An audiobook cover is not an ebook cover cropped square. Listeners browse on a phone, in a car, in a list of forty other squares. The title has to be readable at 80 pixels, the author name has to survive compression, and the image has to say “listen” rather than “read”.
What you receive
- 3000×3000 px square at 300 dpi — the size ACX asks for, with room to crop.
- Re-composed artwork rather than a cropped ebook cover: type moved, image reframed, dead space used for the narrator credit.
- A roundel variant for platforms that mask artwork into a circle.
- Small-size proofs at 80 and 120 px so you can see what a listener actually sees.
- Editable source for future episodes or a series of releases.
How it works
- Send what exists: the ebook cover, or the manuscript and a blurb if there is no cover yet.
- Decide the treatment: a typographic square, a photo-led square, or a full redesign that matches the ebook without copying it.
- First proof inside three working days.
- Two rounds of amends, then finals in every size the platforms request.
Specifications that matter
ACX rejects artwork that is under 2400 px on the short side, contains unlicensed imagery, or places text inside the outer margin. Audible and Spotify crop differently again. We deliver to the strictest of those rules and check the crop for each platform, so a rejected upload does not cost you a week of release delay.
Designing for a listening shelf
Audio storefronts are lists, not grids, and listeners scan them at arm’s length while doing something else. That changes the hierarchy: the title has to work as a silhouette, the author line can be smaller than you would ever accept on a print cover, and a strong single colour block outperforms a detailed scene. We also test the artwork against a dark mode list, because a cover with a black background and thin type disappears in exactly the place most listening happens.
Matching the print edition
If the paperback already exists, the square artwork should feel like a sibling: same palette, same author treatment, same genre signal, with the composition rebuilt for a format that is scanned in a list rather than a shelf. We keep the type hierarchy consistent across the three editions — ebook, print, audio — so a reader who finds you on one storefront recognises you on the next.
Pricing
| Tier | Scope | Price | Was | You save |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1 cover | $20 | $20 | |
| Professional | 3 covers | $50 | $55 | |
| Bulk / Authority | 10 covers | $160 | $165 |
Frequent questions
I only have a paperback cover. Can you work from that?
Yes, if the resolution is high enough. We rebuild the composition for the square format instead of stretching the original.
Can you add the narrator’s name?
Yes, and for human narration it is worth adding — listeners search by narrator as much as by author.
Does the artwork need to match the ebook?
It should feel like the same book: same palette, same author treatment. It does not need to be identical, and a square-specific composition usually sells better than a crop.
Get an audiobook cover — send the ebook cover or the blurb and we will quote.