It is a challenging process that needs a lot of time and effort. When you create a design for a fiction book cover, you have to convey the mood and message of your writing. It's necessary to decide on typography, images, and color palette for fantasy, romance, thriller, and crime because they differ. Keeping balance among these elements is a core of the fiction book cover design. How do you generate ideas for the creation of a book cover design? [link deleted by moderator].
Unless you're a designer or at the very least experienced with photoshop you need to hire one or buy a premade... doing it yourself if you don't know what you're doing is the worst possible option.
Consider your genre and take a look at successful books in that genre (or subgenre). Consider those elements, layout and format, remembering that the cover is a marketing tool, not an exact replication of characters or a particular event or scene in the story. As was indicated by big soft moose, hiring an experienced professional is something to seriously consider. The cover is often the first thing a potential reader sees, to hook their interest. And books, at least initially, are judged by their cover.
Yes. My cover designer fionajaydemedia.com, who is also my wife's designer, gets great praise for her work, but refuses to read the book, just the back blurb. I strongly recommend going with the professionals.
And if, as @big soft moose recommends, you go with a professional designer or a premade cover, first do the research @TWErvin2 advises, to make sure he or she stays on track. If you think your novel will turn into a series, consider from the start the look and feel of all those covers. That will be part of your brand. What will differ from book to book, and what will stay the same? And if you want to see what not to do, check out Lousy Book Covers online. Oy. Vey.
