Book Cover Design
Key Elements Of Professional Book Cover Design For Self-Published Authors
Author: Karen Saunders
It takes just a few vital seconds for an editor or reader to decide about whether your self-published book is worth reading or not, so the design of the book cover is incredibly important. If the key opportunity for selling your book exists in one tiny glance, that glance had better be optimized by excellent design elements, wouldn’t you agree?
Publishers want their books to appear unique so that the book is hard to forget. An excellent cover helps to make that happen. An excellent book cover is like the striking pose of a model – stunning and creative.
Finding the Right Graphic Designer
Professionalism and experience as well as expertise are the main qualities you should look for when finding the right graphic designer to do an important task like the one-glimpse-and-it-sells-or-not test cover of your book. You don’t want your self-published book to appear amateurish or homemade. Your graphic designer should have a high level of creativity, skills, the right software, access to stock photography and be knowledgeable about the book printing process to make your book stand out from all the rest.
What Are the Key Elements in Cover Design?
The cover of a book must include all the elements in our list that are applicable. Not all book covers will have flaps.
* Front cover
* Spine
* Back Cover
* Inside Flaps
* ISBN and Bar Code
At a minimum, your front cover should contain the name of the book, its subtitle, and your name. Testimonials and endorsements can also be tastefully used on the front cover. Your front cover should be legible and easily read from a short distance. Use bold, contrasting lettering to make this element work right. On the spine, your name, title and publishing company name or logo should be listed and legible from a distance. On the back cover, you will want the book’s category in the upper left corner to help bookstores shelve it properly. The back cover should have a compelling headline directed to your target book buying audience, a brief description and a few bulleted benefits. Listing a few testimonials from recognized leaders in your field is very helpful. Your picture and bio may appear on the back cover, and these technical points need to appear as well:
* 13 digit ISBN number (buy from R. R. Bowker Co.)
* Price
* Bar code
* Credits for the cover designer and/or illustrator
What Other Important Elements Play a Role in Producing Excellent Book Covers?
Because your self-published book cover is critical for your marketing and branding, it will get you noticed either positively or negatively. Following are more elements that will help you catch the attention of your audience. A knowledgeable graphic designer knows all about these key elements and their proper usage.
* Chose the right font for the book and its audience.
* Don’t use ALL CAPS for headings, subheadings or Table of Contents. They are too difficult to read.
* Eliminate ‘rivers of white’ with proper word spacing.
* Be aware of ‘leading’ – the space between the lines. Font, type size, word spacing and length of line all come into play here.
* Line length should not exceed 65 characters for ease of reading.
* Paper samples for your book cover are available from the printer. 10 point C1S is the standard for soft covers. Ask your book printer for house stock, as it is more affordable.
There is a precise science behind the creation of a successful book cover, as I’m confident you are now aware. Since the cover is such an important tool, being penny wise and pound foolish should be saved for other elements of your successful book publishing and marketing. Let an experienced, skillful graphic designer help you design your self-published book cover. You can use the key points in this article to check for his or her skill level. To your success!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/key-elements-of-professional-book-cover-design-for-selfpublished-authors-1861441.html
About the Author
Karen Saunders is the owner of MacGraphics Services, an award-winning graphic design firm (888-796-7300). We help authors navigate the self-publishing process. View our portfolio, download a free Book Media Kit Check List, and sign up for our free eCourse: Learn How to Create a Best-selling Book Design from the Inside Out at http://www.macgraphics.net/book-cover-design.php .
Tagged with: book cover • design book cover • self published
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Well if you don’t want to download anything – you’re kind of SOL.
Photoshop doesn’t magically know the size of book you want to make.
The best you can do is just measure a book and make the photoshop file the same.
Or, use InDesign. That’s what it was made for.
That sounds great!
