Pre-Made vs. Custom Book Covers, Explained | Usama Munir, Design Dusk – The Writing Coach Ep. 238

My guest on this episode of The Writing Coach podcast is Usama Munir, the designer behind Design Dusk, a book cover studio with more than 1,700 pre-made covers ready to go, plus custom covers, book trailers, and full interior typesetting. He designed his first book cover as a teenager, for an author who reached out to him out of nowhere, and he never really stopped.

We get into the real difference between a pre-made cover and a custom one, and why pre-made is usually the smarter starting point, not the cheap one. We talk about genre conventions, and why the cover you personally love might be working against you on an Amazon thumbnail. And we get into where AI is already part of cover design, where it still looks obviously like AI, and why Usama thinks being upfront about it builds more trust than pretending it isn’t there.

If you’ve ever picked a cover because you loved it, only to wonder why it wasn’t selling, this episode is for you.

Check it out now:

Audio:

Video:

The Writing Coach Episode #238 Show Notes

Visit Design Dusk (and check out all the incredible pre-made covers) at https://designdusk.com/

Learn more about the Barbados Writing Retreat:

Grab your FREE copy of The Busy Author Method:

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The Writing Coach Episode #238 Transcript

Kevin Johns: All right, today on the podcast, I have Usama Munir from Design Dusk. Welcome to the show.

Usama Munir: Thank you for having me, Kevin. It’s really great to be here.

Kevin Johns: You run a business where you create book covers. Tell me about how you got started working in cover design.

Usama Munir: Yeah, so I believe the readers—or the listeners—should know that I’m an immigrant from Pakistan. It all started in my early teens when I was completely obsessed with graphic design, you know, designing websites, social media, and then, of course, marketing materials. At that time, when I was around 16 or 17, an author reached out to me, and they needed a book cover. That’s when it hit me. You know, a guy who’s growing up with ADHD doesn’t read a lot of books, but still an author reaches out: “Okay, I need a book cover. I just finished my manuscript.” That’s how I got into book covers. I designed a book cover for him, and then later on I discovered a whole lot of things regarding book covers: what actually works, and that there’s a whole industry of authors who need book covers. Then, later on, I got obsessed with computers, and I migrated to Australia. Of course, I kept Design Dusk as a side business, as a hobby, something I really love. That’s the story of how I got into designing book covers.

Kevin Johns: Well, it’s fascinating. I had another interview today. I just got off it, and it was with a former client of mine. We were talking about the design of his cover, and he said he tried to do it himself. He was asking AI for advice, and he said very quickly he realised, “This is not just about having a clever idea.” He was like, “There’s a whole design process involved here.” So tell us a little bit about that. Book covers are not just about being able to put together a nice illustration. We also have design elements like typography and spacing and these sorts of things involved.

Usama Munir: Yeah. I mean, you know, nowadays everything is easy. I believe software is the easy part of things now compared to 10 years ago, when software like Photoshop and Illustrator was so complex. Now you have Canva and some other software as well, which is much more niche. They make it so much easier for an author to design something. You know, they like a certain cover. Let’s say they like a cover with curvy typography, right? And then they’re writing a book about horror, and now they just somehow put that curvy typography on a horror cover. “Oh, wow, that looks great!” But at the end of the day, when you’re going through Amazon’s thumbnails, that doesn’t work because the horror genre has certain types of typefaces and a certain type of structure and overall spacing. That’s where a professional comes in because they have tonnes of experience in all the genres and know what actually works, what type of design actually sells to the reader. Because, at the end of the day, we are designing the cover for the reader, not the author. Of course, it should work for the author, but it’s the reader. They should be able to take a glance and know what the book is actually about.

Kevin Johns: I am a horror author, and so when I went to your website, I immediately clicked over to the horror covers. There’s a great little description at the beginning of the selection explaining what makes for a good cover in that genre. So I appreciated that it seemed like you weren’t just offering potential covers for purchase, but also educating authors a little bit in terms of what sort of genre conventions they need to be taking into consideration when they’re purchasing a cover.

