WHAT GOES ON THE COVER?

Try to find a good photo or illustration for the front cover. If your book is a memoir you can probably use one of the photos from inside the book. If you want to use a photo or illustration that you don't own, make sure you get permission from the photographer or artist.

If you use a colour photo or illustration the front cover will be full colour which is more expensive than two-colour which is possible if you use a black and white photo or illustration (see Getting an Estimate).

Front Cover: Includes a photograph or illustration, book title and subtitle, author's name.

Back Cover: Can include an excerpt from or summary of the book, critics' comments (send them a copy of the first proof so they can come up with a comment while the book is being proofread), author photo and bio, bar code (the layout people or the printer can get this for you), price, ISBN.

Spine: Usually includes title, subtitle, author, publisher.

SHOULD I HIRE A COVER DESIGNER?

If you don't have an illustration or photo for the cover you should hire a designer to create the illustration and design the rest of the cover. 

If you have an illustration or photo to use on the cover you can probably get the person who is doing the page layout to design the cover. This is the less expensive option.