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Covers and production work from author projects

Picture books and chapter books first, then cover and production work across nine more genres. Every jacket is shown with its title and author, and three come with the full brief and the decisions behind them.

Start your publishing journeyCover design

Look beyond the cover

Good book design works at every scale

As you explore the portfolio, look at how the artwork and typography work together for a particular reader.

  1. On a screen

    A clear title and a recognisable visual idea help a cover hold its shape as a small retailer thumbnail.

    Explore cover design

  2. On the page

    Type, margins and chapter openings set a reading rhythm that suits the text.

    See interior formatting

  3. In your hands

    Trim size, paper and binding turn a digital design into a physical reading experience.

    Consider the finish

Covers

The full list

Every cover we have produced, shown with its title and author. Fantasy and science fiction is the deepest part of the list; every other genre we publish is represented too.

  • Given — an anatomical heart wreathed in vivid flowers and bare branches against deep black

    Given

    Elayna R. Gallea

  • Return of the Martial Messiah — a lone robed figure on a crag beneath a luminous rift in storm clouds

    Return of the Martial Messiah

    ToraAKR

  • Discipline — a red-haired woman with wind-blown hair above ornate cream gothic lettering

    Discipline

    W. J. May

  • Mountainfall Academy — an anime youth channels a swirling vortex of ice and gold magic

    Mountainfall Academy

    AJ Jontz

  • Leoncrest Academy — a swordsman and a noblewoman beside a stone lion inside a broken gold crest

    Leoncrest Academy

    Kal Griffith

  • Homestead Crafter — a bearded man's silhouette filled with pine forest, river and a log cabin

    Homestead Crafter

    S. D. McKittrick

  • Smite the Soil — a bearded paladin in chainmail and apron tends glowing vegetables by a thatched cottage

    Smite the Soil

    Beatrix Penrose

  • Advent of the Density God — two faces almost touching inside shattering ice, one eye blazing green

    Advent of the Density God

    ToraAKR

  • The Jade Necklace — a gargoyle crouches atop a carved stone archway as purple feathers drift

    The Jade Necklace

    Jad Phillip

  • Meadowreach Homestead Book VII — an overhead view of a couple drifting in a canoe above turquoise water

    Meadowreach Homestead

    G. A. Jensen

  • Meadowreach Homestead Book I — an axe-carrying settler surveys a mountain valley with a glowing portal

    Meadowreach Homestead

    G. A. Jensen

  • Evaluation — a lone man stands in ruined concrete streets beneath a vast lilac vortex of cloud

    Evaluation

    Brad Botz

  • Metaworld Chronicles — a green-eyed schoolgirl in uniform against pale cracked branches

    Metaworld Chronicles

    David J. Wuto

  • Runesworn — a molten dragon coils inside a cracked burning stone framed by dark red roses

    Runesworn

    Taylor Night

  • The Mage's Heir — a suited man and a silver-haired sorceress in crimson lace with a white wolf

    The Mage's Heir

    Wolfe Locke

  • Dragon Tamers — a blue dragon soars over a spired medieval city beneath a peach and violet sunset

    Dragon Tamers

    DB King

  • Death Is a Girl — a white-haired girl in a black hoodie hefts a glowing scythe in a ruined street

    Death Is a Girl

    Autumn Knights

  • Thirty-Six Winters — a lone figure at the end of a long jetty in cold blue mist

    Thirty-Six Winters

    Ruth Carmody

  • The Glasshouse Year — fine green ink botanical line drawing of trailing leaves on cream paper

    The Glasshouse Year

    Imogen Teale

  • Salt and Paper Boats — torn paper collage of a small boat on layered bands of blue and sand

    Salt and Paper Boats

    Nadia Vance

  • Wombat Doesn't Share — a round cartoon wombat hugging a pile of carrots on a bright yellow field

    Wombat Doesn't Share

    Benny Okafor

  • The Night Train to Nowhere — a small lit train crossing a starry hillside, drawn in soft pastel

    The Night Train to Nowhere

    Orla Finnerty

  • Pip and the Paper Moon — a cut-paper diorama of a child on a rooftop reaching for a paper moon

    Pip and the Paper Moon

    Hana Okada

  • The Second Sunday — two coffee cups and a shared newspaper on a bright café table, flat illustration

    The Second Sunday

    Tessa Lindqvist

  • Hazel Creek — a watercolour of a timber verandah and tin roof above a creek in late afternoon light

    Hazel Creek

    Delia Hartwell

  • The Drowning Lesson — a pale hand reaching up through dark water towards a single shaft of light

    The Drowning Lesson

    Caleb Ruiz

  • Cold Front — a single red door in a flat expanse of white snow, graphic and minimal

    Cold Front

    Marek Dvorak

  • What Mara Knew — venetian blind shadows falling across an empty armchair in a dim room

    What Mara Knew

    Priya Ellison

  • The Saltwing Heir — a winged figure silhouetted against a storm above ocean cliffs

    The Saltwing Heir

    Rowan Ashby

  • Emberglass — an ornate symmetrical gold emblem of flame and glass on deep teal

    Emberglass

    Sorel Vane

  • The Reef at Night — a bioluminescent coral reef glowing against deep blue-black water

    The Reef at Night

    Helena Voss

  • The Longest Fence — a sepia surveyor’s map with a single ruled line crossing it

