Questions and answers

You send me a short brief about your book. I reply within 1 business day to confirm the details, and a 30% deposit books your slot. I then research your genre and design concept drafts, and you get the first draft within 5 business days. We refine it together until it feels right, and you receive the final files ready to upload.

I start with your brief: the story, the mood, who it's for and any covers you like or dislike. Then I ask about your preferences and research your genre and the books you'll be competing with on Amazon.

A cover has two jobs: it has to feel true to your book, and it has to tell the right readers, in a split second, that this book is for them. The research makes sure your cover fits what readers of your genre expect, while still standing apart from the books around it.

You get the first draft within 5 business days of booking. After that, it depends on how many rounds of changes we do. If you have a launch date, tell me in your brief and I'll plan around it.

Unlimited, on every package. I'd rather spend another round getting your cover right than send you something you're only half-happy with.

Then you get a full refund. No awkward conversations.

A 30% deposit books your slot, and the balance is due when you approve the final files. I send invoices through PayPal, so you can pay by card or with a PayPal account. You won't be charged anything until we've agreed on the project.

It depends on what your book needs. Most covers combine licensed stock photography with my own design work, and the stock images are included in the price; you never pay extra for them. If your book needs something stock can't provide, I can commission or create custom illustration, or use AI to generate a specific element. I always choose whatever gets your cover closest to what your book deserves.

Sometimes, as a tool, the way most professional cover designers now do. AI image tools let me create a specific element that doesn't exist in any stock library: an unusual creature, a particular setting, a character who matches your description. Some books simply can't be done well with stock images alone.

When I use it, I follow a few rules:

• AI is used only for individual elements, not the whole cover.
• Those elements are combined with stock images and my own design work, then corrected by hand, fixing the hands, faces and details AI tends to get wrong.
• I never prompt with real people's or other artists' names.

I'll always tell you whether your cover uses AI-generated elements, and where.

AI-generated means an AI tool created the image itself, from a written description. Amazon counts it as AI-generated even if it was heavily edited afterwards.

AI-assisted means the work was made by a person, and AI tools only helped improve it: extending a background to fit the print bleed, removing a small object, sharpening or enlarging an image. These are tasks designers have always done by hand; AI just does them faster. A simple test: if it could be done with ordinary editing tools given enough time, it's assistance.

Only if it contains AI-generated elements. KDP asks you to declare AI-generated content, including cover images, when you publish or republish a book. AI-assisted work doesn't need to be declared.

The declaration is a question in KDP's publishing form, answered between you and Amazon. Because I tell you exactly what went into your cover, you'll know how to answer it.

Yes. Just tell me in your brief. I won't use generative AI on your cover, your print wrap, or any ad or social graphics I make for your book.

If I read your brief and believe the cover you're imagining can't be done well without it, I'll tell you before I start any work. You can then keep the no-AI approach, allow it for a specific element, or cancel with a full refund of your deposit.

Yes. I can extend an eBook cover into a full print wrap, with the spine and back cover, sized to your trim size and page count, for $65.

Formatting is how the inside of your book is laid out: fonts, margins, chapter openings, page numbers and spacing. Readers rarely notice good formatting, but they notice bad formatting straight away, and it shows up in reviews.

Professional formatting means:

• a reflowable eBook (ePub) that reads cleanly on Kindle, phones and tablets, with a working table of contents;
• a print-ready PDF set to your trim size, with the right margins for the binding, so text doesn't disappear into the spine;
• consistent chapter headings that match your cover, and no stray blank pages, single lines left at the top of a page or broken paragraphs;
• front and back matter (title page, copyright page, acknowledgements, about the author) laid out properly;
• files that pass KDP and IngramSpark checks the first time, so your launch isn't delayed by rejected uploads.

For an eBook, a high-resolution JPG sized for Amazon KDP and other stores. For print, a print-ready PDF of the full wrap for KDP or IngramSpark. If you also choose formatting, you get the ePub and the interior PDF.

Not at all. Most authors don't know these when we start. They only matter for the print cover, and we can settle them by email once you've booked. I can help you choose a trim size that suits your genre.

Yes. I've spent 8 years in publishing, much of it on Amazon. You can ask me about KDP setup, formats, trim sizes, pricing, categories, pre-orders, getting your first reviews and planning your launch, on a free 30-minute call or as part of your package.