With so many authors looking for a change of their covers lately, I’ve looked at my own and wondered if they should be updated as well. For the most part, I was satisfied with them, and I know that a good cover helps sell. But are these book covers eye-catching; do they invite closer inspection of the book? 
Looking at others book covers, I’ve often thought I could spot a “premade book cover.” From fair maidens in low-cut, cleavage revealing ball gowns or men with pants well below six packs to skulls or castles in the midst, premade cover designs seem bent on conveying some sense of mysterious romance–depending on the genre. Have you shopped premade lately?
Apparently, there are hundreds of companies out there generating premade book covers that all promise sales. Services may vary as widely as prices, but commonly cover:
- Front, spine, and back cover design
- High resolution, print ready cover (300 dpi)
- Turn-around time (3 days to 14 days)
- Some to unlimited changes
Companies Fall Into Different Categories
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Offer several designs after form design preference questionnaire
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Offer one design, set price, unlimited changes
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List of thousands of book covers in genre categories
Several Designs $99 at End2End Books
End2End Books submit your design requirements to 3 different designers who deliver book covers to your inbox within one week. You choose your cover and tell the designer what you liked or disliked.
On Nov. 19, 2018, Jack of End2End Books replied to a comment I made on another blog in reference to similar book covers as follows:
“Hi it has came to our attention that we’ve been listed as a pre-made book cover agency. This is completely false. Pre-made means that it was done before you placed your order with us. We don’t do that. You let us know what your book is about, and we make it for you. That’s why it’s custom.
The author’s post in the above is talking about unique-ness. Unique-ness and pre-made is comparing apples to oranges. Just because a cover was custom-made, does not make it unique and just because a cover was pre-made does not make it not unique. A cover that is custom made could be custom to the book cover, in the sense that the author wants to convey X, Y, Z on the cover and the designer does this. However, some designers may draw inspiration from other covers and copy way too much. Hence it is not a unique cover because it was copied, but not because it was pre-made. But just as stories could have similar elements, the covers (which follow the stories) could use similar images too. Covers are done using stock images, and then edited. So because the pool of good stock images is limited, sometimes the same good image could become overused. Not only on book covers but websites, ads, and more. We try not to use overly popular stock photos, but not all stock photos make good photos to use. A truly unique cover would involve us traveling to a specific location to capture a scene, or draw from imagination. We provide this as well, just at different price points due to the work involved.
According to this article in 2014, there were 3.4million books on Amazon (https://techcrunch.com/2014/08/21/there-is-one-new-book-on-amazon-every-five-minutes/) 10 same covers is not even 0.001%. Are there going to be designers who copy way too much? Of course. Are there designers who look for inspiration but change the cover sufficiently? Of course.
Would like to understand more about what authors define us unique and the price that they are willing to pay for a truly unique cover? Note: unique, not custom-order”
eBook Launch-One Design $99
eBook Launch provides additional services for the $99 including unlimited changes and bar code inclusion from your ISBN number.
The Book Cover Designer
The Book Cover Designer was formed in 2013 by Charles in southeast England who has gathered over 13,000 book covers designed by more than 100 designers and divided into genres. Prices range from a low of $39 to more than $250.00. I looked at covers under the historical fiction category and found this one, #PMBC04 by Warren Design. There are many more designs in some genres (i.e., Romance) than others (i.e., Children’s), but it’s a veritable catalog of covers.
Of course, you can actually find sites that will sell book covers for $5, and custom sites whose prices start at $350.00. Find something that catches your eye and do like so many others do and submit your possible cover(s) to your subscription mail list or your favorite boards for their votes. Looking at the book covers in the banner–do you see one you’d advise revise? ©2017 Virginia Williams 
Rosepoint Publishing 