What makes a good book cover? Well, in this case it’s not arbitrary. Good has less to do with personal taste and more to do with getting it right. There’s a process and some rules to follow. Read below to find out why book cover designers create the best book covers.
Good Book Cover Design Pros Are in the Know
Professional designers and others in the publishing industry know their stuff. They know the process, they know the elements to add and what not to add. They have the experience and knowledge required to make sure it’s done right.
Yes, hiring a book designer or team is going to cost money, unlike having your cousin design your book, or doing it yourself with some software that promises to help you create a professional looking book cover. Because a good book cover is more than graphics.
But Speaking of Graphics
Of course graphics are important. But good graphics are only part of it. Good graphics mean quality images, symmetry and balance and the right colors, fonts and placement to fit your book’s genre.
Remember, your book cover is not an afterthought. It’s the biggest marketing tool for your book. You don’t want to take short cuts.
Consultation is Part of Making a Good Book Cover
The first step in the process is always a consultation. You’ll need to know your book’s genre and themes and your ideal reader to get started. Here at Monkey C Media we have clients fill out a questionnaire with these details, along with information like the title, their author name as it should appear on the book and more. We research comparable titles beyond what the client may suggest too.
Without a good consultation, important elements may be overlooked. It’s also as informative for the client as it is for us. But our job is to guide the clients in creating the best cover possible.
The Important Elements That Make a Good Book Cover
Besides quality graphics and sticking to genre conventions, book cover design requires marketing knowledge and awareness of trends. The client is part of the process of course. Their tastes and brand are considered in the final design, we just take their vision and make it work.
The pros also know the important things that many independent authors may not be aware of. Like the back cover of the book for instance. It needs more than just a book description and bio. It also needs:
- A barcode and ISBN
- A human readable price
- Your imprint logo
- The genre
Sound overwhelming? Well, you can read more about what your back cover needs to have in our blog about it.
These are all part of what makes a good book cover design. Without them your book can look unpolished, and hastily self-published. Having a bad cover design tells readers that little effort was put into the book, so they’ll likely pass it up. And after putting in all that effort to write your book and put it out into the world, why would you not want to give it the best chance at success?
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