With nearly 200,000 new titles published each year, bookstores naturally have books featured everywhere—stacked on the floor, standing on end caps, and sitting on tables, not to mention the rows of shelves. This mass of inventory provides a wonderful selection if you’re a book buyer, but if you’re an author, this book-laden landscape proves to be highly competitive as each product vies for the browser’s attention and investment. In the few seconds they have to catch a potential reader’s eye, authors are leveraging the power of an engaging cover design to help the book stand out and rise above the competition.
In traditional publishing houses, authors have little direct involvement with their book once the manuscript leaves their desk, but with AuthorHouse, authors have a high level of involvement and interaction. The best book design involves initial creative input from the author and his or her feedback to the creative team. This unique author-designer relationship allows book covers to move away from the rudimentary application of title and pen name and rise to an art form.
Although it may take less time to complete than the text of a book, the cover is usually the central visual representation of the book. The cover presents an image that combines the artistry and thoughtfulness of the text with elements necessary to sell the book, such as the title, author biography, or reviews.
Targeting Your Audience
Though we have been told since childhood not to judge a book by its cover, your cover forms the reader’s first impression of the book’s content and your writing style. In the same way you have written your story for a specific audience, create your cover so that your target audience will immediately identify with the work. What images or designs would attract the kind of people who would enjoy your story? A book about a bicycle journey across the country might attract readers with an image of a road through wide-open rugged landscape. A book about the latest trends in market investing could attract readers with a sleek design around endorsements and testimonials.
Your cover design is the front line of advertising for your book, a key marketing tool to sell your product. If you are planning a wide marketing and promotional campaign for your book, your cover image will be the crux of all your marketing materials. The image will be incorporated into bookmarks, posters, and postcards, and should receive significant resources.
If you can imagine your book as a Hollywood movie, think of your front cover as a movie poster and the back cover as the thirty-second preview. Your front cover should attract attention and leave your viewers wanting more. The back cover content should compel your audience to invest in the experience your book has to offer.
If you’re searching for cover ideas, start by spending some time relaxing in a bookstore. Notice how customers interact with books, and which positions, displays, and colors tend to attract specific demographics. Look at other books in your genre that sell at a similar price or target similar demographics. What makes one cover stand out more than another? What type of cover attracts browsers to pick up a book and read the back cover?
The symbolic meaning of a well-designed cover will inherently change as the reader delves deeper into the story. These symbols may appear opaque at first glance, but as the reader turns each page, the interrelated metaphors embedded in the cover gradually become more obvious and meaningful. The book’s message is only complete once the reader has finished the story and, with one last look at the cover, fully understands the complementary relationship between the text and cover.
