Does your printed masterpiece deserve a special creative book cover treatment? Maybe some silver or gold, or the book title sticking up? How about the title pressed below the surface of the cover? Or some parts of the cover design being shinier than other parts?
We’ll explain how the printer produces all of these creative book cover treatments, and more, for hard (casebound) covers, book jackets, and paperbacks. We’ll also mention how you could actually fake some of these effects yourself.
Here’s what we’ll discuss. Feel free to skip to any section:
- Metal foil stamping
- Metallic ink
- Debossing (blind stamping)
- Embossing
- Lamination and varnish
- Neon ink
- Die cutting
- Discussing special treatments with your printer
- Faking it
The metal foil stamping book cover treatment
Left: Gold foil on cloth. Right: The subtitle is gold foil on cloth, still shining after almost 60 years. (Left: Norfolk Stories by the Norfolk (Mass.) Historical Society. Right: Bookmaking by Marshall Lee.)
Metal foil stamping is how you go shiny. It works on either flat, debossed, or embossed (see below) printed book covers.
Here’s how it works: Picture a stack of materials. On the bottom is your book cover. Next, a very thin and narrow strip of metal foil stretched across the area to be stamped. And on top a heated plate (often copper) with a reversed version of your type or design sticking out of the flat plate just enough to make an impression on the cover. This metal plate is called a “die.” The die comes down and presses the foil onto the surface, and voilà, you’ve got real metal on your cover. A very light touch with stainless steel will brush off any excess metal dust.
More than one color can be stamped at the same time, as long as the two colors are about ½ inch apart.
And don’t neglect the book’s spine! Remember that the spine is often the first thing a potential reader will see.
Using metallic ink as an alternative
You can get a very good metallic effect by using ink instead of foil. The Pantone Color System has special shiny inks just for this purpose, and in most cases, that special ink would be treated as a fifth color in addition to the CMYK inks. It’s simpler and cheaper than foil, and there’s no reason you couldn’t combine it with the 3D effects of debossing or embossing (see below).
A benefit to metallic ink is that you can use it all over the design—as opposed to a limited area for foil. See the design below on the left with golden stars and floral decorations everywhere. And they continue onto the spine and back cover, too. Using foil for such a design would have been prohibitively expensive.
Notice the gold metallic ink all over the dust jacket on the left. Middle: Silver ink on paperboard. Right: Copper metallic ink with debossing on a paperboard cover. (Middle: a Washington state postcard book. Right: Whiskey Made Me Do It by Lance J. Mayhew.)
The debossing book cover treatment
Debossing simply means that the type or design will be below the surface of the rest of the cover, with or without metal foil. When no foil is used, the technique is called “blind stamping” or “blank stamping.”
If you’ve read the section above about metal foil stamping, the process will be easy to picture. In the stack of materials: your cover on the bottom. Above it the (optional) foil and then the metal stamp (die) with a reversed version of your type or design sticking out. The die presses down onto the cover, enough to make a distinct dent. (The depth of the impression would vary depending on the thickness of the cover material.)
Left: Blind stamping on a cloth cover. Right: A complex blind stamped design on a paper cover actually looks more like embossing. For an example of debossing with foil, see the example below on the right. (Left: The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. Right: UMass Rising by Katharine Greider.)
The embossing book cover treatment
Embossing is a 3D effect in which the type or design is raised above the rest of the book cover. The embossed area can be stamped with foil, printed with regular ink, or left blank (“blind embossing”). You most commonly see embossing with metallic ink on mass market paperbacks.
Left: Subtle blind embossing on the title. Right: Embossing with gold foil for the title and debossing for the subtitle—look carefully. (Left: Unearthed by Annette L. Juliano. Right: Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics by William R. Sargent.)
The way this works is very similar to debossing or foil stamping. But in order to make the book cover or jacket material stick up, two dies are needed: one above the cover (the female die with the design facing down but sunken in) and another (the male die with the design sticking up) below it.
Lamination and varnish book cover treatments
Chemicals! They can do wonders for a book cover. You can choose between lamination and varnishing.
Book cover lamination
There are so many ways to use laminates that it’s hard to know where to start the discussion. But basically, a laminate is a shiny, transparent, plastic coating on the cover. Picture a drop of water sitting on a nonporous surface.
(Do not confuse this kind of coating with coated paper stock. The terminology can sometimes be bewildering.)
Basically there are three levels of shininess: gloss (very shiny), matte (subtly shiny), and soft touch (sometimes called peach skin). Laminates can be applied on an entire cover or only on some areas that you want to highlight (spot lamination). All lamination provides a measure of protection against rubbing, scraping, fingerprints, and general wear.
Some printers offer a range of UV-treated background textured patterns to choose from, too. They can add pop to blank areas of your design, or the entire surface.
Book cover varnish
Varnish is another way to get shine on your book cover, and it may be less expensive than lamination. The two levels of varnish shine are gloss and matte. As with lamination, the varnish provides protection and can be applied all over the cover and spine or as a spot treatment.
