Your cover is the first thing a reader judges and the fastest way to sell or sink a book, which is why knowing how to hire a cover designer is one of the most important calls you will make before launch. The difficult part is not finding someone who can make a pretty image. It is finding someone who understands genre signaling, owns a clear process, and hands you files you can actually use. Most cover regret traces back to a question the author never thought to ask before the deposit was paid. Here is what to ask first, so you hire once instead of twice.
Can I see covers you have made in my exact genre?
A designer can be genuinely talented and still be wrong for your book. Fantasy and contemporary romance and cozy mystery each have visual codes readers scan without knowing they are doing it, and a designer who works mostly outside your lane will miss them. Ask for a portfolio in your specific genre and subgenre, then look at the covers at thumbnail size, because that is how a reader first meets yours. If the mood, the type treatment, and the color read as your genre when the image is the size of a stamp, you have found someone who understands the job.
What do I own when we are done, and in what formats?
This is the question that saves authors the most money and the most heartache. Get clear in writing on whether you receive the final layered source file, the fonts or a note on which were used, and a print-ready file as well as the ebook version. A designer who only sends a flattened JPEG has handed you something you cannot update, resize for a paperback, or adapt for a box set later. You paid for the cover, so you should leave with everything needed to use it across every format your book will ever take.
Is any part of this AI-generated, and can I use it commercially?
Ask directly, and ask early. AI-generated cover art carries real uncertainty about commercial rights and can draw a strong reaction from readers who object to it. Once the book is live, both of those become yours to manage. If stock images or illustrations are used, confirm the license covers commercial book covers specifically, because an editorial or personal-use license will leave you exposed. A professional will answer this plainly and show you the license. Hesitation here is the answer.
How many revisions are included, and what counts as one?
Revision rounds are where budgets quietly blow up. Confirm how many are included in the quoted price and what a designer treats as a single round, because “change the title font” and “start the concept over” are not the same request. Knowing this up front keeps the working relationship easy and stops a small tweak from turning into an invoice you did not expect.
What do you need from me, and by when?
A good designer will ask you for the blurb, three to five comparable covers you like, your genre and heat or tone level, and any series branding that has to stay consistent. If they do not ask for these, they are designing blind. Come to the first conversation with that material ready. The clearer your brief, the closer the first draft, and the fewer revision rounds you spend getting there.
Can you handle a full series, print, and audio?
Even if you are only publishing one book right now, ask whether the designer can carry the look across a full series and adapt it for a paperback wrap and an audiobook square. Series covers that match sell better together, and coming back to the same person for book two is far easier than teaching a new designer to match a style they did not create. If a series is even a possibility, factor it into who you choose today.
The pattern underneath the questions
Every one of these comes down to the same thing: a professional who has done this before can answer plainly and in writing, and someone who cannot is telling you something. Hiring a cover designer sits alongside the other two big hires most authors make, and the same instinct protects you across all of them. My guides to what to ask before you hire an editor and what to ask before you hire a book marketer use the same approach, and if you are still weighing which publishing path you are on, indie vs traditional vs small press covers who ends up responsible for the cover in each case.
Once the cover is right, it has to work on the page it sells from. My walkthrough on how to optimize your Amazon book listing shows how the cover, blurb, and categories pull together to get a book found.