As someone who has a side hustle in book design, I am obsessed with gorgeous book covers. I have absolutely picked up books solely based on their cover design. I knew I wanted to do a blog post on covers I love, but I also wanted to narrow down the focus of the post a little so I wasn’t picking out of quite such a vast sea of books. So I thought I’d choose from some wonderful indie authors I’ve encountered in the writing community.
Indie books typically get a bad rap when it comes to cover design, but more and more authors now are turning to professional freelance designers or learning graphic design themselves in order to create their own covers. That stereotype of “indie books have awful covers” isn’t actually as accurate these days! To showcase that, here’s some love for just a tiny selection of amazing indie covers I’ve seen lately.
Disclaimer: huge overuse of the word “perfect”, proceed at own risk
Song of the Dryad (Natalia Leigh)
My two favourite book cover styles are text-heavy and illustrated ones and Song of the Dryad is such a perfect mix of the two! The fonts are the cutest, and I love the ivy and effects on the title. Beneath the title the rich deep blue lightens just a little to create a glow that draws your eye to the text. I really like that it gives a nod to minimalism but the illustrations are busy and textured, giving the cover that extra depth. I would die for this cover.
The Jinni Key (Bethany Atazadeh)
The other covers in this series are also beautiful, but I especially love this one because it’s so vibrant—the author’s shared pictures of the hardcover edition on her Instagram and it’s even more vibrant in print! The girl’s red hair creates such a striking contrast against the teal background (I don’t know why this colour combination is so universally pleasing but I’m not gonna question it because it’s my favourite). And that sunburst behind her and the smoky swirls around her skirt simply add the finishing touches of perfection. If any fairy tale retelling cover ever looked so fairy tale-like as this one, I sure as shoot haven’t seen it.
Whitewashed Series (Adelaide Thorne)
This might be cheating because it’s three covers in one, but part of these covers’ charm is looking at all three side by side. The continuity and colour coordination between the three is (I bet you have no idea which word I’m about to use) perfect (see, you definitely didn’t guess right). The use of various textures really makes the covers pop. I don’t know if I just haven’t seen enough sci-fi covers since it’s not my go-to genre, but these ones look unusual enough–while still firmly in the genre conventions—that they’re very eye-catching.
The Half Glass Girl (Julie Mozart)
This book isn’t released yet but I’m honoured to be an ARC reader for it—and I’ll be honest, the reason I signed up for an ARC was definitely the cover (the bit in the blurb about “homeschoolers more numerous than rats” might’ve helped too). While I loved Song of the Dryad’s cover because its illustrations were textured, I love this one because it’s flat. I’m a liiiiitle obsessed with silhouettes, and here the gradients give just the right amount of depth. Also, the title font is amazing. Also, the font for the author name matches the title font perfectly and that fills me with joy.
Like a Feather (Naomi Kenyon)
Like a Feather’s cover is stunning in its simplicity. This is one instance of an author making their own cover and getting it just right. The font feels organic within the photo, like it belongs there—and that little feather icon fits right into the title arrangement, too. I love the way the girl’s hand is reaching towards the F. An earlier version of the cover didn’t have the little blurb text at the top, but that was an inspired addition because it fills up all that empty space above the title and balances the cover perfectly. (K, I’m starting to get tired of my own limited vocabulary *googles synonyms for “perfect”* but at least that was the final cover so I can stop now)
That’s it for today, although I loved taking a closer look at all these covers so I might do another similar post down the road if y’all are interested! In the meantime, what are some beautiful indie covers you’ve come across?
Benita J. Thompson 