Usama Munir: Absolutely. I believe genre conventions are really important. You know, a good guide for an author is, when they finish the manuscript and they’re ready to make a cover or have a cover made for them, they should go to the subcategories and look for the covers that actually impress them in that subcategory. That’s how genre conventions work as well. They’ve been built over decades for a reason. That’s how they work. So that is something every author should know. They should not just go out and choose a cover they think looks best. Genre convention is important.

Kevin Johns: So a lot of first-time authors probably think their only option for a cover is either to do it themselves or to go out and hire someone to personally design a cover for them, which obviously can be quite expensive. For someone who’s new to the idea of pre-made covers, let us know what that is and how it works.

Usama Munir: Yeah, that’s a really good question because I believe a lot of authors either want to spend everything on the cover—they feel like that’s make-it-or-break-it—or they want to spend nothing. I believe that’s where pre-made comes in. It meets you in the middle because a pre-made isn’t something that’s made quickly or that’s cheap in quality. A custom design, which is more expensive, always takes the time of ongoing conversations with the author: What works? What’s wrong? Stuff like that. That is the reason custom design is expensive. That’s where I believe every author should go for the pre-made first. Go through the categories and see if something actually works for them because it’s usually cheaper. And cheaper doesn’t mean it’s not a good design or anything like that. It’s actually good, but it’s cheaper because you only have to put the title, subtitle, and author name on it. So pre-made covers are always the best option for an author instead of going for a custom cover. Unless there’s nothing in the pre-made section, then, of course, you should go for the custom cover.

Kevin Johns: So if I purchase a pre-made cover, what about the concern that someone else might buy that same cover and I’m going to end up with the same cover as another author?

Usama Munir: Yeah, that’s where Design Dusk completely differs in this space. We offer a cover that is, of course, completely unique in terms of the design. We don’t sell that same stock image, for example, to any other author. Once it’s sold, it’s retired completely. There is no option to buy it. That’s where I believe, in this space, this makes us a bit different, and that works out really well for the author as well. Suppose they come back five years later, which is pretty normal for authors. They do come back quite consistently. Suppose they come back and see the same cover. Okay, that doesn’t look good on our part, you know. So that’s how we try to differentiate ourselves in this space.

Kevin Johns: I interviewed another person recently working at the intersection of authors and technology, and he mentioned that one of the interesting challenges is that, while authors are increasingly becoming more comfortable with AI and more willing to use it, there are still some authors who are anti-AI or don’t want anything to do with that. So tell us about how you’re approaching that with your business in terms of providing both non-AI covers and covers that incorporate that technology.

Usama Munir: Yeah, this is a really great question, Kevin, because AI is something I feel like I grew up with. I’ve been using AI since 2020, I think, and because this is my field, computer science, I have to be consistently in touch with AI. What I’ve noticed in the author community is they’re really afraid of AI as well. They’re still kind of sceptical of using AI, whether in their writing, finishing the work, or in the cover design. And since I’m really part of the community, in terms of Reddit as well, I usually go there to read what people are thinking. It’s pretty common that people want to know what’s AI and what’s not. In today’s day and age, you don’t know. A lot of people simply don’t tell you what’s AI and what’s not. That’s how I realised that if an author knows, “Okay, this cover has some elements of AI,” there is simple trust to build. When you make a cover with AI completely, you do have to mention it in KDP. So, as a business, it’s better to mention whether this cover was designer-created completely or uses an AI-generated image. We’ve noticed there are a lot of authors who don’t have a large budget, and some authors don’t care whether the cover is AI or not. They simply want the cover to be there. That’s where I feel like, in the future, the shift is going to be entirely different because I believe this is an age of AI. But, of course, when creating a cover, it’s not as simple as generating an image. You have to create an entirely custom cover. Our focus is still creating covers by a human hand and making sure that happens. But at the same time, we are trying to use AI-generated elements to make covers more affordable for authors.

Kevin Johns: So I think there’s the whole kind of moral dilemma of using AI. But my concern with AI is almost more: How do we ensure that the cover still feels fresh and unique and doesn’t fall into that kind of, “Oh, it looks like every other AI-generated cover”? So how do you go about ensuring that you’re using AI as a tool but that your covers are still feeling fresh and not “AI,” if there were a better word for that?

