Your book cover is the first thing that your future readers will see. They DO judge a book by its cover.
With all the books on Amazon or Barnes & Nobel – I glance down to look for covers that catch my eye. If something stands out, I read the description of the book. I simply don’t have the time to read about each one.
And time is a factor for everyone.
Your cover is your book’s calling card.
If you want to create a book cover on your own, check out Canva for book cover templates. If you’re a designer, you can also design a cover. Canva is free to join & use you only pay for their pictures or special templates: affordable at $1 each.
If you’d rather hand it off to a professional & you’re on a budget, check out 99 Designs or Crowdspring, both affordable crowd-sourcing services.
If someone else is creating a book cover for you – ask for an image that is a JPEG file and at least 2500 pixels on the longest side with a height/weight ratio of 1.6 (what Amazon recommends in their publishing guidelines).
No matter if you’re creating it or having it created – there are some things to keep in mind.
Book Cover Design Suggestions
- Contrast complementary colors. Gradients work well. Contrast is important – strong light to dark transitions.
- Use a tagline or teaser.
- If you have one – a review.
- Use clean, simple fonts with decent spacing.
- Stay away from using shadow people. Use actual people.
- Stay away from a busy cover.
- Non-fiction covers need to be clever – appeal to a person’s intellect.
- Fiction covers need to make an emotional connection.
I love this cover because it many of the above points:
- It contrasts colors.
- Uses a tagline (Creative Living Beyond Fear)
- Simple font – plenty of space.
- The cover is not busy.
- It’s clever (it’s non-fiction) – YET – all the colors appeals to my emotional side (fiction).
