No, my mystery book is not finished yet. However, I was reminded that it will need a cover design when I was contacted by my editor re my upcoming "brick and mortar" book. She wanted to know if I had any ideas for the cover design. I tore my hair out trying to find one copyright image for the inside of the book - what the heck was I going to do about the cover! Luckily, an Internet friend contacted me, and if my editor agrees, we will use my friends image on the cover.
So, now I am simultaneously writing my mystery, formatting a plan for promoting it, and designing a book cover! I do want a cover that is attractive,and that represents my book well. So I did some research on what some of the elements need to be. I did get a few ideas from this site - damonza.com. The first thing this site talks about is the tone of the book - that the cover sets the tone. This I would agree with. Tone here is defined at the feeling that the reader gets from looking at the cover. I have seen books that go both ways - ones with terrible covers that are actually good books, and ones with great covers that just wasted my time!
The next thing discussed is relevance - the cover needs to be relevant to the content of the book. I write cozy mysteries - no gore, or explicit ANYTHING on my covers! There are many keys to relevance, such as placing focus on characters, locations, or objects featured int he story. Note to self - Make it real!
Then there is the element of attraction - something needs to make the reader want to pick up the book, open the book, and read it! Well done graphics can accomplish this nicely! Put some time, attention, and a few bucks into creating a cover design that represents your work well, and sells it!
Legibility is something that I think that I took for granted. I mean, the title and my name are in type, not in my handwriting, so what's the deal! Evidently there is a deal. The deal is that the information must be legible in thumbnail size. OKay - I get it!
Here is a really great blog that I came across on my search - usable information on creating e--book covers - e-Book Cover Design. Emphasis here is placed on the fact that an e-book cover is a digital cover, which presents differently than a hard cover book. Another factor is that it needs to be aimed at online sales, and that it needs to be kept simple.
Another blog from the above site presents e-book resources, for those that do not want to do their own covers.Resources - e-Book Cover Design
Lots to think about here!
That's great information, Bonnie - thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteAll so very true, Bonnie! I prefer book covers to be clean, simple and to the point. Too many graphics, too much hype is too much for me. Love your journey. Thanks for sharing all this information! Love, light and blessings!
ReplyDelete