Usama Munir: Yeah, I think you got it. You probably have a lot of experience. You see a cover, and then you immediately realise, “Okay, this is AI-made.” That’s where I feel like AI is still not as good. You know, when you generate a prompt: “Okay, I need a book cover for a romance couple, you know, going into a 1920s crime thriller,” whatever. At the end of the day, the cover does look AI. So I don’t think, for the next few years, we can avoid that. And there is no reason to avoid that because that’s where I believe the policies are going as well. What we try to use AI for is mostly, for example, if there is a great artwork or stock photograph, we try to expand the image rather than creating everything completely from scratch with AI, which does look AI, to be honest. That’s how we try to keep it fresh: by using elements of AI rather than using AI for the whole cover, if that makes sense.

Kevin Johns: Absolutely. I mentioned I immediately went to the horror genre section on your website. I think how we originally crossed paths was a fantasy article that I had written caught your attention. I’m curious, do you have certain genres that you prefer or feel like you specialise in?

Usama Munir: I think so. For me personally, I’m a huge fan of nonfiction genres. Something regarding self-help—it just works out. And then, of course, romance covers are really good as well in terms of designing because they usually have similar elements to them, especially when it comes to the illustrative part of a romance cover, which works really well. I do believe fantasy is the toughest one. The article you wrote regarding the magic rules—I believe the fantasy genre has a lot of rules, so that’s something that really takes a lot of time, which I believe should go for the custom cover. Whenever there is a fantasy genre, I feel like the author should go for the custom cover.

Kevin Johns: Well, let’s talk a little bit about that. We’ve dug into this idea of pre-made covers, which is going to be the most affordable and easiest way to get a high-quality cover. But you also offer custom covers. So tell us a bit about that process. What does that look like?

Usama Munir: Yeah. So, with custom covers, of course, an author finishes the manuscript. They come to us: “Okay, they need a cover,” right? That’s where we try to have a meeting with them as well, if they have time and if they are willing to pay. I believe human interaction is really important. If someone is really serious about a great cover, we try to understand what their book is about and if there are certain chapters we should read. After that, it’s just a back-and-forth, making sure the cover looks great to them. If something doesn’t work, we tell them straight away, “Okay, this professionally doesn’t work,” with the proper reason, of course. Going back and forth in terms of custom covers is why custom covers are expensive. Honestly, it’s not just the art itself, but making sure the artwork actually stands out for the author and on Amazon as well.

Kevin Johns: Obviously, you don’t want to go back and forth with the author a million times, and I think the author probably prefers if you get it right the first time. So what can an author do? What sort of brief can they give you? What’s the information your team needs to be able to create a custom cover with as few revisions or drafts as possible?

Usama Munir: Yeah, that’s good. So this has been a pain point for designers for ages, just going back and forth and working it out. Besides the basics—title, author name, subtitle, pages, making sure it’s the right trim and everything—what a designer needs is what the book is actually about. What’s the core theme of the book? What is the mood of the book? Then, if they can, of course, find some covers—not a lot, but at least five covers from the same genre—that they actually like, I believe that’s really important. That’s something that completely gives the designer an overall idea of what actually works and what the author might like. Then they can, of course, make something unique based on the theme, the mood, and what the story is about. Nine out of 10 times, the author does like it. But, of course, going back and forth is part of the process.

Kevin Johns: So we’ve talked about custom covers, and we started with pre-made covers. I know you offer other packages, including things like spines and the back of the book. How does an author know whether they need just the front cover or when to get the spine and make those sorts of decisions?

