About the service
I create e-book covers 'turnkey' — from the first sketch to finished files for the storefront and print. I start the work not by opening a graphics editor, but by asking what genre we have before us: a thriller cover should scare and intrigue at first glance, a romance cover should promise warmth, a non-fiction cover should look authoritative and business-like. The reader scans the shelf in the catalog in a fraction of a second, and the cover must read as 'this book is about what you're looking for', even before he reads the description.
A separate headache of self-publishing is the thumbnail in the catalog: on a reader's device, the cover often turns into a picture the size of a postage stamp, and the title must already be readable there. So at each stage I reduce the layout to the size of a thumbnail and check that the heading doesn't fall apart, that the contrast isn't lost, that the letters don't blend into the background. Font, size and element placement are selected so that the cover works both at full size in a promotional image and as a tiny icon in a list of books.
I separately prepare a print version — with a spine calculated for the exact number of pages and paper type, margins for trim and space for text on the back. As a result, you receive:
— the front cover in the source file and finished formats for upload;
— a version checked for readability in the catalog thumbnail;
— a printed wrapper with spine and fourth page;
— edits based on two or three rounds of discussion.
A separate headache of self-publishing is the thumbnail in the catalog: on a reader's device, the cover often turns into a picture the size of a postage stamp, and the title must already be readable there. So at each stage I reduce the layout to the size of a thumbnail and check that the heading doesn't fall apart, that the contrast isn't lost, that the letters don't blend into the background. Font, size and element placement are selected so that the cover works both at full size in a promotional image and as a tiny icon in a list of books.
I separately prepare a print version — with a spine calculated for the exact number of pages and paper type, margins for trim and space for text on the back. As a result, you receive:
— the front cover in the source file and finished formats for upload;
— a version checked for readability in the catalog thumbnail;
— a printed wrapper with spine and fourth page;
— edits based on two or three rounds of discussion.
