Almost nobody sees a cover the way the designer does. They see it small, in a grid, on a phone, for about a second. A design that only works at full size is a design most of your readers never really encounter. Legible small comes first. Beautiful comes after.
Covers fail in predictable ways. These are the four tests a design has to pass before anything else matters.
Most buyers see your cover at about the size of a stamp, in a grid of competitors, on a phone. So the title has to read at that size, the author name sits second, and there's one focal thing, maybe two. A cover that only works full size is a cover most of your readers never really see.
Genre conventions aren't a failure of imagination. They're how a browsing reader works out what your book is in under a second. Type, colour and imagery all carry signals. A literary looking thriller confuses the exact people most likely to buy it. And the research that helps is this year's bestseller grid in your category, not covers from ten years ago.
A print cover is one spread. Back, spine, front, built on a template generated from your final page count and paper stock. Spine width is arithmetic, not taste. Text too near a fold looks crooked on every copy. Bleed, safety margins and barcode placement are requirements, not preferences.
Your ebook cover is a standalone portrait image with its own size and file limits. Hardcover is a different template again. A design that only exists as a flat front cover isn't finished. It's a front cover.
Cover projects go wrong over ownership and source files far more often than over taste.
Every month it sits in the drawer is a month nobody reads it. Tell us where the book is at and we'll give you a straight answer on what it needs.
Print ready wrap, ebook image, and the working files on request. Every stock image licensed for commercial cover use with the licence documented. That last one matters most right when the book starts selling.
You've probably heard that publishing services take your money, take your rights and go quiet. The industry earned that reputation. So here's how we work instead.
Your rights, your royalties, your files. Nothing we make gets licensed back to us.
Scope in writing first. No work starts on a handshake and a number that moves later.
Source files, print ready files, accounts and logins. All handed over, all in your name.
If your book doesn't need a service, we'll say so. That's cheaper for you and better for us.
Real books we've worked on. Covers, interiors and distribution, all of them out in the world.
Every month it sits in the drawer is a month nobody reads it. Tell us where the book is at and we'll give you a straight answer on what it needs.
Five stages, and you sign off at every one. Nothing moves to the next stage until you've said yes to the last.
Tell us where the book is and what you want it to do. We'll tell you what it actually needs.
Scope and price agreed in writing before anyone starts. You know the number up front.
Editing, layout, cover, whatever the scope says. You approve each stage as it lands.
Final proof on the typeset pages, plus a physical proof copy before anything gets printed at volume.
Retailer setup, metadata, categories and keywords. Then the files and logins come to you.
We don't publish testimonials on our own site anymore. Ours live on Trustpilot, where you can check them yourself.
Verified reviews
We publish our reviews on Trustpilot so you can verify them independently rather than take our word for it. Read what our authors have said at trustpilot.com/review/publisherinusa.com.
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