Usama Munir: Yeah, so most authors do tend to move towards the paperback cover when they want the book to be printed. But if they want something entirely digital, you know, just want to get the book out, of course, an ebook is the best option. If you want the book to be printed, then you need a paperback cover. That’s where the spine and the back come in, and that’s where the book size matters. What are you trying to publish? Whether it’s 5.5 by 8.5, how many pages do you have, and what paper do you want? You know, stuff like that. We usually ask the author all the questions so that when they upload it to Amazon, they don’t have any errors. So that’s paperback. Then you have hardback as well. If they want the hardback version of the paperback, then they can go for that as well. We also offer book trailers, which I believe are really important in terms of marketing. If they have the budget, of course, that can work out for genres like horror and fantasy.

Kevin Johns: What sort of things are your team doing with those trailers?

Usama Munir: In those trailers, usually we basically edit them with stock photography and then try to match it with the book itself. If it’s something, for example, like a crime thriller, and the book is about a guy with a hat going towards an alley and stuff like that, we try to match it with that. Then, at the end of the trailer, there is a beautiful book coming together, and then, “Purchase it now,” stuff like that. So, yeah, it’s definitely an interesting space. It’s kind of a difficult space as well because a lot of authors don’t have experience in terms of that, and we just try to show them what actually works and what doesn’t.

Kevin Johns: Well, I think we’ve covered almost everything you folks do, but we have not yet got to interior design. So you were talking about things like size and these sorts of things. When we’re doing a paperback, we need the book typeset. Tell us about that service that you offer.

Usama Munir: Yeah, so interior design is probably the hardest part of a book because, even for an author, this takes a lot of time, and a lot of authors simply don’t want to do this because it’s pretty boring as well. So that’s where Design Dusk comes in. You know, we have, of course, me and then two other designers. We have interior design experience and make sure that a book is actually designed for something like poetry, for example. That’s where a professional design eye comes in as well. Of course, you can create it with Affinity Publisher, which is a great tool, by the way. I just want to shout out Affinity Publisher. I believe they have replaced Adobe InDesign entirely. It’s such a good tool. And then, of course, it’s about making sure that everything looks clean. I guess that’s where a professional eye comes in in terms of interior design. And then having no errors in KDP, which is probably the most important part, and everything working out smoothly.

Kevin Johns: So you mentioned you were originally from Pakistan, now in Perth, I believe, right?

Usama Munir: That is correct.

Kevin Johns: Serving a global audience, are there any cultural differences? Is a romance cover a romance cover regardless of where you are in the world, or do you need to make slight adjustments for different geographic markets?

Usama Munir: Yeah. So, funnily enough, a lot of our clients or authors are from the U.S., which is pretty interesting, you know, considering we do have a global audience. So that’s what we try to cater to. Because I’m from Pakistan, coming here was a huge culture shock. But even then, I realised, okay, Australian and American culture is still different. It’s not the same. Back then, I used to think, okay, it’s probably the same, you know. But no, it’s entirely different. What I try to do is not think, “Okay, I don’t like this part of the theme or this part of the design,” but rather, “What does the author want?” I believe most of our target audience—90%, even on Design Dusk, and even in the early part of my career—were from the U.S. So that’s what we try to tailor towards.

Kevin Johns: Yeah, I’m in Canada. Similar for me. You know, I work with people all around the world as well, but it seems to be the majority are Americans who are writing books and looking for help in the process.

Usama Munir: Yeah. I mean, shout-out to Australian writers as well. They’re definitely getting into the market. I’m noticing it in the self-publishing Reddit, so that’s good to know. Local guys are coming out as well.

Kevin Johns: Absolutely. So you have over 1,700 covers—

Usama Munir: Yeah.

Kevin Johns: —ready for review and purchase. What does that process look like in terms of creating a new pre-made cover? Do you start with the name, a pretend name of the book? Do you start with an image? Do you say, “I need a new thriller cover today”? From your end, how do you start creating a new custom cover? Sorry, not custom cover—a new pre-made cover.

Usama Munir: Yeah. So this actually comes down to experience. You know what actually sells, what type of artwork actually looks good on a cover, and what authors usually like. So it’s more from experience. And then, of course, whatever title you want to come up with is pretty random, but it should work with the genre. Once we figure out, “Okay, that’s the cover we want to make,” we try to finish it as a finished product so that when an author buys it, it can be finished in like 15 minutes. All they need is a title, subtitle, and, of course, author name. So the process is pretty much trying to find an image, or maybe making artwork on your own, that actually works. That’s how it usually starts.

