Why You Shouldn’t Have Your Book Cover Designed on Fiverr

Let me start by saying that Fiverr is an excellent service. If you’re not familiar with it, Fiverr is a community where talents from around the globe offer their services (known as gigs) for an ultra-affordable price of five dollars. There’s the occasional add-on which ends up costing a little more, but as a rule of thumb, everything starts out at its simplest form costing a measly five bucks.

I’ve personally hired a number of talents myself on the platform and even offer a gig of my own.

However, after speaking with a number of authors about their experiences, I felt the need to explain why it’s important to never have your book cover designed on Fiverr. Here’s the breakdown:

A Book Cover Design Is Far Too Important

It’s been said before, but it’s worth repeating: a book cover design is arguably the most important part of book’s marketing efforts. Period.

It’s the first thing book buyers see on the shelf, on Amazon, your website and as you well know, first impressions count.

When it comes to a design on Fiverr, there’s hardly the time for the designer to put any level of thought into the design and zero into its marketability. After all, this individual may have ten, twenty, or even upwards of one hundred other orders waiting. That means the motivation is much higher toward getting you out the door than giving your book’s cover the attention it needs.

Design Is Only Half the Battle

The reason many decide to go the Fiverr route is the examples shown on the gig’s page. Some actually come close to the resemblance of a quality design.

However, even if the designer is able to deliver you a book cover with solid design principles, you’re only half way there. It’s unlikely he or she was able to take the time needed to find out if the design was the right one, which is a big risk to take.

Quality design is only half the battle when it comes to creating an effective book cover. The other half is a solid understanding of the book’s target readership. This is the foundation under which all design decisions are made. Anything less is designing in the dark.

It’s possible to get lucky, but who wants to leave their most valuable marketing asset to chance?

Refining and Polishing Is at a Minimum

Ending with the perfect book cover design is a process. Part of that process includes exploring a wide variety of options and concepts to ensure the right path is taken.

With a gig, not only are you stuck with a single design option, the revision process is often little to nothing. As any book marketer dreads, you may be stuck with the realization that you might have received a much more powerful concept if only a few extra ideas were tossed around before settling on the design.

Fiverr Still Stands as an Excellent Service

It’s always worth ending on a positive note and reemphasizing that Fiverr is still a highly valuable asset for any writer, author, or platform builder.

When it comes to your website, marketing, design, and other large projects pivotal to your success, it’s recommended that you stick to the pros and invest the time needed to make them shine.

For other, less complicated, quicker jobs, Fiverr is near impossible to beat.

What’s Your Experience with Fiverr?

Have you used Fiverr in the past? If so, what has your experience been? Are there any gigs you would personally recommend? I would love to hear your thoughts!