A book cover is more than decoration.
You can refer to it as a part of your book’s identity.
Your reader might see the cover before reading your description, or open a sample or read about you as an author
Cover design is thus an important aspect of publishing and marketing.
- Start With Your Audience
You need to consider your personal taste, as you do your reader.
Consider the audience that you are trying to reach.
A children’s book will have a different message to convey than a business book
It’s not the same kind of picture we have when we imagine a romance novel as when we think of a historical memoir
A professional cover should then be created keeping in mind the intended audience.
- Understand Your Genr
Readers create expectations for genres.
However, this does not need to mean that all books should be the same.
It involves giving the reader just enough information to their cover to allow them to understand what kind of reading their book will provide.
Your designer should take into account:
* Typography
* Imagery
* Composition
* Color
* Genre conventions
* Author branding
Make sure that the title is easy to read
The beauty of a design can be undermined if the title is hard to read.
Keep in mind that many readers are reading a book as a thumbnail!
The title needs to be legible at small dimensions.
Keep the cover from being overcrowded.
The more elements, the better cover is not necessarily the truth!
Too many fonts, graphics, effects, or conflicting messages can make the design look confusing.
Sometimes, there is a clear visual hierarchy in strong covers.
The reader should feel like they’re getting the point:
- What the book is
- What it is about
- Who wrote it
Think about the back cover. Consider the back cover.
Print books come with only part of the cover.
May have on back cover:
* Book description
* Author biography
* Reviews
* Publisher information
* Barcode area
The front, spine and back must be a unified design.
- Consider Your Author Brand
If you’re writing more than one book think outside the box when it comes to your cover.
A series can be helped by uniformity of image.
Here are some examples you might see:
* Similar typography
* Consistent author placement
* Related imagery
* Repeated design elements
This can help establish an author’s identity.
Print and digital covers are not the same.Print and digital covers are not interchangeable.
Cover for a print is created as a physical item.
The cover may appear on the online book listing, as a small digital image.
So, if it’s applicable, the cover must also be able to work in both of those environments.
Be sure not to copy another author’s cover.
It’s helpful to look at books that are effective in your genre.
However, learning is not copying.
Rather, look at what is successful:
Does it have a prominent title?
What is the style of visual language used by the genre?
What’s the author’s name called?
* What creates contrast?
What is the look of your cover, as a thumbnail?
Make observations and share an original idea based on those observations.
- Professional Cover Design
It’s not just about putting text on top of an image; a professional designer does that too.
The designer should be aware of:
* Audience
* Genre
* Positioning
* Typography
* Visual hierarchy
* Platform requirements
Ebook Managers provides authors with professional book covers to help them perfect their book, audience and publishing goals.
Cover is only part of a greater publishing system, which also involves manuscript, interior design, metadata, positioning and marketing
Looking for someone to write a cover for your book? Discuss your project with Ebook Managers.