Ever heard “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”? That’s great when it comes to judging people by their appearances, but it’s not true when it comes to designing your book cover — and has a big impact on your sales. Learn how to boost book sales with Publishing Profits.
If you’re not seeing the kind of sales you want, it might be time to reconsider your cover. Redesigning the cover of your book can boost your sales by over 50%.
Don’t worry if you feel you don’t have the skills to design an amazing image. We’re going to show you the best tips and tricks to create a stunning cover for any book genre.
The Core Idea
To learn how to make a book cover, you first have to get down to brass tacks. What is the core idea of your book?
If you’re too close to the source material, have a friend read your book and try to boil it down to a few sentences. Those main ideas will help you figure out what images work best for your cover.
Research Your Genre
Now that you have a few images to work with, check out other books in your genre. What kind of covers do the best sellers in that field look like?
Self-help books will look different from horror novels, mystery titles look different than cookbooks. Check out what other successful authors’ covers look like to get more book cover ideas for your own work.
E-Book or Hard Copy
Besides book genre, the way your book will be distributed makes a difference. There are design challenges for both e-books and printed hard copies.
With e-books, you have to grab the reader’s attention with a small thumbnail. Your image has to be able to stand out even at a smaller size.
With hard copies, your book might be laid out among many others on a table. Think of ways you can stand out from the crowd when it comes to designing a hard cover book.
Fonts Matter
You’ve got your image, you know which colors work best for your genre, and you’ve got a bold design that helps you stand out among the rest. Now you just have to put your title and name on the cover.
Don’t just focus on the images on your book cover; fonts are important too. Your font should be part of your design as much as any picture or graphic.
Cursive can appear whimsical or handmade, bold type can look machine-made or give the impression of a strong story. Play around with your fonts to make sure that it’s legible even at smaller sizes.
The Perfect Cover for Any Book Genre
Book design doesn’t have to be difficult. Once you break it down into these simple steps, you’ll easily be able to design the perfect cover for any book genre.
There’s nothing wrong with hiring a professional book designer. If you can do it yourself and achieve great results, why not give it a try?
If you liked learning how to create an amazing book cover, there’s more in store for you on our site. Check out our other articles and get inspired!