    The Longest Fence

    Gordon Maitland

  • What the River Remembers — a long-exposure monochrome photograph of water smoothed over river stones

    What the River Remembers

    Aminata Sow

  • Fire Season — overlapping risograph bands of orange and charcoal suggesting smoke over a ridgeline

    Fire Season

    Travis Nunn

  • Saltwater Country — a weathered coastal headland above pale sand and shallow turquoise water

    Saltwater Country

    Jenny Harlow

  • Nine Kitchens — an oil still life of a worn wooden spoon, a chipped bowl and a lemon on a scrubbed table

    Nine Kitchens

    Sofia Castellano

  • The Mechanic's Daughter — a documentary photograph of a workshop bench with worn spanners and oil-stained hands

    The Mechanic's Daughter

    Lorraine Petrie

  • Letters I Never Sent — a stack of aged unopened envelopes tied with faded ribbon on a pale ground

    Letters I Never Sent

    Edith Brennan

  • The Quiet Advantage — a single ochre circle offset against stacked geometric bands on a cream field

    The Quiet Advantage

    David Ngata

  • Margin of Trust — a Swiss typographic grid of fine red rules with one broken line on warm white

    Margin of Trust

    Harriet Okonjo

  • Build, Then Tell — isometric stacked blocks rising in navy and ochre on a pale grid

    Build, Then Tell

    Arun Chandra

  • The Patient Operator — a brass stopwatch photographed on a dark slate surface under one hard light

    The Patient Operator

    Fiona Mbeki

  • Small Repairs — a ceramic bowl mended with veins of gold against a soft warm background

    Small Repairs

    Anna Reith

  • Stop Rehearsing — a single empty chair under a stage spotlight on a flat coral field

    Stop Rehearsing

    Dylan Fourie

  • Enough Room — a soft abstract gradient of pale sky tones with one open pale band across the middle

    Enough Room

    Marta Kowalczyk

  • The Quiet Hour — a two-colour linocut of morning light falling through a window onto a table

    The Quiet Hour

    Niamh Dillane

  • Unmown — a macro duotone photograph of seeding grass heads against a pale sky

    Unmown

    Jonah Pretorius

  • Tide Lines — a cyanotype print of seaweed fronds in Prussian blue on rough watercolour paper

    Tide Lines

    Mairead Quinn

  • Bone China — a single hairline-cracked white teacup photographed on a white ground in soft light

    Bone China

    Vera Lindholm

What this portfolio actually contains

Covers in the portfolio

52

Covers in the portfolio

Every one shown on this page with its title and author.

Genres covered

10

Genres covered

From picture books to poetry, with four or more covers in each.

Files per cover

4

Files per cover

Print wraparound, ebook square, audiobook square and the layered source.

Revision rounds included

2

Revision rounds included

Two rounds on the direction you choose, in every cover quote.

Case studies

Three covers, decision by decision

Three jackets from across the list, with the brief, the decisions and the files delivered for each. Design work is easier to judge with the reasoning attached.

The Weight of Rain — rain running down a dark window with a blurred warm light beyond it

The Weight of Rain

Clare Mahoney

The brief: a quiet literary novel with no high-concept hook, where the cover has to signal seriousness without looking so austere that a general reader passes it by.

What we did

  • Chose an abstract image over a figure, so no reader is told what the protagonist looks like
  • Set the title large enough to carry the page at 20mm
  • Used one typeface in two weights rather than two faces
  • Left a clear band for a prize or review quote the book might earn

What was delivered

  • Front cover at thumbnail, retail and poster sizes
  • Wraparound print cover with spine and barcode area
  • Ebook and audiobook squares
  • A one-page rationale for every choice
The Lighthouse Cat — a tabby cat watches the sunset from a lighthouse lantern room above a calm sea

The Lighthouse Cat

Marnie Delacroix

The brief: a 32-page bedtime picture book where the hero is small and the setting is large, which had to read at bedtime pace, survive four hundred readings and work as a store thumbnail.

What we did

  • Paginated a 400-word text to 14 story spreads, trimming about 60 words at the turns
  • Designed the cat at three scales so it stays readable against a lighthouse
  • Built a night palette that stays warm rather than grey
  • Kept a clear text band on every spread

What was delivered

  • 16 full-bleed spreads at print resolution
  • Character sheet with expressions and turnarounds
  • Print-ready interior with bleed and gutter allowances
  • Cover artwork for print and a fixed-layout ebook
Ash and Ochre — a torn band of ochre pigment across a pale textured field of ash grey

Ash and Ochre

Tom Varela

The brief: a first poetry collection of about fifty poems, several with long lines and deliberate spacing, to be published in print and as an ebook without the ebook destroying the line breaks.

What we did

  • Chose a wider trim than a novel so long lines sit on one line
  • Recorded every spacing decision and typeset to it, not to a default
  • Set each poem to start on a new page, which costs pages and preserves the reading
  • Handled ebook long lines with a hanging indent rather than random wrapping

What was delivered

  • Print interior typeset to the agreed spacing document
  • An ebook with deliberate long-line behaviour
  • Cover artwork for print and ebook
  • An acknowledgements page crediting prior publication
Eighty photographs, forty diagrams and a printer who kept rejecting my files. The formatting team rebuilt the interior from scratch and got the colour plates to sit where the text referred to them, which sounds small until you have spent a month failing to do it yourself.

Helena Voss

Author of The Reef at Night · Interior formatting

Related

What produced this work

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