Nicole Hower

Nicole Hower – Designer

Designer and Art Director with 10 years of industry experience, specializing in YA and Adult. Has worked on 15 New York Times bestsellers.

Overview

My work focuses on meaningful designs that are rooted in market research and trends. I have worked on as many as 15 New York Times bestsellers and my covers have been featured on Publishers Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Casual Optimist, Indie Next List, and Bustle. I have designed the covers for The Nature of Witches, The Similars, and I'm Not Dying With You Tonight. Some of my most notable art direction projects are This Is Where it Ends, The Empirium Trilogy, and The Bone Witch Trilogy. I live in the Chicago suburbs with my husband, daughter, and cat.

I work primarily with stock images and can create custom covers that are photographic and illustrated using these resources. I am also able to design and art direct with illustrators when a specific style is needed that cannot be found on stock sites. If that is the case, I will let you know upfront and can suggest illustrators to achieve the best package possible for your book. I would then design the jacket with the illustrator since typography and concepts are what I do best! Some examples from my portfolio of designs with stock images are The Nature of Witches, Bruja Born, and The Obsession. Covers where I have collaborated with an illustrator are Furyborn, The Midnight Girls, and The Storm Crow.
Services
Fiction
Coming of Age Contemporary Fiction Contemporary Romance Historical Fiction Horror Middle Grade Psychological Thriller Young Adult
Languages
English

Work experience

Self-employed

Sep, 2021 — Present

Sourcebooks

Jul, 2012 — Sep, 2021 (about 9 years)

Responsibilities:
• Lead all creative direction and design for the
Sourcesbook Fire imprint
• Art direct, design and project manage more than 80+
covers per year across multiple imprints
• Manage a team of 20+ freelance designers
• Negotiate rates and manage contracts with designers,
artists and image vendors
• Develop creative strategies for book packaging based
on market and audience research, while maintaining
budgeted expenses
• Facilitate and analyze focus group testing
• Onboard, coach and train new hires in design and
departmental processes, including: design program
training, market research, pre-press production and
manufacturing treatments
• Identify and improve departmental processes to create
efficiencies

Results:
• 12 New York Times bestsellers
• Grew revenue of Sourcebooks Fire imprint by 188%
while reducing departmental expenses by as much as
$30,000 year over year
• Sourcebooks Fire imprint POS growth of up to 35%
ahead of industry
• Recommended and implemented new design and
production review processes from print to digital routing
• Developed mood board and market research templates
that are now used across all imprints

Portfolio

Let Him In

Friend, William

It Only Hurts at First

Rogers, Allison

Meadowstead

Hollins, Jack

Extraordinary Lies

Alsever, Jennifer

Burying Eva Flores

Alsever, Jennifer

H2O (H2O, 1)

Bergin, Virginia

Belle Révolte

Miller, Linsey

The Storm Crow

Josephson, Kalyn

Here There Are Monsters

Bérubé, Amelinda

That Night

Balog, Cyn

The Last to Die

Garrett, Kelly

After the Fire

Hill, Will

The Midnight Girls

Jasinska, Alicia

The Similars

Hanover, Rebecca

The Obsession

Sutanto, Jesse Q.

Even If We Break

Nijkamp, Marieke

Before I Let Go

Nijkamp, Marieke

This Is Where It Ends

Nijkamp, Marieke

Why We Fly

Jones, Kimberly

The Nature of Witches

Griffin, Rachel

Nicole has 21 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Christopher M. T.

Christopher M. T.

Jan, 2024

This was my second time working with Nicole and she was a pleasure to work with. She's friendly and professional and quick with her turnaround times. She's even great about updating cover files for older projects. I'm always very impressed with her services and how accepting she is to feedback. Will be working with her again in the future for another cover. Highly recommend.
Catherine W.

Catherine W.

Sep, 2023

This was the second time I've worked with Nicole, she is always quick to turnaround a high quality design project, and very easy to work with.
Meaghan B.

Meaghan B.

Sep, 2023

I can't recommend working with Nicole enough! She perfectly captured my story on her cover, and IT'S GORGEOUS! I absolutely love it. She's extremely knowledgeable about the market and book comps and will help your book cover meet genre expectations, while still being unique and standing out. The quality of her covers is incredible. She's super responsive and wonderful to work with. It was a gre...
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Andrew S.

Andrew S.

Aug, 2023

Nicole was excellent to work with and I love the cover that she created for me. For my new horror novel, the cover is creepy and perfect! I couldn't have asked for better, or a better working experience. I will be reaching out again!
Daniel B.

Daniel B.

Jul, 2023

Nicole is a consummate professional. She is responsive, flexible, and creative. As a first-time author, I understood little about how this process works, but Nicole made me feel as if the cover design process was in good hands throughout. You can see from her portfolio just how talented she is, and she absolutely delivered the very best to me, from concept to execution. I cannot recommend her h...
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