Book Cover Design

Every one of us judges a book by its cover.

That’s why books actually have book covers. Your book cover is the most important part of writing a book.

So I am always totally surprised when someone asks me why they need a professional book cover designer.

There are designers for all budgets from designers on Fiverr to high-end in-demand designers that you have to ‘wait in line’ and pay big bucks for.

A book’s cover is its ‘FACE’ and it is the first thing a book buyer/reader looks at before they decide whether they will turn it over and read the back cover, and decide to buy, look inside or put it back.

If you actually want someone to read your book then your book cover needs to spark your reader’s interest almost immediately or they move onto the next one fairly quickly. You have to grab their attention. The cover needs to tell the reader quite a few elements in only a few seconds.

Things like;

• the book genre
• title
• subtitle and
• author.

It also needs to portray what the book is about and if it will benefit the reader and give them what they are looking for. To do this the cover needs to have;

• the right colours to evoke the required emotions and
• have the typography and imagery that will send the right messages to the reader/buyer. Old fonts can make the content seem OLD too, particularly if it is a HOW-TO type book. The font will be related to those used in years gone by- so the reader or potential buyer will naturally presume the info is out dated and look for something more modern.

For example, a book about ‘how to be happy’ wouldn’t work if the cover colours and images ‘speak’ doom and gloom via dark colours and sombre image choices.

Getting the cover right

If the author doesn’t get the cover right, then the words they have written, had edited and proofread, may never be read.

Professional designers practice their trade day in day out. They understand design and how to evoke the emotional response required to hook your reader and get them to buy your book. With so many templates and stock images being used (often the same ones) by self-published authors, all book covers can start to look the same.

I am not against using templates if your budget doesn’t stretch to cover the cost of a professional designer but do thorough research on covers that will sell and position your book so your hard work pays off. And consider a unique image design or get an amateur photographer to supply images that are unique.

Some designers will offer pre-made covers (for authors needing a book cover fast), ready to insert author’s name and book title, but they only use it once, and so the cover is unique in itself and doesn’t use stock imagery.

eBOOK only?

Remember with an eBook your cover is normally only being seen on an online book store such as;

• Amazon
• Smashwords
• iBooks

Your book cover is normally only displayed as a thumbnail image- so if you cannot read the TITLE and hook the reader from this small image you won’t make any sales.
Check out other books on these sites and see which one’s jump out at you!

 

Ask Your Book’s Audience

Create your cover at the START! Not only is it awesome for your visualisation board, but you can test it to see if it SPEAKS to your audience.

A great idea is to ask your book’s audience which cover they like. This is a perfect way to test your cover and get the book’s buyers to choose. It is also a great way to get in some pre-marketing by involving your community in the selection.

People love to help and feel they are helping you. Most designers will do two or three initial design concepts to choose from, so send it out as a quick survey on your Facebook page or email them a quick survey on a free service such as survey monkey.

 

Don’t forget the SPINE

In my Author Express course I talk about a the anatomy & psychology of a book cover.

One of the most neglected areas of a PRINT BOOK is the spine. New authors often make the mistake of having this up the wrong way, or worse still forgetting to design it altogether. Think about seeing the book on a shelf in a library or book store where the only part of the book browser’s see is the SPINE.

 

Your Book’s next best REAL ESTATE

Your book’s back cover copy is imperative to the success of your book. It is the only part of your book that SELLS it, and let’s the reader know why they should BUY it.

You must spend as much time thinking about what to include on this part of your book’s real estate as you have planning the chapters and content. There is a science to this and what to include which I cover in my course, complete with a template.

In fact the words you use, and where you put them  on the back cover can be the MOST important words you will ever write.

In my opinion you need to use a professional book cover designer who will give your book the look and feel to reflect you and your message as unique, and attract the right reader, so you can make a difference!

 

 

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Fiona Jones

9 times Best-selling author of The Millionaire Books and co-founder of Author Express

www.AuthorExpress.com