Why do you charge more for a hardcover than a dust jacket?

Why do you charge more for a hardcover than a dust jacket?

It may seem odd, especially considering a dust jacket covers a much larger area than a hardcover, but the process is very different.  A dust jacket means including areas at the left and right for the foldover flaps at the beginning and end of the book, and they don’t necessarily have to include any of the actual cover artwork.  In fact, most dust jacket flaps will be a solid colour and feature a detailed synopsis or further information on the front flap and an author bio on the rear flap.  A hardcover, however, includes a full wraparound area of the artwork where it is glued to the end boards and, as such, the cover art has to continue beyond the edges of the front/back cover for almost an extra inch.  So, this is not only why we charge more to create them, but we charge an additional fee if we have to create them after the initial paperback cover design has reached completion.  If you want to save money, just tell us at the start and we’ll design the cover to suit all formats.