Book cover designer for infant loss memoir (Amazon KDP)

I am seeking an experienced book cover designer to create a thoughtful, professional and market-ready cover for a self-published literary memoir about a father’s experience of infant loss, grief, family and the ways love continues after a child’s death.

The manuscript is complete and professionally edited at approximately 41,000 words. The English edition will be published first through Amazon KDP as a 6 × 9-inch paperback of approximately 160 pages, as well as an eBook. A French edition is currently being finalized and is expected to follow shortly after the English edition. Please include, as a separate line item in your quote, the additional cost of adapting the approved design to the French title, subtitle, spine and back-cover copy, and of supplying the corresponding French print and eBook files.

Creative direction

The cover should feel intimate, literary, restrained, compassionate and quietly hopeful. It should acknowledge grief without appearing bleak, melodramatic, clinical or overly sentimental. Strong typography and effective presentation at Amazon thumbnail size are particularly important.

One possible direction uses a professionally photographed image of my wedding ring around my newborn daughter’s toes. Permission to use the photograph has been obtained. Other professionally taken family images may also be available. I am open to a different visual direction if the designer believes another concept would represent the book more effectively.

If a supplied family photograph is used, its documentary content must not be regenerated or materially altered. Cropping, tonal treatment, colour or black-and-white conversion, exposure adjustments and integration into the design are acceptable, subject to approval. Generative AI must not be used on supplied photographs or elsewhere in the design without my prior written approval.

Required deliverables

- A brief visual direction or mood board

- At least two genuinely distinct initial front-cover concepts

- Refinement of the selected direction, including up to three reasonable revision rounds

- Complete paperback wrap: front cover, spine and back cover

- A single print-ready PDF prepared using the final Amazon KDP template

- Kindle/eBook front cover in RGB JPEG format, ideally 1,600 × 2,560 pixels

- High-resolution front-cover JPEG and PNG files for promotional and website use

- Fully layered and editable source files in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop

- Packaged or clearly documented fonts, linked images and licensed assets

- Two realistic promotional mockups

- Reasonable technical corrections if KDP’s previewer identifies a cover-file problem

- A design structure that can later accommodate French title, subtitle and back-cover copy

I will provide

- Final cover text, including title, subtitle and author name

- Final back-cover description and author biography

- The exact KDP template once the final page count and paper selection are confirmed

- High-resolution photographs and documentation concerning their permitted use

- The manuscript or selected excerpts to help establish the appropriate tone

The designer should leave the required back-cover barcode area clear unless we agree to incorporate a supplied barcode.

Ideal experience

- A strong portfolio of published book covers

- Particular strength in memoir, literary nonfiction or sensitive subject matter

- Excellent typography and photographic composition

- Demonstrated experience producing Amazon KDP full-wrap paperback files

- An understanding of how covers function both in print and at small online thumbnail sizes

- A clear, collaborative design and revision process

When applying, please include:

1. Three relevant cover examples and a short explanation of your role in each

2. Your proposed creative process and number of initial concepts

3. Your estimated schedule

4. Your fixed-price quotation and what it includes

5. Confirmation that editable source files and commercial usage rights are included

6. Details of any additional font, stock-image or licensing costs

7. Confirmation that no generative-AI material will be used without advance approval

I am looking for the strongest creative fit rather than the lowest bid. Thoughtfulness, typography, publishing experience and sensitivity to the subject matter will be central to the selection.

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