Left: Black spot varnish on a matte black casebound cover has a striking appearance. Right: You can see printing underneath the thick gloss lamination on this dust jacket. (Left: Through the Golden Age by Radage, Meinen, and Radage. Right: 1421 by Gavin Menzies.)
Both lamination and varnish require a finishing treatment—usually heat or exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light. Some treatments are more environmentally friendly than others, so speak with your printer about the process that they use.
By the way, in case you’re wondering, even the shiniest laminated and varnished book covers and jackets can be recycled—after that copy has been read by hundreds of people, of course.
Neon colors for your book cover
Sometimes all you need is an extra bright color or two. And for that purpose, Pantone offers a range of standard neon colors. Of course, in most cases these would be treated as additional ink colors, so it’ll cost a little extra. If you combine neon ink(s) with embossing and/or lamination, your cover will truly attract attention.
But guess what? We searched everywhere for an example of a book cover that was printed with Pantone neon ink, and each time we saw something truly bright, it turned out to be merely cyan, magenta, and yellow (but no black) ink. The individual inks are quite intense, and you can do most anything with them. Here’s the brightest, most luminous example that we found.
The combination of embossing and lamination, plus cyan, magenta, and yellow on a very dark, matte paperback cover creates a neon-like effect. (Tuesday Nights in 1980 by Molly Prentiss.)
The die cutting book cover treatment
Holes! These can create an exciting effect that is especially effective for children’s books. Holes can be cut in paper or cardboard covers.
Die cut holes in board book covers (and book pages) invite children to stick their fingers in. (Left: Peek-a-Who? by Nina Laden. Right: My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss.)
Discussing book cover treatments with your printer
If you want any of these creative treatments for your book, be sure to think ahead and choose a printer that can provide them. Ask to see some samples, discuss the options and cost, and find out how to prepare your files to their specifications. Usually, a simple black-on-white PDF showing the area(s) to be treated is all you’ll need. Also ask about what book cover (or jacket) material will work with the treatment(s) you want to use.
Faking book cover treatments
All of this sounds exciting, right? But perhaps beyond your budget. So why not try faking it?
Adobe InDesign offers all kinds of special effects to make a design look as if the type is raised or lowered from the surface. And, luckily, we have made a set of videos that show you exactly how to use these tools. Once you get started, you might not be able to stop!
But as always, we advise you not to go overboard. To be most effective, stick with one or two consistent effects.
Faking the special treatments for book covers might be all you need for your cover to look its best. We hope that whatever solution you decide to use, your book cover looks as perfect as you can make it.
Read: Book edge treatments » get inspired with creative treatments for your book’s edges.
Read more: The evolution of a book cover » offers a design approach that might work well for you.
And more: Designing a book spine » helps you make the best use of a small space.
And even more: Book binding basics » shows how it’s done.
Book Design Made Simple. You can do it yourself.
Any advice for debossing or blind embossing a book title onto a hardback book cover at home? I have a metal typeset alphabet I want to use and a book binding press. Should I use heat or simply stick letters down, place cover on top and apply pressure? Thank you!!
Hi Nikki,
I’ve blind embossed a book cover by hand using metal type and a binding press. My book cover was paper-covered cardstock, although cloth-covered cardstock works fine too. Bigger type is easier and I had several practice pieces to work with! The paper was glued to the cardstock and needed to be not-too-thin, otherwise it tore around the edges of the metal type. I played around with the depth of the embossing so that it was readable but didn’t tear the paper.
I hope this helps!
Fiona
PS: Here are links to a photo of my book cover and our blog post about handmade books that features this book cover: (See pic here and blog post about handmade books here.)
I know you two are all about DIY, but have you ever written about collaborating with a professional illustrator to design a book cover? I’m in that spot right now as I create a children’s book, and I’m considering a small group of designers (in other fields) to help me decide what works best for my cover image. I’m comparing what I sent in as a request to the designer to what the designer has sketched as a first pass.
I hate doing stuff by committee, but I’ve read about beta-reader groups and I thought this technique might help with a cover design.
If the cover works out, that illustrator will do the other images in the book.
Hello Ronald,
As it happens, we have indeed written about working with an illustrator. Here’s the link: https://www.bookdesignmadesimple.com/book-illustrator/
We think your plan sounds sensible. You may find, though, that your committee’s opinions do not align with your own. It’s always hard to choose a cover illustration and design. Best of luck with this new book!
Glenna and Fiona
Excellent article on bookcovers.
And, I’m encouraged that you have promoted Canva/Affinity.
Thanks for what you do,
George Haughton
P.S.– Any possible feedback or advice you can give me on my new Amazon book, PRESSURE GAMES FOR GOLF? Thanks
Hi George,
Thanks for your kind words and congrats on publishing a second edition of your book! We hope your marketing builds nicely moving forward.
Fiona and Glenna