3 Best Practices for Cover Designs (and One Giant Mistake to Avoid)
Covers matter. People do judge books by their covers. They convey so much in one fell swoop—your title and subtitle, the theme or genre, and the emotions you want to elicit. I can’t tell you how many cover wars I’ve participated in with authors and their publishers. Only once have I liked the first cover design presented by a designer. Usually, there are multiple rounds of efforts as different ideas are offered. Sometimes, the author gives up and begs the publisher to hire someone else for a whole new approach and the author pays for it. Not cheap!
Whether your book is being published by a traditional publisher and at the mercy of their concepts, or you’re independently publishing and have more control over the process, you want a winner. After all, you’ve spent all that time pouring your heart and soul into writing the book. Now you need to sell it with a standout, professional-looking cover that will attract your readers and be the dressing on a book you’ll be proud to show off on your bookshelf. Here are three essential keys to acing this important first impression for your masterpiece:
1. Know your audience: The cover should speak squarely to your ideal reader and meet their expectations. Think about your reader’s demographics and psychographics so your cover communicates to them directly, easily, and powerfully. If your book is about gardening, the cover shouldn’t look like a thriller or dystopian YA novel. Study the bestselling books in your genre. Notice patterns in their cover designs. Be unique, intriguing, and original in your cover’s style, but don’t go too far afield from what’s the norm in your genre. If you are planning to have multiple books going forward, ideally your cover design follows a distinct visual style you can replicate as you build your author brand.
2. Keep it simple: Fonts, typography, imagery, and colors should all play into the messaging and theme without getting overly complicated. Avoid cluttered designs, hard-to-read fonts, and poor contrast between the text and background. If you use visuals, such as photography or illustrations, choose high-quality, original art—avoid generic stock images. The cover needs to be clear and legible even as a thumbnail so think about how it will look online at a retailer, including on a smart phone’s small screen.
3. Don’t ignore the importance of the back cover and spine: Be strategic in your book’s alluring description on the back. Hook readers with provocative content and thought-provoking questions that are solved in the book. Include compelling blurbs if you have them from reviewers and keep the spine easy to read at a glance.
The one question to ask yourself as the ultimate test of a good cover: Would you be caught dead with this book in your hands while in public? In other words, if you had to sit on a bus or subway with this book in your hands showing its title and visuals, would you feel pride or embarrassment? Don’t make the mistake of having a cover you’d want to hide in the company of strangers.
Be proud of your cover so you and your readers will want to pass it around. The cover is a marketing asset for selling both the book and your brand. Make it count.
PS: If you come across a fantastic cover and want to know who designed it so you can check out the artist’s gallery of ideas, look for the “Cover by” or “Book design by” credits on the flap copy or on the copyright page. Then you can go to the artist’s website.
Credit: Photo by Mediamodifier on Unsplash