Romance readers do not browse; they scan. Within two seconds they read the cover for heat level, subgenre, trope and tone, and decide whether the book is for them. A cover that signals the wrong thing is not a weak cover, it is a broken one — the right reader scrolls past and the wrong reader leaves a review about expectations.
What you receive
- Trope-accurate art direction: the visual grammar of your subgenre — small-town, billionaire, dark, romcom, historical, paranormal, sports.
- Heat-level signals in the choice of image, crop and typography, so the cover matches what is inside.
- Title and author treatment sized for a 120 px thumbnail and a full-size print cover at once.
- Series branding: a consistent grid, font and badge for book two onwards.
- Full wrap and ebook exports, plus a square crop for audio and a 3D render for ads on request.
How we design it
- Positioning. Five comparable titles in your subgenre, and the exact promise your cover must make.
- Two directions — usually one photographic and one illustrated, because the market splits along that line.
- Refinement of the chosen direction: typography, colour temperature, model choice, series badge.
- Thumbnail test against the current category page, then all exports.
What actually moves sales
Legibility first: a title that cannot be read at 120 px is a cover nobody clicks. Then trope signals — the reader is searching for a specific feeling, and the cover is the search filter. Then consistency: a series with a recognisable template sells the second book on the strength of the first, which is where romance authors make their money.
Series economics
In romance, the series is the product and the cover is the shelf. A reader who finishes book one should recognise book two before reading the title — same grid, same type, same badge position, one new colour. Readers who read fifty romance novels a year are scanning for that continuity, and a series that changes its look between books loses the free sale it had already earned. We build the template on book one so that books two through ten cost less and look deliberate.
Heat level, honestly signalled
The most common cover mistake in romance is a mismatch between how the book looks and how it reads. A discreet illustrated cover on an explicit novel earns refunds and one-star reviews about expectations; a shirtless cover on a sweet story loses the readers who would have loved it. We ask you to name the heat level in the brief and we design to it, including where the type sits, how much of the figure is shown, and how warm the colour runs.
Pricing
| Tier | Scope | Price | Was | You save |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1 cover | $40 | $50 | |
| Professional | 3 covers | $120 | $120 | |
| Bulk / Authority | 10 covers | $350 | $350 |
Frequent questions
Can you make it look like that bestseller?
We will match the conventions and the category expectations, never the specific artwork or layout of a living designer’s cover. That is both an ethical and a commercial rule: copies get noticed, and not kindly.
Do you use stock models?
Licensed photography with commercial rights, chosen for fit, and composited so the result is not a stock cover anyone else is using.
How fast can you turn a series around?
Three covers in seven to ten working days, because the template is built once and applied. Bulk pricing covers ten.
Brief a romance cover — send the blurb, the heat level and two comps.