You can probably accompany with something that symbolized faith.
well that’s nice…so at the bottom u can show hands of gals(u know with long nails n nail polish)…lets visualize the cover…bottom left two hands fighting over a scarf n middle a hand pointing or hanging or even better, holding on the bags that u may hang on the initials of “Confession of a Shopaholic”…n on bottom right u may put another couple of hands holding cosmetic stuff…
hope that might help…wish u luck for ur book cover
have a good day
I would familiarize yourself with what a blurb is…usually a summary of the book that was written. Oftentimes, the blurb comes on the inside flap of the book jacket, and on the back are quotes from other authors about the book, the author, or the author’s other books…
Look at some books that you own for examples and write the blurb yourself, you’ll get more points for creativity — even if you are making it up.
No, just because it’s searchable by Google does not mean it’s free for you to take and use someone else’s work; you’ll still have to get permission from the owner of the photo, unless they state on their website that anyone is free to use it. Always assume that someone’s pictures and words, not matter how accessible they are, are copyrighted, unless otherwise noted.
Get a camera and go out and take your own picture for a cover design, or buy a stock photo and Photoshop it.
You can get sued, especially if you’re trying to make money of your “book.”
I believe that comes from your publisher.
I have experience in the publishing business, and I can report that those kinds of deal points (The cover photo, along with, for example, the length of a potential book tour, etc.) are things that are negotiated on an individual, per-book basis between the publishing company and the author. Certainly the major fiction authors (someone along the lines of a J.K. Rowling or a Robert Jordan) can get pretty much what they want, but this is why it is so important to have a good agent, or at least an excellent entertainment lawyer. If it is important to you to control the look of your book, make sure you make that clear to your agent BEFORE he goes in to negotiate your deal. If you do that, there’s a good chance the publishing company will cede you control, or at least consider your input. However, authorial control of cover art/design is NOT automatic, so make sure everyone involved understands how important it is to you.
I like the ones that have a deep emotion: Dark background, a single rose; The outline of a young girl; The title in bold white letters; A white background with a burnt box of matches, do you get my roll here? And The tittle HAS to be meaning full.
Photobucket has a ton of picture effects and you don’t have to download anything 😀
What format and design application to use for book cover designs?
I have a friend who is shopping her manuscript about to get it published. As she knows I am an acomplished artist with an international reputation, she asked me to do the cover design. I have several graphic programs at my disposal, but not sure they are compatable with whatever the book printers use.
Does an author usually have a say in their book cover design?
I’m writing a book, and was wondering if i could supervise the making of the cover photos, etc. It’s a teen clique book, and so I was wondering if i could choose the location, models, etc. Do publishing houses usually let authors do that? Please no rude comments; just answer my question. Thanks!
Blurb ideas for book cover design project?
I’m designing several book covers for a college project. They are on the the themes comedy or tragedy.
I have to write a blurb on the back of each book cover and I’m wondering how I should do it.
Should write the blurb myself, use a blurb from someone elses book, or use song lyrics? or anything else?
Where can I find a book cover design company?
I wrote a book, and I need to find someone where they can give me a cover for it.
Does anyone have ideas about a book cover design?
Well, my AP 11 english class is compiling together a collection of essays to be published. The title of the book is called We Believe This. Basically, it’s about what each student’s beliefs are based on a topic. I’m stuck on how to design a cover for this book. My idea so far is to take photo of each person in my class and make a collage of two faces. This way everyone is included. What do you think? Other ideas would be appreciated!
Can someone help me with my book cover design?
I have to redesign the book cover of ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’. My design is at the top, it’s got a whole bunch of shopping bags, and in the middle there is the title and author and stuff, and at the bottom there will be something else. I can’t decide! Help?!
Do you have to pay for a book cover design?
If your making a book cover design do you need to pay for the picture you get like from a website or google or something?
Like, I’m making a book right and I’m wondering if I use a picture for my cover, will I need to pay for it if I publish it? Or just say it isn’t mine? Because isn’t it free since it’s on google or something?
Please help, I don’t want to get sued. XD
Thanks. 🙂
How to design a book cover at a young age?
I want to design a cover for my book, but i am only 14. Can i get some help? Can not download anything onto computer
How much does a book cover design influence you to pick up a book?
If author is unknown and you haven’t read any previous reviews.
Also, what kind of design do you personally prefer.
How to create a book cover design using Adobe Photoshop?
I want to create a book cover design using Adobe Photoshop, but I dont know the size of the template. I don’t want to download anything.