What's the Big Deal About Book Covers?
By Todd Rutherford
The cover of your book will often make your first impression with readers. Everyone knows that first impressions are very important. They should be done to the best of the author’s ability. Thought and purpose must be given to cover design. Publishers have long known that a book’s cover is instrumental to the marketing process. In fact, if the cover of a book fails, so does the book.
Publishers value the investment which goes into the publishing process. For this reason, they pay strict detail to how their books’ covers look. The cover represents the author by and large. But it also relates to the publishing company that published it. No publisher wants to be known for poor quality. To ensure this doesn’t happen, entire departments are typically devoted to the production of professional appearing book covers.
Traditional publishing companies invest a significant amount for cover design.
As stated before, specific company departments are dedicated to cover design. Here we could have artists, as well as, graphic experts. Their purpose is to produce the best cover for your book that is possible. There are a number of considerations that go into the whole process.
Cover designers use pictures, graphics, and fonts with concerted effort. None of these cover components are done without a purpose. Each is placed and designed in order to yield the best profit. These departments focus on marketing and pride themselves on producing quality covers.
Self publishers must take cover design as seriously as traditional publishers.
Many companies that help authors self publish, have a cover design option. This option allows the author to pick through some standard templates for their cover design. I do not recommend template covers. You want your book to look as good as a New York Time Best Seller.
Prior to participating in this phase of publishing, an author should familiarize themselves with two things. He or she needs to understand basic marketing techniques. How does cover choice connect to the buyer? What colors are distracting? Study the covers of the top ten bestselling books in your genre.
This is important information. The author should also understand what message they are trying to communicate to the reader. The design of the cover will communicate something, whether positively or negatively. The most effective message an author should want to relay is that of their book’s theme. Covers shouldn’t be chosen because they are liked. They must be chosen for effectiveness as well.
Independent designers will happily produce the cover you want.
Some authors have a specific cover idea in mind, but need help bringing it to life. For this reason, there are many independent graphic design companies. These companies offer a variety of services, some of which include cover design. Working with this type of service doesn't have to be expensive. It may, however, be the best way to ensure that your idea is communicated through your book’s cover.
Designers work to make your idea a reality, and then send you a completed file. Sometimes these projects have to be worked on over time. They can take months in some cases. Once completed, this file can be used to create the book cover you’ve always wanted.
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-------- Tony Eldridge is the author of The Samson Effect, an action/adventure novel that Clive Cussler calls a "first rate thriller brimming with intrigue and adventure." He is also the author of the Twitter marketing book, Conducting Effective Twitter Contests.
2 comments:
I have designed all my own book covers and have had really good luck with them, it's all in the marketing aspect of the book.
Excellent advice, Todd. Thanks for making all us aware before jumping in to the book cover jungle.
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