I'm thinking about writing a book, and I wanted to know if authors could design their own book covers, the texture of the cover, and all that stuff. Can they?

All Answers To Questions

Yes, they can. But most authors let their publishers do it for them.

If you really wanted to, you could probably work something out with your agent and the publisher, but usually (and usually for the best) the publisher will hire a graphic artist to to do so.

Usually no. A very well-established writer may have some say over the covers of her books, but publishers have marketing departments that decide what sort of cover is most likely to attract readers, and much depends on how they want to pitch the book to a potential audience. I know someone who argued that a certain Old Master painting would look just great on the cover of her first novel, that it somehow captured the essence of the story. (In fact, she'd even referred to that particular painting in the novel.) The publisher saw it as the kind of book that would attract fans of romance novels, so it ended up with a cover illustration of hot pink flowers.

If you get published by one of the big houses, no, you get basically no input. If you absolutely loathe the cover they come up with, your agent might go to bat for you, and they MIGHT change it.

IF you are lucky enough to get commercially published then no, you won't have any say in the title or cover design of your book. Well, if you have an agent then it might be worded in such a way that you'd be consulted about what you think should be on the cover, but the final choice is up to the publisher and they don't have to take your advice at all. And, not, you don't get to decide the texture of the cover. Anything beyond the standard hardcover or softcover book costs extra money, and most publishers decide how much they're going to spend on the book when they buy the manuscript. - this is according to literary agents. Don't get me wrong, publishers will go with your idea if they like it. I've heard from published authors who say the publishers went with their title and cover design idea. Even smaller publishers are open to it. Anything about the cover design will be written in your contract, and that's a right that publishers get. If you're self-publishing then you can create whatever design you want. If you're a well-established author like Stephenie Meyer, J K Rowling, or Stephen King, you know, authors who are selling millions of books, then you'll have more power with your title and cover design. Stephen King is so powerful that he has a lot of power with how much royalties he gets per book, which is way more than the average.

Nope. That's the publishing company's decision. If you're lucky, you might get some say in it, but really, the publishing companies, like someone else mentioned, are trying to decide what cover will sell the most books.

Most publishers will take an established artist to help sell a new author. Authors seldom have anybsay in the covers.

Of course, you can! :) Most publishers would rather want you to not place a lot of formatting on it such as page breaks, fancy font styling and inconsistent font sizes because they will still turn everything formal for layouting purposes. After they layout it, that's the part where formatting comes in. :) Find a publishing company who will give you free reign on customizing your book cover. Good luck!