Tuesday, March 05, 2019

Know what makes a good book cover and why?

by Rick Blechta

Every author, whether your books come from a traditional publishing house or published by you from your own house, is going to be faced by dealing with a cover for your magnum opus.

If you have a publisher, you may not be allowed to give very much input into cover design, but having a bit of background in cover design will help because not every design is going to be a tremendous work of art. Even experienced designers can make bad choices (heaven knows I have!) and when the publicity, sales, and editorial departments get involved, the waters get even more muddy.

In some cases you may not even be consulted. Even if you are consulted and come up with some good reasons for not liking what they’re going to put on your book, your publisher still retains a “get-out-of-jail-free” card: “I’m sorry but this is a marketing decision.” But if you have a bit of knowledge you might at least talk them into listening to you, even if you’re ultimately ignored.

If you’re self-published, then every aspect of the book’s cover design is completely on your shoulders, and every bit of knowledge and good advice you can get your hands on will get you that much closer to a successful book cover.

2 comments:

Anna said...

These are excellent pointers, especially the need to have covers that are visible when reduced in size so they will still stand out from the herd.

Rick Blechta said...

I've always felt that it was silly to have to use only one cover for a book. The little cover images used on websites like Amazon require a different design to be really effective. Reducing a 5x9 book over to little more than a thumb nail is actually pretty silly. But try telling publishers this!