Last month I focused on the innies— the inside components and my inner drive—of my book publishing. Today, I’m diving into the “outies” related to book cover design.
Two Thanksgivings ago, I published Clicks, Tricks, & Golden Handcuffs: 5-Point Roadmap for Tech Executives to Land Big-Impact Roles. It’s a guide to becoming an online click magnet for executive recruiters and the tricks for a successful job search strategy. Golden handcuffs refer to companies’ compensation packages to lure and retain top talent.
My Zig-Zag History
How did I get around to writing a book? I zig-zagged like a cross-country skier traversing a snow-covered mountain.
I’ve arrived full circle from being a corporate brand consultant for Coca-Cola, General Motors, and the U.S. Army to being a personal brand consultant to technologists. Working 18 years as a tech marketing and sales executive at a couple of Fortune 200 companies offered me the opportunity to retire early.
But I got bored.
I pivoted and became a certified career coach for tech clients at a career crossroads. For the past 6 years, I’ve collaborated with hundreds of executives or aspiring ones to:
- solidify their career vision
- provide C-suite advice
- optimize their personal career brands
- share job search success tools, and
- develop their job strategy implementation plans.
I’ve written over 80 articles on this subject, which in part became the foundation of my book. Since I self-published, it all landed on my desk to figure out how to design and market this 20-chapter book.
Book Cover Illustrator Search
I’m a design junkie, so I thought it would be a piece of cake to find a book cover illustrator. Not so.
I asked acquaintances, conducted internet searches, and contacted artists of book designs that caught my eye. My first confession here is that I naively believed a gifted artist could design a book jacket with limited involvement by me. In reality, I should have collaborated with a tenured book designer to have simplified my production journey.
To add to the challenges, two of the illustrators flaked on me. One, a family friend I have yet to hear from after our initial meeting, and the other, an acquaintance of a mentee, provided some concepts that didn’t match my design requirements and scope of work. And then ghosted me.
It’s not as if I said, “Hey, here’s my general vibe, do what you can.” I created a detailed design specification document that you can clone and own. Provide your email address in the comments section, and I’ll send it to you. Below is a high-level view of the components.
- publication timeline with corresponding illustration files completion dates
- the target audience of tech executives or aspiring ones
- book title and subtitle
- text and image requirements for the front cover, back cover, spine, and flaps assembled into a single PDF
- the resolution, printed line screen, color space, bleed, type safety, spine type safety, text, and spot colors with and without transparencies
- my brand colors including hexadecimal color code green #A6CE39, blue #00ACCD, and orange #FAA619
- exterior fonts related to my corporate brand, including Raleway and Roboto
- images of top-selling book thumbnails for the front, spine, and back cover
- back jacket copy of 200 words
- my author bio and professionally taken photo
- International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for 5 different formats for e-books and printed books plus 1 bar code in black and white
I found out that I needed to conduct extensive background research for the 3 different distribution outlets I selected: Amazon, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital. In turn, I needed to translate their requirements to my illustrator for the file types and sizes for distributor uploads of the hardcover, paperback, and eBook formats.
Imagery Wishlist
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” goes the saying. It also conveys your point of view to an illustrator. I went into imagery mode for my jacket design specification document. I fully embraced this part of my production journey!
First, I designed a mock-up within the Canva app with several notes for my ultimate concept. My professional brand is clean, modern abstract, and my brand colors are aesthetically embedded into the design.
Notes
- Color blocking
- 3 colors
- Title needs to be more prominent than the subtitle; my scale is off here but trying to put the book title into the illustration
- Realize the text inside handcuffs should be contrasting colors, but white is not quite right with gold
Then I added several thumbnails from book jackets into the design document that caught my eye on Amazon’s best-seller list. Please note that the book owners and illustrators own these copyrighted images.
Notes
- All text within the illustration
- 3 colors on white background
Notes
- ½ image appearing on the left; replace with golden handcuff illustration vs. photo dangling off a male wrist
Notes
- 3 colors
- Illustration interweaves with the title
- Title is prominent, with a subtitle appearing below, but we need to increase the font
- Would reduce author title font size
Notes
- Illustration as part of the title
- Blue background with a white font with circular pop of red (replace with my orange brand font)
Notes
- Same color from front/back with pops of color
- 3 blocks of text separated by white lines
- White square appears on the bottom right of the back jacket cover for the bar code and ISBN
Notes
- Like the bottom illustration from front/back in black with the author’s name contrasted in white
- Like the call out of the book title on the back top in black with white font
My Final Book Jacket
Another confession is that you should hire an illustrator right after your initial book manuscript has taken shape. Don’t wait until the end. First, the investment signaled my commitment to completing this book. Secondly, the book cover design is a way to market your book before its debut, creating a market buzz.
I started working with my illustrator Stephanie Corbin in August 2021. Four months later, our collaboration was finalized. There’s a delay you need to consider since you need to have the final number of printed pages determined to complete the illustration specification outputs.
For example, I initially targeted a 190-page book, but the final version increased through editing. The designed hardback spine was 16.13mm and needed to be 21.27mm, while the paperback was 11.33mm and needed to be 17.33mm. Of course, eBooks don’t require a spine, so the paperback’s front cover was re-purposed.
My illustrator Stephanie did a terrific job providing the final design and formats required for uploads. Below are the last 2 covers I requested feedback from potential readers, clients, and book authors. Pre-published illustrations allow you to obtain crowdsourced input to confirm what resonates with your audience.
The winning design for my tech exec audience is #2 below.
Here’s the timeline across the four months of illustration collaboration with Stephanie.
- August 4 – Initial book jacket design meeting
- August 29 – First proof of 4 book jacket designs complete
- September 27 – Fourth revision of designs complete
- October 6 – Crowdsourced book jacket poll of 2 designs conducted
- October 19 – Final book jacket cover selected
- November 24 – Book editor provided the final book manuscript with 310-pages for the 5.25″ x 8″ paperback and 288-pages for the 6″ x 9″ hardcover (larger format than the paperback)
- November 26 – Received the final 4 pdf files from my illustrator for eBook, paperback, and hardcover upload for Amazon, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital
- November 27 (Thanksgiving) – Uploaded book and published on Amazon
That’s A Confessional Wrap
Upon researching how long it takes to publish a book, a consistent statistic doesn’t exist. It depends if you are backed by a publishing house such as HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, or The Hachette Book Group, using a hybrid publisher, or are self-publishing. Then add whether you’re going the eBook route or adding a printed element.
Considering my 80-article blogging foundation and 10-week writing class for the initial 190-page draft manuscript, overall, it was 3 years from the beginning to the end of my journey.
The book cover jacket design was 4 months, but it could be longer or shorter depending on your process. It takes a statement of work, a timeline, and collaboration with a phenomenal illustrator to ensure a great outcome.
Best wishes to you on your book journey.
