Visual design is a back-and-forth process. My cover questionnaire gives you the opportunity to provide detail about colors, images, overall feel/look, and samples of other work that you like. I provide sample designs with watermarked images I haven’t bought yet to get your thoughts before delving right into the design.

While I understand wanting to get cover feedback from close friends or family, which is fine, I do not design by committee and ask that clients do not share drafts publicly or on forums for soliciting feedback. If you ask dozens if not hundreds of people for feedback, you will get dozens if not hundreds of different opinions, and that can negatively affect the design process. Talk to me if you’re unsure about a design and we can figure out what will make it work.

Expect a turnaround time of 6-8 weeks for new cover art. Booking early is a good idea in case I’m able to start early and gives room for cooling off periods during the initial design process in case I need to sit on an idea for a few weeks.

Turnaround time for full-wrap add-ons and premade cover customization is a minimum of ten business days (it can be sooner but please always plan on the outer range).

Please send your manuscript in doc, docx, or rtf format laid out exactly as you would like it to appear, including the dedication, about the author, bibliography, etc. For ebook formatting, I also need a large size of the cover art.

If you don’t have a copyright page, I can use my own template, but I’ll need your name as it should appear, the cover artist’s name, the ISBN if you have one, and any other details (have a look at published books to see what they include).

Please grab my free guide with formatting tips.

Turn around time is a minimum of ten business days for eBooks and simple formatting, potential longer for boxsets and custom formatting. If requiring it sooner, you are welcome to inquire about a rush charge, which will depend on how soon it’s needed and what else I have in my queue to work on.

The number of revisions rounds I do on cover art projects are listed with each product in the shop. For interior formatting, one round of revision is included to correct anything I might’ve missed or a handful of typos. For eBook formatting, the only corrections I will make are to any issues with the files on my end.

Please send your absolute final drafts for formatting. I understand the likeliest way to find a typo is to get the book formatted and printed and suddenly find them, and I understand you want your very best work out there, but remaking the files over and over takes time away from my other clients. Changes to eBook files mean you have to re-book an eBook formatting services. Excessive typo correction to interior formatting or more rounds of revision for cover art will require an alteration fee added on.

If you want additional rounds of changes to covers or for changes to be made at any point after the work is finalized, that will be covered by my alteration fee as well.

My base hourly rate is $40 USD/hr, billed in fifteen-minute increments with a minimum of half an hour. So if you need revisions to a completed project or after your max number of revisions, it’s a minimum half hour each time; if it takes forty-five minutes, that would be $30; if it takes an hour and a half, that’s $60, etc. 

Premade covers are less expensive than custom work because they're already done. I will confirm with you the customization you want and discuss with you any font changes, and will send you the cover with your name and title to confirm placement and spelling. I will make up to one round of revision.

Changes can be booked to alter premade cover elements but keep in my my hourly rate applies. If you like a premade cover but want excessive changes you'll be better served to book a custom cover.

Premade cover designs are sold only once. Stock photos included in your premade cover might be in use in other covers by me or other designers, but that particular design is yours for your book.

Paperback wraps can be added on to any premade cover for an additional $75 USD if the cover does not have one included.

Turn around time for customization is typically ten business days or sooner. You are welcome to buy a premade cover now and have me customize it later with your title when you decide upon it.

All sales are final. Flat fees and down payments are non-refundable unless I am unable to complete the work due to act of God or my cats eating me in my sleep. If you change your mind about a service and no work has been started by me yet, you may apply that down payment or fee toward another service.

Once designs have been decided upon, formatting is complete, or edits are done, I will invoice for the final amount owed, less any down payment. The invoice contains a breakdown of the cost if multiple services were ordered, or by hours if editing was ordered.

Late payments: Given that this is how I make my living, invoices must be paid within five business days of when they’re sent. After that time, a 5%/day late fee will apply. This means that if your bill is $100 and you are three days late, that’s an additional $15 owed; five days late, and that’s an additional $25 owed. If you need to reschedule work due to budgetary concerns, please let me know as soon as possible

I ask that clients keep me abreast of changes if they've booked work on my calendar--if you can't make a deadline, that's fine, but please tell me as soon as possible, because I have a long queue. I am not chasing down updates, details, and so on anymore: it's the client's job to keep track of what they need and when they need it by, and to communicate that information to me clearly. Failure to provide the information I require to complete work will resulted in delayed file delivery and bumping you down my schedule to the next available slot.