Kevin Johns: Great. You know, I really envy people with design skills. Anytime I need to create an image to market a podcast or a retreat I’m having or whatever—I’m just thinking, yesterday I had a great logo for my retreat. It’s in Barbados. I pulled up a beautiful picture of a beach and a palm tree and a sun and a boat, and I’m like, “Put the logo on.” And it’s like, “Oh, that tree is kind of in the way,” so I slide it over. And, “Oh, the boat’s covered up now.” I mean, how do you manage to find the negative space to get the text or the logo in there while still having a beautiful image?

Usama Munir: Oh, man, that’s the trade you’re looking for now. These are the things that actually make us designers feel like, “Okay, we are something.” Honestly, the reality is we don’t even think about it when we’re designing because of so much experience. We simply go for it. “Okay, that looks good.” But then I realise, okay, my colleague is having so much trouble putting a logo on one side. I’m like, “Okay, you can just do that.” I believe that’s from giving a lot of time to the art itself, which is designing, and spending a lot of hours doing it. Then you simply forget the rules that actually exist because it’s in your mindset. You know, it’s just, “Okay, that works out. That doesn’t work out.” And I do feel for you, man. It’s not easy.

Kevin Johns: Your answer is reps, right? Get the reps in, Kevin.

Usama Munir: Yeah, yeah. Of course, you can learn, but then again, it’s just a lot of time.

Kevin Johns: Well, in terms of someone—you know, say a first-time author or an indie author—who wants to learn more about covers, I think you have a free resource related to cover size and these sorts of things.

Usama Munir: Yeah. I did want to mention it because I feel like most authors do struggle with sizes, and that’s where I thought I should create a size guide that is easy to read and has practical benefits as well. So we have these specific guides for making sure the cover actually works on Amazon or IngramSpark. That guide is pretty great because it points out every mistake you can make and what you should try to resolve before uploading it to Amazon or IngramSpark, along with a proper cover calculator. So you can just put in, of course, the size of the book, the trim size, number of pages, what colour you’re choosing, and then it will give you the size that actually works for Amazon. Instead of going in blind and uploading it, you can have an estimate of what actually works. And then, of course, we have other guides as well regarding what actually works in the genres. Since Australia has passed legal writing law, we do have one article which is related to that. Of course, no legal advice, but, yeah, we have a couple of articles.

Kevin Johns: Well, as a writing coach, I see it as my job to try to make the writing and publishing process for my clients as easy as possible, and so affordable options for things like covers are really great for me to see. But I also appreciate the effort your team seems to be putting forth to educate authors and to help bring them up to speed in terms of what makes a great cover. What is the purpose of the cover? Is that just a personal desire to help educate the folks that you’re working with, or what’s this interest that you seem to have in helping people better understand what makes for a great cover?

Usama Munir: Because I’ve been through this. It’s not just the authors who are going through this. I was part of it back in 2019, for example. I was really struggling with Amazon’s guide, you know, the covers, and that’s when I realised, okay, I need a proper guide that actually works for the author. When I started Design Dusk, I realised, okay, since I struggled with these things, these can help authors as well. That’s how it went with the articles. Honestly, it was more to help me than to help them. But I know if I help myself, it can help them as well, and that’s how great writing starts, I believe.

Kevin Johns: Absolutely. That’s how a community is formed as well and how creative relationships and partnerships are established. So I love that you’re doing that to help the authors out there.

Usama Munir: I’ve got a question for you as well. I believe you were recently at an AI summit in terms of environmental writing, I believe. What are your thoughts on AI and overall stuff?

