Best Sites to Find Book Cover Design Jobs (2026): Who Each Suits and How to Land a First Gig

Which sites are best for book cover design jobs?

r/forhire: best for fresh, direct author requests

r/forhire is a general freelance subreddit. Authors and small publishers post under the [Hiring] flair, and you can search for "book cover", "cover design" or "designer". It suits designers who can respond quickly and don't mind that post quality varies. Some posts have no budget or vague briefs, so screen them before you spend time on a reply.

How to land a first gig: reply with two or three covers in the same genre as the request, a short note on your process, and a question about trim size, series needs and timeline. Read the subreddit rules before posting your own [For Hire] thread.

r/designjobs: best for design-specific posts

r/designjobs is a design-focused subreddit, so it is worth a regular look alongside r/forhire. Check the posts for projects that mention covers, illustration or print layout, and confirm the current posting rules in the subreddit sidebar. It suits designers who want a design-only feed and will check it regularly.

How to land a first gig: match the poster's wording. If they say "ebook cover for a cozy mystery", lead with a cozy mystery sample, not your best unrelated brand work.

Reedsy: best for publishing-focused clients

Reedsy is a marketplace built around publishing professionals. It suits designers who already have a few strong published covers and want clients who think in terms of editions, formats and launch dates. Check Reedsy's designer application page for current requirements, review process and terms before you apply, because they can change. Because that application takes effort, treat it as a second-stage move once your portfolio is solid.

How to land a first gig: submit covers that show range inside a few genres rather than one of everything.

Upwork and Fiverr: best for marketplace-style work

Upwork and Fiverr are general freelance marketplaces where authors search for cover designers. They suit designers who are comfortable writing proposals or packaging a fixed-scope gig. The trade-off is competition: you may be compared with many designers on price, so a focused genre portfolio and a clear scope matter more than a low quote. Fees and rules differ by platform and change over time, so check each platform's official pricing or help page before you commit.

How to land a first gig: build a gig or proposal around one genre (for example, "thriller ebook covers"), show thumbnail-size samples, and state concepts, revisions and file formats up front.

99designs: best for contest-style practice

99designs runs design contests, including book cover categories, where multiple designers submit concepts and the client picks one. It suits designers who want practice and feedback on their concepts. The trade-off is unpaid speculative work, since only the chosen design is paid, and payout terms vary by contest. Read the current contest rules and payout terms on 99designs before you enter.

How to land a first gig: cap your effort. Enter a few contests whose brief matches your strongest genre, and keep your entries consistent so a client can see your style.

Behance and Dribbble: best for being found

Behance and Dribbble are portfolio platforms with job listings (see Behance's job list and Dribbble jobs). Most listings lean toward UI, brand and in-house creative roles rather than book covers, so treat them as a place to show your work, not your main source of cover requests. They suit designers who want an organized portfolio they can link in every reply.

How to land a first gig: post each cover as a case study with the genre, the brief and the final result at thumbnail size, so an author can see how it reads on a retail page.

Self-publishing communities: best for repeat clients

Subreddits like r/selfpublish and author groups on Facebook and Discord are where writers ask for cover recommendations. Many of these communities restrict self-promotion, so read the rules and contribute helpfully first. They suit designers who like building relationships, because one satisfied author often leads to series covers and referrals.

How to land a first gig: answer cover questions with specific, useful advice (genre conventions, thumbnail legibility), and link your portfolio only where the rules allow it.

How do you choose between them?

Pick one place to find requests and one place to show your work. Spreading across six platforms usually produces six thin profiles.

How do you land your first book cover design gig?

1. Build three genre-specific samples. If you have no client covers, make mock covers for fictional titles in one genre and label them as concept work.
2. Show covers at thumbnail size. Authors judge how a cover looks in a retail grid, so include a small-size preview.
3. Read the brief before replying. Look for genre, trim size, ebook or print, series plans and deadline. Replies that mention these details stand out.
4. Reply promptly, but edit your reply. Popular requests can collect many responses quickly, but copy-pasted replies are easy to spot.
5. Set scope in writing. State the number of concepts, revision rounds and file formats before work starts.

Example (hypothetical): an author posts in r/forhire: "Need an ebook cover for a psychological thriller, budget flexible." A strong reply links two thriller covers, notes that you will confirm the final dimensions for the retailer, asks whether it is a series, and offers a short timeline with a revision limit. That reply answers the questions the author would otherwise ask next.

Where does Sidequestboard fit?

The weak point of searching community by community is timing and tab overload. You check r/forhire, r/designjobs and a couple of author communities, and a good request may already have many replies by the time you see it. Sidequestboard is one option for that part of the workflow. It collects fresh public opportunity posts from communities and social platforms into one feed, lets you save the ones worth answering, sends you to the original post to respond, and can draft a first reply that you edit before sending.

For cover work, a practical routine is to scan the feed for posts that mention cover design, save the briefs that match your genre, then open the original post and edit the draft so it links your closest sample and asks about trim size and series plans. What appears depends on what is posted publicly, and Sidequestboard doesn't supply clients or jobs itself, replace your portfolio, or decide which briefs are worth your time.

If that workflow suits you, get Sidequestboard on the iPhone App Store. Pro starts with a 3-day trial.

Related reading for designers

If you also take adjacent projects, these guides cover similar sources:

• Brand design jobs
• Logo design jobs
• Packaging design jobs, including r/designjobs
• Freelance design and illustration jobs posted today

Platform rules, fees and application requirements change, so check each site's official pages before relying on them.

Sources

• Behance job list — Dribbble jobs
• 99designs
• Dribbble jobs
• Upwork — Freelancer Service Fee — Official platform fee information; verify current terms before relying on pricing.
• Fiverr — Your Earnings — Official platform fee information; verify current terms before relying on pricing.