Notes on designing covers for small publishers

What a cover has to do on a shelf, in an online shop thumbnail, and on a bookshop table.

By Ivan Panov · May 2026 · 5 min read

A cover has three jobs today. On the shelf it must be read from two metres. Online it must work as a tiny thumbnail. On the bookshop table it must invite someone to pick it up.

Test every cover at all three sizes before it goes to print.

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