1925 original edition cover of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitgerald
Can you judge a book by its cover? Probably not. Will your book be judged by its cover? Probably. Here, seven recent articles with excellent insights from folks behind-the-scenes into book cover design: what goes into making a book cover attractive to a reader, what will turn a reader off, and how book covers are evolving in a digital age.
Book Covers: Before and After – ArtsBeat Blog – The New York Times
Four designers discuss their work on recent book covers…
Chronicle Books Blog » Blog Archive » From the Design Desk
It’s been quite awhile since we’ve given our readers a peek into our book cover design process, and it’s always fun for us to look back at the ones that got away. Each book that we design will go through many rounds of covers…
The Decline and Fall of the Book Cover : The New Yorker
There’s clearly some brutally efficient Darwinian process at work here, because certain images spread like evolutionary adaptations and quickly become ubiquitous.
Designing Your Own Book Cover from Scratch | Wise Ink’s Blog
As the old saying goes, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But let’s be honest—we all do it. Readers walk into a bookstore and are drawn to the book with the most eye-catching and graphically pleasing cover before even…
Designing a Book Cover: Groundwork | Nightwolf’s Corner
I’ve teamed up with Ashley Ruggirello, Creative Director and Founder of REUTS Publications, to bring you a series about cover design …
Five Dead Giveaways that your Cover is an Amateur Job
I’m subscribed to a daily book deals email, and I’ve been noticing some trends. A lot of indie covers scream “amateur” right from the start. I can glance through the email and in less than three seconds each spot the indie…
How Book Covers Have to Evolve in the Digital Age – Good e-Reader
As publishing adapts to changes in the technology of books, one area that still remains to adapt is the all-important cover art. Two unrelated art.
Tell us about your own book cover and include a link to where we can view it. Or, share book covers you’ve been attracted to… and why! Did a great book cover design lead to a great inside, or did the words fail to live up to your expectations?
May I offer my book cover design services? I’m an experienced and affordable graphic designer with a portfolio that ranges from new to best-selling authors. I’m also a writer who appreciates all the time that goes into a book. Like Wes said, most books are judged by their covers. A professionally designed cover can only help you sell your books. I also design author websites. Visit http://mjcimageworks.com to see some of my work.
Deb: Great cover!
I am only now looking at professional art / graphic design services for my Cover Art. Has anyone had any luck with the Basic ( i.e. Free ) choices that you see on Create Space, Amazon or other sites. A friend of mine has offered to take on the project for a reasonable fee ( as far as I could research ) I know it’s important but is it possible for some one with little to no graphic design / tech experience to accomplish. With results of course. Thanks All…Cheers !!!
Important question. I’m a long time reader and book browser. The vast majority of books WILL be judged by their cover because most books are unknown. The cover is only thing a browser knows about an unknown book until he reads it.
Even with good covers, those of us who are unknowns still face the display problem. If the books are shown spine out rather than face out, potential buyers have to be looking for our books to have a chance of seeing them-and then it’s “Are they in Westerns, or Historical Fiction, or Local Authors, or New Releases?” Small stores obviously can’t show all books face out, but you can ask them to try yours (or one of yours) that way to see if there’s a surge in sales-especially if it has worked in some other stores. And occasionally change the display genre, if they are not moving, or put them in more than one display area (Romance? Award winners?) I must admit I have occasionally changed a bestseller to spine out in order to put one of mine face out. I’ll probably burn in hell for it.
We actually put a large portion of our budget toward a good book design by hiring Dunn+Associates Design. We wanted it to look polished and professional as well as to be an eye-catcher and we think they nailed it. It was easy to match the interior once we saw the book cover design.
And it shows – great book cover AND great content!