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Book Covers
So they say, the cover sells the book. An hour in Waterstones last week revealed some very dull-looking covers. How can I get a vibrant one? Has anyone a good experience to share?
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4 Replies
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I’m not an expert so take with a large pinch of salt.
I would suggest:
1. Pick a great title, and make sure it is clearly presented. Eg Peter James’ One of us is Dead
https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Us-Dead-Roy-Grace/dp/1529090016/ref=sr_1_1_sspa
The title is so good I don’t really care about the rest of the cover (but the title has to stand out clearly).
2. Look at the leading titles in the genre you are planning to publish in. Work out what the conventions are currently. For example, Cosy Crime seems to adhere to the style adopted by Richard Osman’s book. ie Non serif fonts, sharp colours, big letters, not much pictorial info. While rom-com chick lit has to have some representation of the characters on the cover it appears: see Sophie Kinsella. But the pictures are very stylised.
In romantix historical fiction it seems you need an authentic looking historical scene. And so on.
3. Hire a professional designer. Don’t try to do it yourself with AI.
4. Keep it simple.
For me (1) is the biggie.
Just my 2p.
I don’t buy just based on the cover. But certainly browsing in a bookshop, the cover will make me take the book of the shelf and read the first page. Or the blurb and then make a decision.
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Echoing Dave’s point 3 here – having spent an amusing weekend playing around with DALL-E, I conclude the most you’ll ever get out of it is a sketchy prototype you can take to your cover designer as a prompt. The cover designers have a secure job, I reckon.
(See the awful truth here.)
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Excellent response. Reminds me that I’m 3 years trying to pick a good TITLE.
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Yes, a good title is the key. Peter James’s cover is very shouty but that does suit the genre. I seem to remember reading that covers need to be uncluttered, so that the small version shown on Amazon is clear to see.