If you miss a deadline to deliver me what I need to complete your work without notifying me, I will take the rest of your projects off my schedule and will not rebook until hearing from you.

After you have paid for a book cover, you are free to use it for ONE title (eBook, print, etc, at long as it’s the same book) and on advertising material (bookmarks, etc), however please credit either Skyla Dawn Cameron or Indigo Chick Designs where applicable (such as a copyright page in a published book). Depending on the photographer, you might be required to credit them as well, and I will discuss this with you if that’s the case.

You may not reuse it on other books, even sequels. If you need sequel book covers, you must purchase them. Slapping another title over my design to reuse the same cover again and again is in violation of not only my rights but quite often those of the photographers whose photos have been licensed. If you would like to reuse a cover for a bundle release, contact me. (This isn’t merely my own policy; often the stock photos used on covers are typically licensed for ONE title, and reusing it requires re-buying the image.)

Buying a cover does not transfer the copyright to you. All designs/layouts are copyright Skyla Dawn Cameron and all photographs are copyright to their prospective photographers. If you would like the layered PSD cover file to give to another designer to create sequels based on my work, there is an additional fee. It’s bad form to have another designer copy someone’s design exactly: I have been asked in the past to copy exactly someone else’s premade cover for a potential client and I have refused. Please do not ask designers to do this. Violation of this policy will result in my severing ties with you as a client.

If a third party would like to license your cover art for additional publications, send them my way for pricing.

You may use your cover on promotional materials–bookmarks, posters, etc.

I retain the rights to my designs, unless you wish to specifically purchase it.

I retain the right to display all covers and designs in my portfolio, including but not limited to my website, Facebook page, and Pinterest. I respect your promotional plans and will strive not to share your cover until you’ve made it public.

I have the right to decline clients. If you have previously violated my ToS, been late with payments, or sent harassing messages, I may choose not to work with you in the future and you will be banned from my shop.

Although some sites, like Shutterstock, now offer AI-generated “stock”, I have not and will not use this in my cover designs, nor will I use other generators like Firefly, DALL-E, Midjourney, etc.

I believe we’re all in this together in the arts and we owe it to ourselves and our community to spend our dollars on work by other humans. The stock I buy pays photographers, who in turn pay models; Daz/Poser-made images also employ designers creating textures and other elements.

I can guarantee at no point will any of my covers will intentionally include AI-generated images. There remains a chance bad actors might generate “photographs”, not label them as AI, and then upload them like normal photos. I take as many precautions as I can to ensure photos are created by humans, but errors happen. In the event I learn a photo from a cover turned out to be AI-generated, I will disclose this to the author as soon as possible.

As well, I will not work on books using AI-generated text. If you write your book using Sudowrite, for example, please do not give it to me to edit. Do not ask me to create a cover for it.

I will not accept any client mockups that make use of generative AI images or designs. This is firmly an anti-AI space.

When conducting financial transactions, I will often have access to your real name and possibly your address/phone number or whatever you have on file. I do NOT share that information with anyone. I display pen names only for the list of manuscripts I’ve edited and never, ever reveal real names. I will also never share your email address with anyone; if we decide I’m not the right person for you, I will point you to some other options but it is up to you to contact those other people.

I will not work on covers you already have another designer contracted for. If you decide to go in another direction with a cover, please sever your contract with the existing designer working on the cover before hiring me. This does not apply to different covers, only the ones I’m contracted for. It’s unprofessional and bad form to have two people working on the same cover at the same time. I am upfront about my terms, turn around times, and rights; I expect clients to be upfront with me as well.

Many photographers have limitations on their stock that prohibit use for certain material, such as illegal, pornographic, or immoral purposes. Please keep this in mind. As well, I won’t design covers for work that is racist, homophobic, misogynistic, transphobic, or otherwise hateful.

You must be eighteen or over to contract my services; I will not work with minors on their own. If you’re a parent whose minor wants to hire me as a cover artist or editor, contact me and we can discuss whether I’ll be a good fit, but understand my contract and payment terms will be with you and not with your child.