How to Use Fiverr to Make Amazing eBook Covers in 2025

Over and over, I see the same debate in self-publishing forums and Facebook groups:

“Fiverr covers are junk.”

“No way, I got an amazing one for five bucks.”

Here’s the truth… both sides are right.

Yes, most $5 ebook covers on Fiverr are rushed, cookie-cutter templates. But if you know where (and how) to look, you can find designers who deliver professional-quality covers without breaking your budget.

In this article, I’ll show you:

• A smarter way to find great Fiverr designers
• How to get more out of every gig
• The key steps you need to keep in mind

Selecting the Right Fiverr eBook Cover Design Gig

Most Fiverr customers will select whichever gigs show up on the top… or worse, whichever one has the highest ratings.

Does it surprise you that I would say that? Well, here is why…

Those Fiverr producers that reach the top of the search results and have the highest ratings get the most traffic (and thus the most sales). Therefore, as long as they don’t get LOTS of bad reviews, they will make their money. There is no ‘climb’ to the top for them. They're already there.

This level of complacency causes a paradigm shift in the producer's mentality. Their business structure turns from:

How to I get more customers

To:

How do I increase production to meet the high demands

Now, I'm not saying they don’t do a good job. Some definitely do.

But understand that if your pay depends solely on how many you crank out, it isn’t much of a stretch to say that you probably cut some corners and don’t REALLY take the time to figure out how to make the book cover as good as possible.

So what should you do?

Well, my favorite gigs are those that are made by people who have just started.

Why? Two things:

1. If their first couple of gigs gets poor ratings, then their sales are sunk. They NEED that 5-star rating more than someone who has 2,000 ratings.
2. They just got their first order, which means that they don’t have another order waiting for them. They have all the time in the world to make sure your order is done right. There's no competition for their time, which is nice.

Of course, hiring someone without a proven track record can be risky. However, I would remind you can decline the delivery if you're unhappy with it (and Fiverr has a detailed Resolution Center). Even in the worst case scenario, you would only lose $5-10 dollars… not awesome, but not a deal breaker for most.

Add it up, and I think if you're going the Fiverr route, working with someone who's hungry for the climb to the top is better than working with someone just sitting at the top (hoping to maintain his or her status quo).

How to Get the Best eBook Cover Out of Fiverr

Let’s face it…

If you are taking orders for 5 dollars, you probably aren’t the next Monet or Van Gogh. Furthermore, they probably don’t have a lot of experience in book covers. There is a reason why people like Derek Murphy can charge hundreds per book cover and stay well paid.

And that's because professional eBook cover designers know how to connect the right imagery to the right market.

But if you're not going the “professional” route, how can you make sure you get more out of a $5 dollar artist on Fiverr?

Well, you need to give them guidelines and examples.

The biggest mistake that any Fiverr client can do is hire a bunch of gigs on Fiverr and then tell the artists to make a book cover on their subject. Basically, they're handing over the keys to the designer and letting them do whatever.

Now, if your designer is super professional, that might be the right thing to do. Professionals who have been in the game longer and are worth their weight in gold will know what images or styles sell well with your target market.

But this isn’t the case with (most) artists you'll find on Fiverr.

Instead, that Fiverr designer will probably just plug and play your information into a pre-designed template. It requires zero thought and will take them just a few minutes to do.

So, to circumvent this, I recommend you give them examples and detailed notes, including specific book cover fonts you want to see.

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Here's How I Do It

When I am on Amazon, I will always look at other people’s covers. Even if I am not there for research purposes, I just look at the covers and when I find a good one, I ask myself:

1. Why did this cover stick out?
2. Can I read the words in the small Amazon image size?
3. Why do the colors work?
4. What did this cover make me think before I read the title?

If the cover works, then I will right-click and save that image in a folder titled “Amazon Covers” on my computer. In some cases, I will even right-click the image and add notes to the images files before downloading.

Now, fast forward to when it's time to contract a cover design. I'll flip through my covers and see which one is close to the mood or feeling of my book.

Once I have a cover in mind and have already mapped out what words go where, I will then turn my attention to Fiverr and send the gig order explicitly telling the artist what to do.

It sounds like a lot, but this ensures that when you go to purchase a gig, you'll get the book cover you want.

Which Artist for Which Book Cover?

Now that you have a cover in mind, it is SUPER important that you find the right designer for the job. Don’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Look at the design you selected and the portfolio they display, and match up with someone who looks like they have done that before. This way you aren’t trying to force them out of their comfort zone for a measly $5.

Final Word on Fiverr Book Covers

If you followed the steps in this guide, you should now have a cover in mind, a mapped out a selection of text and a hungry designer who shares the same type of style as your selected eBook cover example.

This process doesn’t necessarily spell out success, but I would venture to say that you WILL have a better chance of getting a better product by choosing this process over the ole “pick the highest level of ratings and let them decide” method that so many authors do.

And if you're willing to pay a few more bucks, I'll repeat my 100 Covers recommendation from earlier. Matt Stone and his team do really nice work for really nice prices.

But whichever route you go, I hope this guide helped you.

Good luck!