A cover that earns the second look.
Readers decide in a moment. Your cover has to survive that moment and your interior has to hold them once they open it.
COVER DESIGN
Designed for the shelf you're actually on.
A cover isn't decoration. It's the shortest sales conversation your book will ever have. Before we design anything we look at what's already selling in your category, because a reader scanning a shelf or a search page is comparing you to those books whether you like it or not.
Every cover we produce comes to you as a complete file set: front cover for retailers, full print wrap with spine and back cover, and correctly sized thumbnails that still read at the size Amazon actually displays them.
Two concepts, then we go deep. We don't send twelve options and let you pick. We develop two directions with real reasoning behind each, you choose one, and then we refine that one properly. Endless options are how covers end up looking like a compromise.
Ebook Cover
FROM $450
2 TO 3 WEEKS
Front cover only, built for digital retailers. Designed to hold up at thumbnail size, which is where most readers will meet it first.
You Received
High resolution JPEG and PNG sized to retailer specification
Layered source file on request
Two initial concepts, three revision rounds on your chosen direction
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INTERIOR FORMATTING & TYPESETTING
The part readers never notice, until it's wrong.
Nobody compliments good typesetting. They just keep reading. Bad typesetting, though, gets noticed immediately: cramped margins, orphaned lines, chapter openings that land in different places, page numbers that vanish. Those are the details that make a book feel self published in the way nobody wants.
We build to the specification your printer requires, whether that's Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, or an offset printer here in Ontario, and we send you a proof before anything is finalized.
Formatting comes last. Please don't book this until your proofreading is finished. Every change made after typesetting means re flowing pages, and re flowing pages means new errors. It costs you money and it costs you accuracy.
Print Interior, Text Led
FROM $3.00 PER PAGE
2 TO 3 WEEKS
Novels, memoirs, nonfiction, poetry, and anthologies. Typography selection, margins, running heads, pagination, table of contents, chapter openings, and full front and back matter.
You Received
Print ready PDF at your chosen trim size
A design sample of three chapters before we lay out the full book
Two revision rounds
Minimum fee $500. A 240 page memoir starts at roughly $720.
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ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION
The child on the page should look like the child holding the book.
Our illustrators come from a range of cultural backgrounds, and that isn't a footnote. It's the reason a family in Mississauga, in Kingston, or in Lagos can open one of our books and find someone who looks like them, drawn by someone who understands why that matters.
Illustration is priced per piece so you can build a book that fits your budget. Mixing full spreads for the big story moments with spot art for quieter pages is the single most effective way to keep your total down without the book looking thin.
You own the art. Full commercial rights transfer to you on final payment. That covers the book, your marketing, merchandise, sequels, and anything else you build on those characters later. Ask any illustrator you're considering to put that in writing, because it isn't automatic.
Complete Picture Book Package
FROM $12,500
12 TO 20 WEEKS
Everything a standard 32-page picture book needs, quoted as one number so you can budget without surprises.
Includes
Character design sheets for every named character
14 full colour double-page spreads
Front and back cover artwork
Title page and endpaper art
Thumbnail storyboard for your approval before final art begins
Full commercial rights on final payment
24 page package from $12,500.
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STYLES WE WORK IN
Find your look
Style isn't a preference, it's a signal. It tells a browsing parent how old this book is for, how gentle or how funny it will be, and whether it belongs on a bedtime shelf or a classroom one. If you're not sure, tell us the age of your reader and we'll show you what tends to work.
Watercolours
Soft edges, layered washes, and a handmade warmth that digital struggles to fake. The traditional language of bedtime books.
BEST FOR AGES 2 TO 7
Digital Illustration
Clean, bright, and endlessly consistent. The most flexible option for series work and the easiest to adapt for merchandise later.
BEST FOR AGES 3 TO 10
Pen & Ink
Line led work with real character. Works beautifully in black and white for chapter books, and with spot colour for something more graphic.
BEST FOR AGES 6 TO 12
Collage
Cut paper, texture, and pattern. Tactile, joyful, and particularly strong for books about culture, food, community, and belonging.
BEST FOR AGES 3 TO 8
Minimalism
Bold shapes, restrained palettes, and a lot of confident white space. Modern, gift friendly, and strong on a crowded shelf.
BEST FOR ALL AGES
Mixed Media
Combining traditional painting, texture, and digital finishing. The right answer when no single medium quite says what your book needs to say.
BEST FOR AGES 4 TO 10
Every image in your book is drawn by a person
Retailer policies on AI generated illustration have tightened considerably, and they're still moving. All illustration produced through Zou Zou Media House is created by human illustrators, which keeps your book eligible everywhere it needs to be sold, submitted, or shelved.
There are practical reasons beyond policy. Generated images can't hold a character's face steady across twenty eight pages, and inconsistency is the fastest way for a picture book to feel wrong to a child who is looking very closely. Copyright protection for generated images also remains unsettled, which matters enormously if you ever want to license your characters, sell rights, or build a series.
