Judging a Book By Its Cover
Written by Deb Dorchak - January 4, 2011 0 Comments
When you were young no doubt you heard from your parents “Don’t judge a book by its cover!” When it comes to dealing with people, it’s very good advice, but when it comes to books? Maybe not so much.
What makes a good book cover? What does it take to make your book stand out above all the others on the shelf, be it a physical or virtual one?
Think about how you choose a new book to read. Let’s say you’re looking for something different. Leave out your favorite authors because when you love a particular author, chances are you’re not going to be turned off by a bad cover if you already have an idea of what’s inside.
Many people are suckers for packaging and that’s what the cover is all about. It’s a great big “Pick me! Pick me!” Whether it’s the colors or the image, a book cover is designed first and foremost to grab your attention. Then, if it’s done right, the cover should tell you a little bit of what the book’s about, a quick, three second preview that hits your brain on visuals alone.
All About The Marketing
On his blog The Book Designer, Joel Friedlander made a very good point in an interview with Laura Cross where he said, “…sometimes self-publishers see the cover of their book as an expression of their own personality or interests. That can lead to serious problems with the cover design because the cover really has to be more oriented to the potential buyer, not to what you feel, the colors you like or the designs you like but what the reader is looking for and what they expect to see.”
Your cover is not about you. Unless, of course your book is actually about you. If you’ve written an autobiography, then sure, your cover should be an expression of yourself. With a novel? Not so much.
This is something that’s not exclusive to book covers. We’ve seen it happen with websites, too. All too often when a new self-publisher decides to create their own cover they choose a look that reflects what they would like to see. It’s not always necessarily what their audience wants or expects.
Here is where you need to think like a marketer. Don’t cringe. Marketing isn’t a bad word. Not every marketer is a used car salesman. Marketing is knowing your target audience and how to reach them. Isn’t that the main goal of writing a book to begin with? You want it to sell and sell big, otherwise why do it?
A book cover is like a mini-billboard. You only have about three seconds to grab someone’s attention and in that time you have to convey a lot of information. One of the quickest way to do that is through images.
I’ve had a lot of experience designing billboards and animations for the big LED displays outside of casinos and designing a book cover isn’t all that different. With one three second glance you have to tell that potential reader what you’re selling, what the book is about and make first contact by coaxing them into actually picking up your book and not someone else’s.
Signs and Symbols
Humans are visually oriented. Before there were words, there were pictures. Our ancestors drew images on cave walls to tell their stories. A symbol was the quickest way to get a point across and still is. There’s a lot of truth to another old saying: A picture’s worth a thousand words.
When designing your cover, take some time to think about the symbolism in your book. In Loyalties we had several symbols to choose from that consistently appeared throughout the book. Fire and wolves. We also had an overall feeling of mystery and the supernatural.
Combined with the colors, these elements make for a striking cover. The color pallet grabs a reader’s attention right off and the watching eyes are enough to make one wonder what that wolf is watching…and why.
Another good cover is Stephen King’s It. The cover is really minimal, but boy does it pack a punch. The bright red “IT” draws your eyes first and you pick up the book for a closer look.
The little sailboat immediately tells you there’s something having to do with children, or childhood memories. The claws coming out from the grate definitely pose a creepy threat. The background is dark and shadowy, grungy like the bad side of town, adding to the suspense of the other elements.
I don’t know about you, but it makes me want to look inside and see what all this is about.
Your book cover is a carefully constructed head game. The symbols you choose to tell your story are all meant to reach into that primal portion of the brain and evoke a specific mood at first glance.
More Than A Pretty Picture
Creating an eye-catching image is only the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of technical aspects you need to take into consideration when creating a cover. Many of the technical aspects are ones most publishers haven’t had to think about before the arrival of ebooks.
Next week we’ll take a look at some of these and go into depth on what it takes to create a good cover beyond the printed version.
What are some of the best book covers you’ve seen? What are the worst? When you’re browsing the bookstore shelves, what is it that catches your attention?
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