Your Book Cover Design Represents You
---Michael Anderson

Book design is one of the subtlest forms of product design because every book is a unique expression of its author.  We have all had the experience of being attracted to a beautiful design and put off by a bad design.  Simply stated, good design sells.

You’ve got something to say.  You worked hard to organize your ideas or your story.  You spent time getting it written and edited so that the words sing.  Now, how will you package your book?

When someone picks it up, will they say, “Wow!  This looks interesting.” or, will they ignore it?  When you hand your book to someone, will it represent you in a way that makes you proud?  Or, will you feel apologetic about how it looks? 

A good cover design is as personal as a well-selected outfit.  No one style fits everyone.  Every author is unique.  There is only one way to get a cover design that reflects who you are and what you have to say:  Work with a designer who understands your publishing goals, thinks creatively about your needs, and builds a cover that works for you.

Off-the-rack outfits may be fine for day-to-day wear, but, when you have put your heart into something as important as your book, only a custom-made design will do.

The design and layout of the inside of the book is important too, but first, your readers have to pick it up and look within.  Here are a few points I always think about when designing a cover:

1. Unity:  A good design conveys a comforting sense of integrated wholeness. 
2. Art:  Readers want to bond with a well-designed book as an aesthetic object.  They want to feel good about carrying it around in public, enjoying it in private, and giving it as a gift.  Elegant design has been used forever to sell almost everything.   The one caution is that art must not overwhelm message.  I have seen slick designs that looked great, but failed because the words were not easily readable or the image did not fit with the message.
3. Simplicity:  Although there are many subtle elements to a book cover (front, back, and spine), a great design should feel as simple as possible.  Custom-designed should not be confused with over-fancy. 
4. Clarity:  This sounds straightforward:  Can you read the words?  Is the type big enough?  Is the contrast between text and background high enough?  Does the design convey the message in an interesting way?  In practice, achieving clarity takes skill and many books you see in stores do not have it.  (All the better for yours, if it does.)
5. Color:  How many volumes have been written about color?  From the author’s perspective, the key point is that cover color should reflect your personal brand.  Vivid or muted?  Cool or warm?  You should pick two basic colors, one dark and one light.  This provides the color key and all other shades should harmonize with it.  These same colors, or related shades, should be reflected in all your promotional material from web site to business card.
6. Imprint Logo:  A self-published author should get an imprint logo for the back cover and spine.  You use this to build your own brand and should not let the printer or POD publisher advertise their logo on your cover.  That would only be appropriate if you landed a major publisher with a known brand name that enhances your reputation.  When you get an imprint logo designed for your book, you send a message of seriousness to potential readers. 
7. Illustration:  A good design does not necessarily require an illustration.  Some fine covers use only words and geometric design.  However, most books will have either photography or artwork or a combination of both on the front cover.  As with every other aspect, the point is to attract your defined audience and to use illustrations to that end.  The image has to be congruent with the book’s message. 
8. Author Photo:  The back cover may include a head shot of the author or this may be placed inside the book, usually on the last page with “About the Author” text.  There are many details about how to get an effective head shot, but I tend to believe that author photos work best when the reader feels a sense of eye contact with the image.  For this reason, I usually crop author photos close around the face.  You don’t want the reader to feel remote from you.  If they buy your book, it is partly to have a sense of connection with you, the author. 
9. Author Short Bio:  Often, the back cover will have a short paragraph about the author and why the potential reader should believe you.  This is usually supplemented by a longer author bio inside the book, even if the whole book presents your life story. 
10. Book Description:  The back cover almost always needs a catchy description of what is inside and why the reader might want to buy it.  The primary purpose is to entice the reader to open the book and explore inside.  The more they get engaged in what you have to say, the more likely they are to buy your book. 
11. Testimonials:  It is always good to get other people, especially authorities in your field or other authors, to say nice things about your book.  Usually, I would put only two or three short testimonials on the back cover.  Any additional testimonials can be placed on the inside.  One compelling line from an authority may make the difference between a sale and a miss.  The point is to capture that special little phrase that will catch the reader’s interest.
12. ISBN Barcode:  Self-published authors should always acquire their own ISBN codes.  When you receive your code, it will come with a barcode image that the designer can place on the back cover.
13. Shelving Categories:  A short list of categories helps a bookstore place your book in the right sections to reach the readers you are looking for.  For some books, identifying category is easy and obvious; for others, more difficult, but it is always necessary.
14. Title:  You have been writing your book under a working title for so long it may not occur to you that you have one last opportunity to refine the title during the book design process.  I recommend short titles with longer explanatory subtitles, such as, “My Book: The story of my journey through life and the lessons I learned.”  This may not be much of a title, but it illustrates the point.  A short main title can be set in large, eye-catching type.  This is not a rigid rule.  Some books have done well with long but memorable titles.  Nevertheless, having a short and memorable main title is good for book design and for marketing.

There are many other refinements involved in building an effective book cover design, but these are the main elements both the designer and the author have to consider. 

Although book design is a significant investment, it is absolutely necessary.  Without a good design, you waste much of the effort you put into writing your book.  Better to create a simple design than to use a bad design. 

Bookstores are filled with books that have adequate cover designs, but very few are great and many are simply bad.  The cover of one book I read (on branding, of all things) had such a bad cover that I threw away the dust jacket.  I have also seen some artistic designs that did not effectively represent the books they were supposed to promote.  That is why I emphasize the importance of understanding the book, the author’s publishing objectives, and the audience you are trying to reach.  People DO judge books by their covers.  Make yours a winner.

Parts of a Book Cover Design

A cover design project may include several component subprojects:

1. Overall Design
2. Imprint Logo Design
3. Cover Illustration Creation
4. Back Cover Copy Writing
5. Photo Enhancement for Head Shot or Cover Photo(s)

Inside Text Layout, Formatting, and Design

A great cover gets people to look inside your book.  Once there, the internal book design has to capture them further and inspire them to buy your book.  For example, a good table of contents presents what is in the book in a captivating manner. 

There are many details that go into internal book design.  When you open a book at random, you are looking at a pair of facing pages.  Every element on this page-pair has to communicate a clear message and make it easy for the reader to absorb. 

Dozens of decisions about font size, white space, page organization, and illustration should result in a book that coveys your message smoothly into the reader’s mind.  The whole point of what is on the page is what gets into the reader’s understanding.  When design is done well, cover and internal design work together to spread your message to the world.  This is the ultimate test of great book design.