Demystifying Book Covers – Part 1

"Don't judge a book by its cover."

We've probably all heard that saying a thousand times since childhood. Right now, I’m picturing the librarian at my old public library whispering that to my friends and me as we picked out our books. I get what she meant: don’t judge, don’t make assumptions. It’s an important life lesson, but when it comes to choosing the right cover design for your book, don’t judge a book by its cover is completely off the mark.

The cover of a book is the first thing people see of your story. The job of a book cover is to be judged. It is the first interaction the world has with your book. That's why it's absolutely critical that you get the best book cover for your masterpiece.
What makes a good book cover?
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That's a hard question to answer. It’s so difficult, in fact, that I’ve decided to break up the answer into a multi-part series to cover it all. In this set of posts, we’ll cover the role of a book cover, the basic design elements, and special considerations for indie vs traditionally published authors. I’ll also provide some additional resources along the way, so you can get the most out of this series.

**Disclaimer: I'm not a designer. My experience with book cover layouts is purely from reading books for 30 years and making notes on what draws me in and what pushes me away.

​​You’ve spent months--years—writing your story. Now, a major factor of how well it sells comes down to a handful of design elements on the cover. Maybe, you’re like me, a writer, not an artist. You know your story inside and out, but you’re drawing a blank on what the cover should look like. It can be overwhelming, but not to worry, thousands—millions—of authors have done this before you. You’ll figure it out, too. 

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.First, let’s break down some of the elements of a book cover:

​Imagery: This may be obvious for some people, but what imagery do you want on the cover? To figure that out, you first have to ask yourself this: what is the biggest driving force of your story? If your story is character-driven and has a strong central protagonist, maybe he or she should be on the cover. If your story is about an enchanted sword or a haunted pirate ship, those would make great cover images, too.

• Example: My manuscript, The Heir of Stone, features a female warrior with a strong ancestral tie to the mountains. She’s also called the Heir of Stone, so I like the idea of an axe or sword and some mountains in the background

Tone: The tone of a book cover is the feeling it gives you as a whole. It considers the imagery, the artist style, title font, color scheme, etc. You may have noticed that a lot of genres have tone patterns that they usually follow. Mysteries, thrillers, and horror stories often have darker colors and sharper lines. Romance novels tend to have softer, warmer tones, while comedies and children’s books often have brighter colors and more whimsical font styles. Keep in mind, these aren’t hard and fast rules, but if you follow themes that fit your genre, your potential readers are more likely to recognize your book’s genre from first sight

• Example: The Heir of Stone is a tumultuous action/adventure story with elements of betrayal. To reflect that, I'm imaging that the mountains will be stark with jagged edges and dark stone. The sky behind them will probably be stormy with a lot of dark/light contrast.

​Cover font: The style of font you use for your title and your author name can say a lot about the content of the book. For example, romance novels might use a curling script or a soft-style font, but non-fiction books may rely more on structured fonts that give the reader a reliable, professional feeling. Open a word processor, like Microsoft word, and take a look through the fonts for inspiration. Keep in mind, though, that a professional graphic designer may have access to more font styles than you do, so you may have more options when you hire a designer

• Example: Honestly, I haven't put a lot of thought the font for The Heir of Stone, but I guess it will be structured and bold. Maybe a contrasting color to the darker background, like gold.

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Here's an example of a book cover that I thought did a great job selling the book:

Hollen the Soulless by Denali Day
 
Imagery: Mountains, wyvern/dragon, storm clouds, muscular shirtless man
 
Tone: Dark, tumultuous, adventurous, savage
 
Cover font: sharp, angular, Nordic/Viking-style
 
Taking all of that together may give you the feeling that this book is adventurous and exciting. It probably as Viking influences (and it does). Also, the shirtless man is a subtle indication that there is a romance angle. Generally, scantily dressed and shirtless people on the cover lean towards romance, but not always.
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This cover sold me on the book when I first saw it. Hollen the Soulless is an action-packed, savage romance novel, and this cover really sold that to me.

If you're interested in Hollen the Soulless check out:

• My book review: click here
• Denali Day's author website: click here

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That's it for Part 1 of this series. 
If you're interested in learning more about book covers, here are some resources that I recommend:

• This is a great podcast in general (especially for indie authors), but I particularly like this episode on book cover design: Book Marketing and Author Success podcast: click here
• Ingram sparks also has some great resources: click here