Category: Book Covers

Your Back Cover

5/15/2014

by Dominique Petersen

A book consists of two design elements: the cover on the outside and the layout and formatting on the inside. Today I'd like to talk about

THE BACK COVER

The back cover includes more items than the front cover. From top to bottom, they consist of the library category, the blurb, an endorsement, the bar code, the price, and the Publisher’s name (with or without a logo) and the website address under it. The font for the back cover should match the text that your book designer will be using inside the book.

The first item is the library category. This is how the Library catalogues your book and how the bookstore knows which section to place it in. Some examples are: self-help, biography, business, children’s fiction, poetry, romantic fiction, personal growth, health and fitness, inspirational, etc.

The most important item on the back cover is the blurb. This tells the buyer what the book is about and why he/she should buy it. In other words buyers want to know “what’s in it for me?” Next to the cover, this is what makes the sale, so give this item a lot of thought. Obviously, there is not a lot of space to go into detail about the book—nor should you!—the buyer doesn’t have all night to stand and read the back cover. You want to say what you need to say in two paragraphs. Use the first to describe the content of the book—what it’s about. Use the second to point out why the buyer needs your book. Perhaps you could use a bulleted list on the benefits that will come to the buyer upon reading it.

A short endorsement comes under the blurb. This would be a recommendation of the book, why it should be read, what the person recommending it got out of it. You could include two testimonials, if they were just one sentence each. If you have several testimonials, it would be best to pick one for the back cover and then have them all inside the book on the very first page(s).

The next item is the bar code which encodes your ISBN number and the price of the book. This is what is scanned at the checkout. If you are intending to sell your book in stores, you must have a bar code. Your book designer can create it for you using your ISBN number.

The price of the book is very important. If it's too expensive, no one will buy it; if it’s too cheap, you won’t make any money on it after your printing costs. You need to set the right price. One way to get an idea of how much to charge is to check bookstores and see how much books in your category and size are selling for. Your Book Designer can also advise you on an appropriate price.

The Publisher’s name is the last item on the back cover. If you are publishing your own book, then this is YOU. The name can be something that has meaning for you, for example in memory of a parent who has passed away, for example “Victor Publishing”, a name amalgamating the names of your children, or the name of your company. I use “NikDesigns” for my Publishing name, as that is the name of my Graphic Design Business. You may even wish to use your own name or nickname, even your initials. Initials work well if you have three, for example, “DMJ Publishing”. One of our authors thought that she was being very outspoken in her book, so chose “Lippy Press” as her Publishing name. Two women who wrote a book together called their company “Two Wise Chicks Publishing.”

You may also wish to use a small graphic along with your publishing name—a logo. Your book designer can create one for you to use on your book and promotional materials.

Dominique "Nik" Petersen is a published author, graphic designer, and part-time food photographer. For more information, visit the website at www.NikDesignsGraphics.com and Facebook at www.Facebook.com/NiksBooks or www.Facebook.com/NiksPikks
She can be reached at NikDesignsGraphics@yahoo.ca

0 Comments

Your Front Cover

4/30/2014

0 Comments

by Dominique Petersen

A book consists of two design elements: the cover on the outside and the layout and formatting on the inside. Today I'd like to talk about

THE FRONT COVER

The front cover needs to be exciting or eye-catching, yet simple. The ONLY three items it should contain are the title of the book, a graphic or photo, and the name of the author.

The first item on the front cover is the title. It should be prominent and describe what the book is about. If this can’t be done—for example, you want a short, “catchy” title—then use a sub-title to further explain your topic. For example, one of my children’s book authors chose the title “Whitey”, a catchy one-word title, but what does it tell us about the book? The author added a subtitle.
WHITEY:
Story of a Little Lamb
NOW we know!

Another author’s title is “Self-Hypnosis”. He added a subtitle to give the reader more information, but added it above the title:
Uproot Your Past, Nourish Your Present, Enhance Your Future Through
SELF-HYPNOSIS
Just a change in the order of title and subtitle made his book cover distinct!

A new trend that is becoming popular these days is using a short sales pitch, rather than a sub-title. It is usually in the form of a question and can be above or below the title. It too compliments the title and gives the reader more insight into the book's content. Here is an example:
Can one woman find happiness in spite of her past?
DESERVING OF LOVE

The title should be in a font that complements the illustration or gives the reader/ buyer a hint of what the book is about. For example, if the book has a Western topic, your designer may perhaps choose an Old West font. A scary children’s book with a font dripping blood would be effective. Fonts can also be “feminine” and “masculine”, convey a sense of fun, or seriousness for a book on business, or heavy for a book on weight-lifting, or have flowing script for a book on romance, and so on.

