough sell online. After talking to them a bit about the design issues they had created with their request, we finally came to a compromise about what the cover should look like and what it should be able to do for them.
Here’s what a book cover should do:
1. Be readable on online retailers sites. If you can’t read your main title at 15% reduced magnification, you won’t be able to read it online.
2. The image should convey the theme of your book. Your readers won’t see symbolism in your shoes as a link to your depression unless they’ve read your book. Stick to archetypes at first. It makes it easier. If your book is about money, include an archetype about finances. Not a mountain.
3. Most readers in the world read left to right. It’s pretty important to not put the most important “information” closest to the spine — in general.
4. Your cover should sell your book. Look at some of the best-sellers in your book’s genre and their cover designs. What do you like? What don’t you like? Talk about it with your designer. It’s a great way to begin the creative process.