Kevin Johns: Well, I think there’s this misconception where the people who are kind of saying AI is bad, I think they think you can just kind of put your phone up to your head and go, “Write me a book,” and then the AI is going to write you a book. So far, I haven’t seen that happening. I think the thing that people are really upset about is AI-written books. And, I mean, maybe people are way ahead of me, but I haven’t seen AI do any good writing, from my perspective. For me, it’s just another tool, like grammar checkers and other things. And particularly when it comes to the marketing side of things, I’m like, authors, use it whenever you can. Because, for me, I believe my job is to help people write more books. If they can use AI to get an image made quicker, or get a social media post scheduled, or whatever, I want their time and their creativity and their energy going towards their books. And so, like everyone else, I was raised on Terminator 2. You know, I’m scared of AI like everyone else. But I dipped my toe in and I experimented, and I think a lot of the people who are kind of rigidly against it are the people who have never really played with it. They have some sort of conception in their mind that it can work magic. Whereas, as you know, it’s very much a tool, like many other tools. And, I mean, not to downplay it. It’s insane. Like, I can have a conversation with my computer. That’s pretty wild. But at the end of the day, I haven’t seen it write any good material. You know, I’ve played with it. I’ve tried to get it to do things. And for me, it’s like, yeah, it can give me a first draft of an email I want to send someone or something, but I don’t see it replacing my writing or my clients anytime soon. So I’m all for anything that makes life easier for authors. And I also think that sometimes the people who are against it are also the people who aren’t relying on art to pay their bills, you know.

Usama Munir: Yeah.

Kevin Johns: It’s really easy to say, like, “Oh, you shouldn’t use AI to make a poster,” or whatever. But it’s like, if that poster is for an event that you’re having to try to sell books so that you can feed your family that night, you know—

Usama Munir: Yeah.

Kevin Johns: —maybe if you were in that position, your take on AI might be a little different. So obviously, I fully respect people who are hesitant about it or don’t want to use it or whatever. But from someone whose job it is to make writers’ lives easier, I think it makes writers’ lives easier. So I happily, you know, try to get it to do everything for me in terms of making my life easier. No, I don’t put my phone to my head and go, “Write me a book.” But I do go, “I’m going grocery shopping. I want to make a lasagna this week. List the ingredients and list them in the order that they’re going to be in the grocery store so I can get the stuff picked up and dinner made as fast as possible.” So I can get back to working on my books. That’s how I see it.

Usama Munir: Yeah, I agree with you. I think at the end of the day, AI is a tool, just like you said. You know, just like a mobile phone is a tool, just like the internet is a tool, a computer is a tool. That’s what AI is going towards as well. It’s just becoming an important aspect of technology. So I completely agree with you in terms of that.

Kevin Johns: Well, the other thing I say is it’s unavoidable, whether you like it or not. It’s being put in everything. I bought a new house a few months ago. We moved in, and it came with a washing machine. It was like a beautiful new washing machine. We didn’t have to bring ours, but it has AI in it. You know, when people are like, “AI is immoral,” I’m like, “Am I supposed to not do my laundry?” It gets pretty tough to avoid. And so I think, as creatives and as artists and as entrepreneurs and all of that, we need to determine our level of comfort with it and then embrace it because it’s going to be nearly impossible to avoid it.

Usama Munir: I think so as well. Just like you said, you know, a washing machine has AI now, so that’s like, okay, it’s a normal part of life. So if AI has come to a washing machine, that means it’s going to come in everywhere. We just have to get used to it and use it better to help us rather than have it completely replace us, I guess.

Kevin Johns: Exactly, exactly. Well, if there is an author listening to this, they’re looking for either an affordable cover or a great custom cover or a book trailer, or they just want to learn more about cover dimensions and things, where can we send them to learn more about Design Dusk?

Usama Munir: They can simply come to designdusk.com. Where I would recommend an author start is reading the blog, you know, just getting used to it. “Okay, what is it actually about?” Read about us, what the journey is, and then, at the end of the day, if they feel like it, they can buy covers from us. But that’s just a separate story. Overall, that’s where they should start.

Kevin Johns: I’ll have all the links in the show notes for this episode. Usama, thank you so much for taking some time out of your day to join me on The Writing Coach podcast today.

Usama Munir: Oh, man! Before starting, I was quite tense, but you were so easy to talk to. It’s so good. You made it so easy for me, and it was great talking to you, Kevin, as well. Absolutely amazing.

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