The second item on the front cover is an illustration. There MUST be an illustration —either a graphic, drawing or photo. Books having just text are boring and generally don’t attract the buyer’s attention. Of course, a book such as a Dictionary would only have text, but here the buyer is looking for a specific book, not browsing through a bookstore.

If your book has a serious topic, for example, a business book, a photograph is your best choice. This lends credibility to your topic and elegance to the front cover. You must be sure that you own the rights to the photo. You can’t just open any book and scan in a photo to use. You may use one that you took yourself (get the subject’s permission, if necessary), you may buy a photo from an online photo site, which is then owned by you, or you may buy CDs or books to use, but be sure they say that the photos are “royalty free”. If not, you could be sued by the owner of the photo for using something that belongs to someone! If you don't have something specific in mind, your book designer can help you find and choose an appropriate photograph.

A graphic for the front cover could also be serious, if drawn nicely, or could be fun, such as a cartoon. You want to draw attention to the cover so that the reader/buyer will pick it up. So, using a bright cartoon, if it complements the title and content of the book, of course, would do just that. Again, you/your designer must own the rights to the graphic.

One of my clients found the perfect graphic on the Internet for me to use to design a logo for her business to add to her back cover. I told her that we couldn’t just use someone’s art so she found the artist’s e-mail address on the site and wrote to ask his permission. He was complimented that someone would want to use his art for a logo, and not only gave his permission, but also sent her a large, high-resolution copy of the art for me to use. He might have charged her a fee as well, which would have been appropriate.

You may wish your book designer to use a drawing or painting for your cover. This is also very effective and makes your book unique, with a one-of-a-kind illustration. You may draw or paint the picture yourself, or pay someone to do it and you would then own the painting. To get it to the cover, you would stand it up against the wall—be sure that it is straight, not on a slant! Then take a picture of it with a digital camera. For a smaller drawing or painting, you can lay it on the bed of a scanner and scan and save it to your computer. Your designer can give you further information on the size and resolution needed.

The third item on the front cover is the name of the author. Now, if you are a well-known and famous author, your name would go on the top of the front cover in big, bold letters. This is actually done to MARKET the book by advertising it as being by a famous author. If you were to do this on your first book, it would be laughable! You need to have your name in fairly small letters on the bottom of the front cover. It should also be in a font that is NOT the same as the title/subtitle font, or it looks like it is part of the title.

0 Comments

10 Mistakes Authors Make when Creating their own Book Covers

2/5/2014

0 Comments

by Dominique Petersen

I have seen many examples on the Internet of poorly designed book covers, especially eBook covers. In fact, there is a site at LousyBookCovers.com filled with pictures of book covers that authors have done themselves.

Here are 10 mistakes that I have seen authors make.

1. They create the cover themselves, or have their son/daughter/Aunt Martha do it— rather than having a professional design it.

2. They use a low-resolution photo or graphic for the cover photo, rather than the high-resolution that the Printer requires. This results in a fuzzy photo when printed.

3. They use a photo “off the Internet.” Photos on the Internet are owned by someone. If authors don't have permission to use someone's photo or art, they could be sued. They need to get permission or buy a photo from a stock photo site and read the fine print to ensure the photo can be used specifically for book covers.

4. They use background and accent colours on the cover that clash with the colours in the photo on the front. The front cover is designed to entice a potential buyer to pick up the book. If the colours are distracting and ugly, the buyer will be put off rather than attracted to the book.

5. They use a text font for the book's title, rather than a display font. This screams “amateur.”

6. They make the front cover too busy by adding too much information; for example, an endorsement or a list of the bonus material contained within. This distracts from the title of the book and the photo. The front cover does not need to be a “book trailer.”

7. They put their name across the top of the front cover in large print, as if they were famous authors, when the book is the only one they have ever written.

8. They give the whole story away on the back cover, so why would prospective buyers spend the money to buy the book? The back cover blurb is intended to intrigue and entice buyers to find out more.

9. They put their photo and bio on the back cover when they are first-time authors. Since their name is not a selling point, it is better to use that space for an endorsement to market the book and place the “About the Author” inside the book on the final page.

10. They underprice the book because they feel that they can't charge a high price for it. This only serves to undervalue their work in the eyes of potential buyers.

Having your book cover professionally designed is just as important as having it professionally edited. It needs to look good and sound good. You worked hard on the content; show it off to its best advantage!

0 Comments

Your Back Cover

Your Front Cover

10 Mistakes Authors Make when Creating their own Book Covers

Authors

Archives

Categories