In conversation with cover designer mark swan

Cover design: where to start?

Well, a book is judged by its cover …and the name on it (oh)…and the strong reviews (oh)… and, of course, the weight of the marketing spend behind it (oh, oh and thrice oh).

But let’s keep it positive and having a strong cover is still a mighty fine start. So, what to do?

The effort of getting a cover design isn’t necessarily an issue if you get a contract with a publisher, because they will do the work.

However, after sending my manuscript to several agents and publishers, I was not fortunate enough to get an agent or, indeed, a publisher’s contract.

So, should I go down the online designer route such as Ingramspark or Amazon? Or should I opt for self-design?

Between the two options it appealed to go through the design process and learn something. It was an interesting exercise, and it did show me that I did not have the time or the talent to do it! 

Hiring a designer is not cheap, but I am haunted by the book is judged by its cover idea and decided to suck up the cost.

Deciding on the genre label for the book was the next task, and I waded into that chosen genre for book covers I liked the look of. I narrowed them down to four designers, wrote to them and decided on one of them that were interested in the work, that being Mark Swan of Kid-ethic I prepared a more in-depth brief for Mark and we began an exchange that resulted in four initial draft designs, all of them were excellent, one of which I settled on.

For the next month this project was honed to the final design for Project Deadhead, which I am delighted with.

I thought it would be interesting to have Mark on for a chat to discuss his career and his process. So if the above has amused your bouchè then click on this link:

 https://youtu.be/j5qXTdXZNLw