Digging deep for the cover: Book designer & author David C. Cassidy

COLOR_AUTHOR_PHOTO_800x500David C. Cassidy is a writer, photographer and graphic artist who is earning a reputation as one of the best book cover designers today, and as an author of gripping horror/fantasy books, with The Dark and Velvet Rain.

I asked him to tell Written Words readers about how he creates such arresting, beautiful and evocative cover images.

Tell us your process for designing a cover. What input do you need from the author?

First off, I see this as a partnership. I put as much stock in producing a great cover for each author as I do for my own books. They’ve worked extremely hard to create something wonderful, and they deserve no less than my very best work. I work very closely with each author to make their creative vision come true.

Like any artistic or creative endeavour I take on, the process is the same—I need to discover the essence of the subject. Whether that’s a story, a photograph, or a book cover, I ask a lot of questions that dig deep. The key is to ask questions that really get the author thinking—and me, as well—so that we nail the cover. It really boils down to this: What is this story about? Once we know that, we’re gold.

What information do you need more of than you usually get?

In a word, theme. That’s the real meat of what a story is about, and authors often have a difficult time finding or expressing the theme of their novel. Thematic imagery is such a universal, powerful thing, and is most powerful in its simplest form—and that’s hard for authors to sum up their work in thematic terms. Working with them, asking the right questions, I get them to really think hard about their theme. That’s always the toughest.

What mistakes do authors commonly make when it comes to making decisions about cover design?

Not hiring me. (LOL)

74168-thedarkfrontcoverSeriously, though, I find it’s two things: They can’t nail down the theme of their story, and they complicate their design. It’s easy to see an adventure cover in your head where there’s the main character being chased by armies and demons and dragons, there’s explosions going off and storms brewing, but it’s waaaaay overkill. Authors often make the mistake of trying to have a cover that expresses the entire book. They need to keep it simple, and that’s where theme comes in. Keep it simple, and you’ve got a killer cover that speaks far more to the reader.

What kinds of book covers do you like?

As a photographer with a very unique style, I try to capture thematic images. I do the same with book covers. THEME, THEME, THEME. It’s the simplest, yet most powerful way to convey your message to the reader.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

After working with an author to determine the theme, I start noodling ideas. I let my subconscious work its magic. Once the seed is planted in the brain, it never ceases to amaze me how that sticky gray matter comes up with stuff. Being a photographer, reader, writer, and designer, I can draw on a lot of creative experience. I’ve learned to trust it.

Tell me more about the designing process. Once you get all the information from the author that you can, what’s your next step?

After coming up with the theme for the cover, the concept image comes next. I spend a lot of time finding images that I can use to create a low-resolution cover that gives the author a pretty good idea of what the finished product will look like. Consider it a “sketch” that a graphic artist might provide, but with much more detail.

Where do you get images – photos, drawings, painting – etc. How much do you create?

Image 3The images are purchased from online image galleries, such as Shutterstock. Some covers might take one licenced image, others might take five. Using my advanced design skills, I create the finished cover by melding these images into one striking image that looks as if it was one image to begin with. The work is seamless and professional—and it always gets a WOW from the author. That’s the goal—to give them a cover that will blow them and their readers away.

Do any of your photographs ever make it into a client’s cover art?

It’s rare, but yes. The latest one was in Dana Griffin’s cover for The Cover-Up. I don’t think he even knows, LOL. I needed a fairly calm river that I could place an aircraft into, and the best image I found was one of my own photographs. It blended perfectly, as if you were looking at this real airliner in a river.

Besides the obvious format differences, what are the design considerations that are different between print and e-book covers?

The front covers are obviously (and usually) the same. But the back cover has two parts to it: Function and form.

Function: The front cover is what gets the reader to pick up that book from the shelf. It’s done its job. The back cover doesn’t need a lot of in-your-face graphics. The reader has picked up the book, and now they want to read a killer book blurb to reel them in. (Shameless pitch: I also write killer book blurbs for authors.)

Form: The back cover does need to be attractive, but not like the front cover. It needs to complement the theme of the cover, with subtle graphics (if any) and/or text.

What’s the biggest design mistake that authors make in choosing a cover?

Again, that not-hiring-me thing, LOL.

Honestly, and this may surprise you, but it’s settling. Don’t settle for substandard work or something that you’re not happy with. For me, if the client isn’t happy, then I’m not happy. Looking at it another way, an author has spent months or years polishing their story, and rushing to get a cover done just to upload it to Amazon is a huge mistake. Their cover deserves to be the very best it can be. They should get an absolute thrill when they get that book in their hands. That’s gold.

Waterfalls in Stratford, Ontario. Photo © David C. Cassidy
Waterfalls in Stratford, Ontario. Photo © David C. Cassidy

David C. Cassidy is author of The Dark, Velvet Rain and Fosgate’s Game.

He offers the following services through his website, davidccassidy.com:

  •    eBook Cover design
  •    print book cover design
  •    eBook formatting
  •    print book formatting
  •    social media graphics.
He designed the cover images for One Shade of Red and Army of Worn Soles.

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Army of Worn Soles cover
Army of Worn Soles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visit his:

And follow him on Twitter @DavidCCassidy.

10 Comments


  1. Great interview. I know David does great work and I hope some day to have him perform his magic for one of my books.


    1. Thank you, Bob. I’d be thrilled to work with you as well. We’re all in this together as Indies. 🙂


  2. Your covers are stunning and one day I hope to work with you. To be honest, when I first started publishing I made that mistake you say above – where you want the entire novel to be represented in the cover, and that’s such a bad thing to do. Nice interview and great work!


    1. Thank you for the kind words, Elyse. I’d like to work with you as well. For any cover design, it pays to keep things simple. It’s a winning formula. 🙂


  3. Great interview! I love working on covers and buy images from Shutterstock for mine. I hadn’t thought much about the back cover so now I’ve got some thinking to do. Great advice.


    1. Thank you, Diane! Glad the advice helps. Keep it simple, but effective. Function and form. 🙂


  4. Really interesting piece, Scott and David! I am always interested to hear how other artists go about their creative process! Beautiful covers too!


    1. Thank you, Lisa! I agree, it’s always fun to climb inside the minds of creative people. We all have our unique take on things, and it’s always entertaining and informative to see how these wonderful stories and artwork come to fruition from people such as yourself. 🙂


  5. Scott, I’d like to thank you for this opportunity to share some of my work and creative process. Great questions. It was fun. 🙂


  6. Having had David design three of my covers, I can’t express in words the satisfaction with his work and working with him. He’s a pleasure to work with and as he expressed, “and it always gets a WOW from the author.” In my case, it’s not just a wow, but a smile and the need to show someone else right then.

    Love the photo of the river, David. I didn’t realize that was taken by you. The Cover-Up’s artwork just became more personal to me. Thank you.

    Good post, Scott.

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