A business book cover is a business card at scale. It has to look like the author charges money, sit comfortably beside the titles a buyer already owns, and make the subtitle legible — because in non-fiction the subtitle is the promise and the title is only the label.
What you receive
- Title and subtitle hierarchy designed so the promise is readable at 120 px, which is where most buyers meet it.
- A credible visual language: geometric, photographic, typographic or data-inspired, chosen to match the category rather than the author’s taste.
- Author name treatment sized for a speaker’s thumbnail, a LinkedIn post and a printed cover.
- Full wrap and ebook exports, plus a square crop for audio and a 3D render for a sales page.
- Editable source files for future editions, translations and workbook variants.
The process
- Positioning. Who buys this book, what they compare it to, and what the cover must promise in one glance.
- Two directions, each with a different strategic idea — not two fonts on the same layout.
- Refinement of the chosen route: colour, type, subtitle length, author placement.
- Exports and sources, plus a note on which sizes each store expects.
What makes non-fiction convert
Clarity beats cleverness. Readers in this category are buying a result: more leads, better systems, less chaos. A cover that reads as a serious book on that subject — clean grid, strong colour block, one legible idea — outperforms an elaborate illustration every time. We also check the subtitle length: if it runs past three lines at thumbnail size, we will suggest a shorter version and keep the full phrase for the store description.
Who commissions these
Consultants, coaches and founders publishing their first book. Speakers who need a cover that matches a keynote. Publishers producing a series of practical guides. Teams turning an internal playbook into a branded book for clients.
Series, editions and consistency
Non-fiction rarely stays a single book. A first title becomes a second, a workbook, a translated edition, a course companion, and all of them should look like one author’s shelf. That is why the grid, palette and type decisions stay in the source file instead of being flattened into an export: adding book two takes hours rather than a new commission, and a Spanish or German edition inherits the same identity with the type reset for the language.
Matching a speaker or company brand
If a logo, palette or slide deck already exists, the cover should extend it rather than compete with it. Send whatever there is and we will use the same colours and typographic tone, so a reader who finds the book after a talk recognises it as the same person’s. With no brand yet, the cover becomes the first piece of one, and we hand over the palette and type names so everything after it can follow.
Pricing
| Tier | Scope | Price | Was | You save |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1 cover | $30 | $45 | |
| Professional | 3 covers | $100 | $100 | |
| Bulk / Authority | 10 covers | $300 | $300 |
Frequent questions
Can you design a workbook variant?
Yes. Workbooks are a layout job rather than a new cover, and they are quoted separately once the main cover is approved.
Do you handle translations of the cover?
Yes — the same design with replaced type, checked for length in Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Hindi and Tamil, which is where most translated covers break.
Will it look right in print?
The wrap is prepared as CMYK at 300 dpi with bleed and spine calculated from your page count, so the paperback matches the screen version.
Brief a business cover — send the title, subtitle and the result the book promises.