Your illustrator is a named person. You'll know who they are, you'll see their portfolio before you commit, and their name goes in your book.
Meet the illustrators.
Every illustrator on our roster has a portfolio page showing their style, their range, and the books they've worked on. Have a look before you book, and tell us who feels right for your story.
AT A GLANCE
2026 rate card.
All rates are starting rates in USD, current for 2026 and benchmarked annually against the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook and current independent publishing market data.
Cover Design
| Service | From | Turnaround | Revision rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ebook cover | $450 | 2 to 3 weeks | 2 concepts, 3 rounds |
| Full print wrap | $750 | 2 to 3 weeks | 2 concepts, 3 rounds |
| Illustrated cover | $1,200 | 4 to 6 weeks | 1 sketch, 2 rounds |
| Hardcover with dust jacket | $1,400 | 3 to 5 weeks | 2 concepts, 3 rounds |
| Series branding, per extra title | $600 | 2 weeks each | 2 rounds |
Interior Formatting
| Service | From | 240 pages | Turnaround | Revision rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Print interior, text led | $3.00 per page | $720 | 2 to 3 weeks | 2 rounds |
| Complex interior | $5.50 per page | $1,320 | 3 to 5 weeks | 2 rounds |
| Ebook conversion | $350 | Flat | 1 to 2 weeks | 2 rounds |
| Picture book layout | $650 | Flat | 2 to 3 weeks | 2 rounds |
| Print file setup and upload | $250 | Flat | 3 to 5 days | Not applicable |
Illustration
| Service | From | Turnaround | Revision rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Picture book package, 32 pages | $4,500 | 12 to 20 weeks | Storyboard, sketch, 2 rounds |
| Picture book package, 24 pages | $3,400 | 10 to 16 weeks | Storyboard, sketch, 2 rounds |
| Chapter book art package | $1,200 | 6 to 10 weeks | Sketch, 2 rounds |
| Double page spread | $395 | 2 to 3 weeks | Sketch, 2 rounds |
| Full single page | $225 | 2 to 3 weeks | Sketch, 2 rounds |
| Spot illustration | $95 | 1 to 2 weeks | 1 round |
| Character design sheet | $350 | 2 to 3 weeks | 2 rounds |
| Series art bible | $1,500 | 4 to 6 weeks | 2 rounds |
Page counts for interior formatting are based on the final laid out book, not your manuscript. Turnaround times begin the day your signed agreement, your deposit, and your final files are all received, and they don't include the time you spend reviewing proofs. Illustration timelines assume your manuscript is finished and edited, since art cannot begin on text that's still changing.
HOW A BOOK GETS MADE
Design happens in this order.
This sequence isn't a preference, it's how production works. Skipping ahead is what causes reprints.
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Brief and quote
Tell us about your book, your reader, and your budget. Within five business days you'll have a firm quote, a recommended approach, and a start date.
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Book your place
Sign the agreement and pay 50 percent. That reserves your designer or illustrator and your slot in the schedule.
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Concepts and sketches
Cover concepts, character sheets, or a storyboard, depending on your project. Nothing moves to final art until you've approved this stage.
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Final artwork
Your chosen direction is developed fully. You'll see work in progress at agreed checkpoints so nothing arrives as a surprise.
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Layout and typesetting
Text and art come together. You review a full proof, we make your revisions, and you approve the final pages.
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Print ready files
Your balance is settled, rights transfer to you in writing, and you receive every file you need for print and for digital retailers.
GOOD TO KNOW
The details that matter
Payment
50 percent is due to begin. The balance is due before final files are released. Illustration projects over $3,000 can be split across three or four payments tied to milestones.
Rights
Full commercial rights to your cover and illustrations transfer to you on final payment, in writing. Your illustrator retains the right to show the work in their portfolio.
Rush work
A 30 percent surcharge applies where we can accommodate it. Illustration is rarely rushable, and we'd rather tell you no than deliver art that looks hurried.
Our schedule
Cover and interior work books 3 to 5 weeks out. Full illustration projects book considerably further ahead, so start that conversation early.
Extra revisions
Beyond your included rounds, revisions are billed at $85 per hour, quoted and approved before any work begins.
Changes after typesetting
Text changes made after layout is complete are billed separately, because a single added sentence can reflow every page that follows it.
Source files
Print ready PDFs are always included. Layered working files in InDesign or Procreate are available for an additional 20 percent of the project fee.
Cancellations
Deposits are non refundable once work has begun, since your slot has been held. Cancel before your start date and your deposit transfers to a future booking within twelve months.
QUESTIONS
Asked and answered.
If yours isn't here, email us. We answer design and illustration questions whether or not you end up booking with us.
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Tell us about your book.
Send us your manuscript, your page count, and the shelf you imagine your book sitting on. We'll come back with a firm quote, a recommended approach, and an honest view of what your budget can buy.