How Much Does a Book Cover Cost?
There is no standard price, and we don't publish one. What moves a quote most is a single thing: whether the artwork is original or assembled from licensed stock. After that it's the formats you need, the licence you want, and how much of the designer's time the job takes.
Every designer sets their own rates, at whatever level they choose — all 34 of them. We hold no price list, take no commission, and never sit between you and the designer. For a figure, ask the designer whose work you want.
What the budget tiers mean
Designers choose one of these three tiers themselves, and you can filter the directory by them. They describe the kind of work on offer, not a price bracket.
Budget
Pre-made or lightly customised covers, stock-photo composites, and designers earlier in their career building a portfolio.
Best for: A first book, a tight launch budget, or a genre where a clean stock composite is the convention — much of contemporary romance, cosy mystery and litRPG.
Mid-range
Custom design from an established freelancer: original composition, bespoke typography, a set number of revision rounds, print wrap and ebook files.
Best for: Most indie authors publishing a series they intend to market. This is where the majority of working cover designers place themselves.
Premium
Fully illustrated or hand-painted artwork, character art, complex photo-manipulation, or a designer with a long track record in your genre.
Best for: Fantasy and sci-fi with illustrated conventions, a flagship series, or a book with a marketing budget behind it where the cover is doing heavy lifting.
What shapes a quote
- Original art vs. stock. The single biggest factor. Illustration is billed in hours of creation; a stock composite is billed in hours of assembly.
- Formats. An ebook front is one deliverable. A print wrap needs a spine sized to your exact page count, and an audiobook needs a square crop that still works at thumbnail size.
- Revisions. A set number of rounds is the common inclusion. Open-ended revision cycles are what quietly turn an agreed quote into a larger invoice.
- Licensing. Using cover art in paid ads, merchandise, or a boxed set can require a broader stock licence. Ask up front rather than after the ad account is live.
- Turnaround. Rush work carries a premium almost everywhere, and designers with a waitlist are often booking well ahead. Ask about availability early.
Common questions
How much does a book cover cost?
It varies more than most people expect, and only the designer can answer it. What moves a quote most is whether the artwork is original or assembled from licensed stock, how many formats you need, and how much of the designer's time the job takes. Every designer here sets their own rates and publishes them — or quotes them — on their own site. Browse the work you like and ask them; there's no commission and no price list sitting in between.
Why are illustrated covers so much more expensive?
An illustrated cover is original artwork drawn or painted from scratch, which takes considerably longer than assembling one. A stock-composite cover licenses existing photography and composes it — skilled work, but a fraction of the time. You're paying for hours of original creation, not for a different kind of file.
Is a cheap book cover worth it?
It depends entirely on genre convention. In genres where readers expect a clean photographic or typographic cover, a well-executed inexpensive cover can perform just as well as a costly one. In genres where illustrated art is the norm, a budget cover reads as amateur and actively costs you sales. Look at the bestsellers in your category first — the covers there tell you what your book actually needs.
Should I pay extra for a print and audiobook version?
Most designers charge an add-on for a print wrap — the full jacket with spine and back cover — and for a square audiobook version. It's almost always cheaper to commission these together with the ebook cover than to come back for them later, because the designer still has the layered source file open. Ask what they charge when you first make contact.
Does Cover Designer Directory take a commission?
No. Every listing links straight to the designer's own website or contact form and you hire and pay them directly. We don't set prices, take a cut, or sit between you and the designer.
How do I avoid paying twice for a cover?
Agree the deliverables in writing before work starts: the exact files you'll receive, how many revision rounds are included, what happens if you want a different concept, and — critically — what licence you have for the artwork. Ask specifically whether you can use the cover art in ads and merchandise, since stock licences sometimes exclude that.
Find a designer in your genre
The most reliable way to judge what your book needs is to look at what's already working in your category. Every designer here is a real person whose portfolio we reviewed before listing them.