If you're on the hunt for book cover makers, you're probably looking to DIY the cover for your book. But before we get into our recommendations, we'll start with a caveat: don’t make your own book cover if you can avoid it, unless you're a professional designer already.
I want to encourage you to check into the various book cover creators listed in the article above. Let's talk about it.
The image above, Cynetic Wolf won the Fiction Book Cover Award in April. I wish there were as many notes as to why it was a winner as there are on many of the other images on the page.
Remember back in the days of Dogpile and Netscape? Back when we used WordPerfect and FrontPage? The era when we thought Frames were cutting edge and having a web page open and automatically blare music at our visitors?
I admit I was guilty of some of it. Frames, were just too complicated so I avoided them, but others did not.
Looking into what to use or what to avoid with Book Covers keeps taking me back to the 90s and early 00s era of the World Wide Web.
From the article for Sunday's Chat --
As more authors opt for independent publishing routes, I'm getting more questions about secrets to good book design, production, and
layout.
Most people in book publishing believe that a cover is a book's No. 1 marketing tool.
The title should be big and easy to read.
Don't forget to review a thumbnail image of the cover.
Do not use any of the following fonts (anywhere!): Comic Sans or Papyrus.
No font explosions! (And avoid special styling.)
Do not use your own artwork, or your children's artwork, on the cover.
Do not use cheap clip art on your cover.
Do not stick an image inside a box on the cover.
Avoid gradients.
Avoid garish color combinations.
Finally: Don't design your own cover.
Bonus tip: No sunrise photos, no sunset photos, no ocean photos, no fluffy clouds.
Chat Begins at 7PM EDT at the Writer's Chatroom
Book Cover Month
June is Book Cover Month at The Writer’s Chatroom. On Wednesday we talked about A Clockwork Orange. The conversation centered around a post entitled The best book covers of all time: 50 coolest book covers on a Website called ShortList. Sunday we are having a look at What Makes a Good Book Cover.
There are a million book covers out there—some amazing, some not so much. What separates the heroes from the zeroes and how can you create a book cover that
achieves its goals and gets people talking? In this post, I’ll explain what makes a compelling book cover and how you can improve your cover illustration game.
Business of Illustration
A good book cover generates sales
It communicates a variety of things
The genre
The audience
The tone
What the book is about
Immediacy
Uniqueness
Integration of type and art
Would you pick this up?
Final Words
Creating a successful book cover takes a lot of work. But if you can approach it from a buyer’s perspective that will help immensely. After all, the
cover is ultimately a sales tool. By remembering it’s goal, addressing the audience, and crafting something unique and immediate that stands apart in the marketplace, you can greatly improve your covers.
Let's start off with an informal chat about what makes a good book cover.
Nah, let's go all the way. Why is the particular book cover above, CLOCKWORK ORANGE listed as #1 on the Best book covers of all time?
Title: A Clockwork Orange Author: Anthony Burgess Artist: David Pelham
Designed ten years after the book's first publication, to coincide with the release of the 1971 film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick, this iconic cover was designed and realised by Pelham in a single night after an illustrator's first attempt was deemed inadequate. The Cog-eyed Droog design was thus adopted and
instantly became a design classic.
Please, you have got to help me out on this one because I am clueless.
