Guide · 26 September 2026
Getting a cover for your book
Readers meet your cover before they meet a sentence of yours. It does not have to be the first thing you sort out, though. Write the book, then choose how its cover gets made. There are four honest routes, and they suit different books and budgets.
The designed cover you already have
Every book in New Quest has a cover from the moment you name it. It is set in type from your title, subtitle, series and the name on the cover, in one of a few layouts and colours. The same book always gets the same cover, and you can pick a different style from the book's details on your shelf.
It is made from your details and nothing else. It is a good working cover for your shelf, beta readers and serial chapters. Most writers will want a commissioned or premade cover before a retail launch, because readers browse by genre and a cover signals genre first.
Premade covers
A premade cover is finished artwork a designer has already made, sold once, with your title and name added. Premade covers typically cost between $30 and $150 for an ebook. A print wrap or an audiobook square often costs a little extra.
- Good for: genre fiction where readers expect a clear look, and a first book on a small budget.
- Check before you pay: that it is sold only once, that the licence covers ebook, print and audio, and which stock images or fonts it uses and on what terms.
Commissioning an artist
A commissioned cover is made for your book alone. It costs more and takes weeks rather than days, so book early. A good brief saves both of you time.
Send the artist:
- your title, subtitle, series name and number, and the name on the cover;
- the genre, and three or four current covers in it that you like;
- a short summary, the main character and one image from the story;
- the formats you need, because each is a different size.
Ask them to confirm:
- The files: an ebook front, a print wrap (back, spine and front in one image) and an audiobook square, if you want all three.
- The licence: which formats and how many copies it covers, and whether you may use it in adverts and on merchandise.
- Revisions and the credit: how many rounds are included, and how they want to be credited.
Ebook, print wrap and audio square are different shapes, so one image cannot simply be stretched to fit another. Agree all three at the start if you will need them; adding a format later usually costs more.
Making your own
You can make a cover yourself in any image editor. It can work well for a serial, a short story or a strongly typographic look. Three things make the most difference:
- Type you can read at thumbnail size. Look at your cover at the width of a fingernail. If the title vanishes, make it bigger or simpler.
- Images and fonts you may use. Read the licence for every photo, illustration and font. "Free to download" is not the same as "free to put on a book you sell".
- Your genre's conventions. Put your cover beside the top sellers in your category. It should look like it belongs there.
Sizes, in plain words
- Kindle ebook: 1,600 pixels wide by 2,560 tall is the size Kindle recommends. The height is 1.6 times the width. Use a JPEG or TIFF in RGB colour.
- Print: a paperback or hardback needs a full wrap: back cover, spine and front cover as one file, with a little extra around the edge for trimming. The spine's width depends on your page count and paper, so it can only be set once the interior is final. KDP's cover calculator gives the exact size for your book. Common trims such as 6 by 9 inches have a front that is 2 wide by 3 tall.
- Audiobook: a square, usually at least 2,400 pixels on each side. Text needs rearranging for a square, not just cropping.
About AI art
New Quest does not generate covers, with AI or any other way. The designed cover is set in type from your book's details. If you use art generated by AI somewhere else, KDP asks you to disclose it when you publish: it asks about AI-generated text, images and translations.
Adding it in New Quest
On your shelf, open a book's details and choose Add cover art, or drop the file on the cover. New Quest checks it before storing it: covers must be JPEG or TIFF, RGB, at least 1,600 by 2,560 pixels and no larger than 12 MB. You can add a Cover by credit for the artist, and replace or remove the art at any time. Remove it and the designed cover comes back.
New Quest names no cover vendors and earns nothing from any of them.