How to Hire a Book Cover Designer, and Check They Did Not Use AI

Hire a cover designer by looking at portfolios in your genre, getting the rights, files and revisions into a written agreement, and asking directly whether they use AI. Ask before you pay, because KDP wants AI-made covers reported and holds you responsible for getting that right. Here is where to look, what to put in the brief and the contract, and how to ask about AI.

Where do I find a book cover designer?

There are three kinds of places. Freelance marketplaces list thousands of designers at different prices, and you pick one from reviews and samples. Design contest sites let several designers send concepts and you choose a winner. Specialist studios and individual designers work on a quote.

On the contest side, 99designs lists four fixed packages on its book cover page: Bronze at $299, Silver at $499, Gold at $799 and Platinum at $1,199, excluding sales tax. Those were the prices in October 2026. I have not found a source I trust for what marketplace or studio designers charge, so I will not give you a range. Ask for quotes from two or three designers and compare them.

For more on judging a designer’s reviews and samples, see how to hire a great book cover designer. Whoever you pick, look for covers in your genre. A designer who is good at thrillers may not be right for a cookbook.

What goes in the brief?

The brief is what the designer works from, so it decides how many revisions you need. Include:

• The title, subtitle and author name exactly as they should appear.
• The genre and who the book is for.
• Three to five covers from the best sellers in your sub-genre that you like, with a note on what you like about each. Say you want the same style, not a copy.
• The formats you need: ebook only, or paperback and hardcover too.
• Your deadline and how you will give feedback.

I go through why the best sellers matter in your self-published book is judged by its cover.

What goes in the contract?

Put these in writing before the designer starts, even if it is an email both of you agree to.

1. Rights. Who owns the cover and what you may do with it: print, ebook, ads, a series. KDP asks you to confirm you have the rights to all content in your cover. US law says a transfer of copyright is not valid unless it is in a writing signed by the owner. If the designer keeps the copyright, you need a written licence that covers how you will use the cover. For anything unusual, ask a lawyer.
2. Files you get. The final image and, if you want to make changes later, the source files. KDP’s ebook cover is a JPEG or TIFF, ideally 2,560 pixels high by 1,600 wide (KDP ebook cover guidelines).
3. Print and ebook versions. Say whether the price includes a paperback or hardcover wrap cover with spine and back, or only the front cover. The two are different files. See can authors use the same cover for print and ebook.
4. Revisions. How many rounds are included and what each extra round costs.
5. AI. A line saying whether AI tools were or will be used, and for what.

How do I ask about AI, and why does it matter?

It matters because KDP says it requires you to tell it about AI-generated content when you publish, and that AI-generated images include cover and interior images and artwork. The same page says you are responsible for verifying that AI-generated and AI-assisted content follows its guidelines. If the designer used AI and did not tell you, the disclosure is still yours to get right. The difference between AI-generated and AI-assisted is in KDP AI disclosure rules.

I know of no test that proves from a finished image alone whether AI made it. So I would do three things:

• Ask plainly: “Do you use AI image tools for any part of the cover?” and put the answer in the agreement.
• Ask what AI, if any, was used for, such as ideas, or the artwork itself, because KDP draws the line there.
• Ask to see work in progress, such as sketches, rough layouts or a layered file. A designer who made the cover can usually show how it was built.

A designer who will not answer is giving you an answer.

What comes after the designer?

The designer gives you the front cover. For a paperback or hardcover through IngramSpark you also need a wrap cover with the spine, the back cover and the barcode. That is the step I do. You send me your finished Kindle cover, and I turn it into a print-ready IngramSpark wrap cover with the artwork, barcode, back-cover blurb and spine text, and send it back as a PDF. It is $20 on my publishing services page. I do not design the front cover in that service. That is the designer’s job, and the print cover comes after.

Sources: the 99designs book cover page, the KDP content guidelines, the KDP ebook cover guidelines and 17 U.S.C. 204.