“Derek did a fantastic job of my book cover for thriller novel Prophecy. I had a nebulous idea in my head as to what the central images would be but couldn’t articulate them properly. Derek used a process of trial and error, presenting all kinds of alternatives that helped us to work towards the finished product together. The result was far superior to what I had imagined. ” –Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn
You want your book to stand out. You want people to find it, buy it and READ it. But why should they trust you? How do they know your writing is any good? If you’re serious about the success of your book, you’ve probably figured out that you need a professionally designed book cover. But prices for book cover design are wide-ranging; many book cover design services charge over $1000 for a full print cover.
Lulu, Createspace and other POD companies offer book cover design, but their templates are boring, and their full custom designed covers are over-priced (because they outsource the work while keeping half the cost). Even worse, they usually just give you a couple of final options to choose from, limited number of revisions, and you don’t have any influence on the process.
Lots of indie authors, after having hacked together a few covers for their own books, are now offering cheap book cover design services – which look great on the surface, until you discover that they’re only taking stock photography and slapping text on top; most of the book covers in their portfolio look the same; they don’t have any professional experience doing business online, or in the book publishing industry.
“Derek of Creativindie is a Creativgenius! I stumbled across his website while doing a random search on google and it was the best thing to ever happen on my publishing journey. He’s professional, offers fair, reasonable prices, knowledgeable of what makes a great book cover and best of all, is extremely creative and has the talent to create amazing book covers. So to all you publishers out there, once you hire him and tell him what your vision is…listen to him and trust what he has to say as well. You will not be disappointed. Derek knows exactly what he’s doing and he will take your book cover to the next level!” -Chantilly Chanel Austin, author of Illusions
The ability to create a winning book cover design is a combination of creativity, marketing, branding experience and insight into how to capture your target audience’s attention and encourage them to buy. You need a book cover designer who knows what he’s doing; who can translate complex motifs into a powerful visual montage; who creates 100% unique cover designs that stand out and demand attention.
As an indie author myself with almost a decade of self-publishing experience, I know how important your book is to you. I also know how frustrating – but also rewarding – the process can be. As a former fine artist with a background in classical oil painting, I bring a unique artistic vision and aesthetic style. It may not suit everyone, but if you like my portfolio, then you’ll probably like what I can do for you. As a freelance business I offer quality customer service, and hands-on attention to your project.
Together we can create the perfect balance of colors, images and fonts that will help your book sell.
Self-publishing is a huge opportunity for indie authors, and it appears to even the playing field for authors, allowing your story to compete with traditionally published books. But does it really? Publishing houses spend thousands of dollars on book covers, and have decades worth of experience to create the perfect book cover that will sell. On top of that, there’s more competition today than ever before. Don’t get left behind.
“It’s a rare find to get someone who can translate your ideas into the perfect finished product, give you great service, attention to detail, nothing’s too much trouble and keep going till both parties are 100% happy! Recommend Derek? I’ll shout it from the rooftops, THANK YOU – the cover you have created I am convinced will make the difference between me actually making some money on my passion and hard work and cluttering up the garage with boxes growing dust daily! Do yourself a favour, don’t bother wasting time on multiple quotes if you want an expert professional service – just contact Derek.” –Clare Edwards, Change Works.com
Free yourself from the headache of worrying about resolution, height-to-width ratio, thumbnails, pixel size requirements, ink bleed and margins, spine width… I’ve successfully designed hundreds of books for Lulu, Createspace, Lightning Source, and offset printers. Just tell me what you need and I’ll make it happen.
Take the guess work out of your cover design, before bad choices lead to lost sales. Authors are concerned with making the cover represent their story, as they envisage it. They tend to focus on tiny details and accuracy, rather than the aesthetics and the overall effect of the cover. But a brilliant cover is like a genius headline: its only purpose is to hook interest and create an emotive response, so that people can’t resist reading the story. A book cover that fails to engage with your target readers (or even worse, attracts the wrong type of readers) can be disastrous in terms of sales and reviews.
$349 for an ebook cover may sound like a lot, especially for a budget-conscious indie publisher. But keep in mind the cover is nearly as important as the content: half of your book’s success may depend on your cover design. You’re probably already spending four times as much on editing and formatting your manuscript, or on various marketing and promotion tools. Paying a reasonable amount for a winning book cover is the best publishing investment you will make.
My services are specifically targeted to those authors who would rather pay for a piece of art than for a churned out template book cover. My main aim is to deliver a cover that directly leads to more sales and more profit for your book, and with this in mind, my prices are more than fair.
Still, I make it a point to do everything possible to provide covers at affordable prices. My $549 full cover price (The DaVinci) is comparable to (although actually it includes much more than) Createspace’s $1049 Custom Cover Premier Plus or Self-Publishing.com’s $1,375.00 Premium Cover.
“Derek brought my characters–so real to me–to life so others can see them. His graphic talents, extraordinary resources and collaborative process gave birth to a vision of my characters that will make readers want to open the book. I told him to raise his rates. Hire him before he does.” -Max Bliss, author of In Loco Parentis
The Classic No-Risk Money Back GuaranteeIf you don’t like any of my initial samples, I’ll keep trying. Usually with enough feedback, we’ll figure out what works for you. But if you aren’t confident about where we’re headed and you want to try someone else, you can have all your money back. It’s just that easy.
The Amazing, Exclusive, 365-Day Excellence WarrantyAs a small business owner, one of the things I can offer clients is attention to detail and a lavish amount of customer service. I’ve tried to price competitively, but I also understand the worries and concerns about paying for a book cover design. What if the cover doesn’t sell well, or attracts the wrong kind of reader? What if you change your mind later on? I know plenty of authors who have paid for 2 or 3 separate covers from different designers for the same book, and still don’t feel they’ve gotten it right.
I want your book to be successful, so here’s the deal: if within one year of buying a cover from me, you aren’t selling as much as you’d like and you think the cover is to blame, I’ll make you a new one for free. I’ll even help you identify what went wrong, and we’ll fix it.
I’m planning to hold a book cover design giveaway soon – something I’d like to do about 4 times every year. If you’re interested, please sign up to my mailing list. You’ll also get free copies of the book publishing and promotion ebooks I’m working on.
I’ve been so busy with book cover orders I haven’t had time to revise my list of services, but there are a bunch of things I can help you with, and I know it’s more convenient to get everything in the same place. I hope to update this site soon with deals for packages including ebook conversion, Indesign formatting, author websites and more.
For now, please browse around the site and let me know if you have any questions. Below are some of the things I can do.