Let's be honest, we all judge a book by its cover. Books with good graphics, eye-catching fonts and high quality covers sell more copies than those without – it's a simple fact.
Despite what some people say, book covers are not in decline. Book cover design is booming – it even has its own awards. Design Observer promotes an annual award for book cover design with a 35-person judging panel!
The traditional process of getting a book cover design can be extremely time consuming and the result can be disappointing for the author. This is all changing though with the digital age ushering in an era of author-led eBook publishing – with a little help from crowdsourcing.
Now that people can 'Pin', 'Like' or 'Share' graphics, (in other words help advertise your book!) communities of book (and design) lovers are sharing their favorite book covers across the web. The same activity is becoming commonplace among designers and authors sharing book covers for feedback before they go to publishing.
If you want to design your own book cover or if you've just had yours crowdsourced, here's a list of useful tips and tricks to consider for the design of your project. Good luck!
Be clear on the message
The first think you should do before embarking on your first book cover is to decide on the message you want to send. Ask yourself: What is the book's single-minded value proposition? What is the target audience of readers looking for? Inspiration and Aspiration, Knowledge and Power, Romance and Passion, Murder and Revenge? Once you have a clear vision, you can even explore creating a digital version of your cover using a flipbook maker
Boiling it down to the motivation, incentive and emotion will help you generate tons of ideas or visual metaphors that determine the imagery, choice of color palette, typography, and layout that help you capture what the book is all about.
Generate excitement. Grab attention
The main goal of every book cover is to generate excitement. The cover is one of the best tools in your marketing arsenal. That's why you should create something that will stop people in their tracks and evoke interest. The book cover is the hook that will help you to promote your book.
The book's genre is important
The book cover should show what genre the book is. Look at the book covers in this post. It's easy to understand what kind of books are in front of you, right? A really good book cover "talks" to its readers through choice of typography, imagery and metaphor.
If your book is non-fiction, its cover should communicate the tone of the book. Pay attention to its scope. It is really cool when the book cover explains the scope of the book, allowing the reader to manage their time.
Minimalism: Less is more!
Minimal style is timeless. It helps to focus on the book's title and author's name. Typography alone or as a hybrid illustration is a hot trend because it serves a double role, giving your book a super clean look. Blogs featuring endless scrolling of typographic book cover designs are springing up everywhere.
The cover is an important marketing tool for any book, no matter its genre, so not leave the design to the last minute! Humans are visual creatures so give careful consideration to the book's imagery. Be bold! The design should draw people in, providing just enough intrigue that they just have to buy it ... now!
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A version of this article previously appeared on Hongkiat.
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DesignCrowd is here for all designers. If you need some info on a specific field, or just want to be inspired, take a look at some of our previous content:
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Written by Jo Sabin on Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Jo Sabin is Head of Designer Community at DesignCrowd. She's led the company's public relations and social media programs since 2012. With more than ten years' experience working with Australian and international tech startups in the creative industries, Jo has been instrumental in meeting DesignCrowd's objectives in Australia and abroad. Get in touch via Twitter.
