Oh, dear book cover! Thou art shall hopefully sell.

Praying for the same thing? Then, you’re one of many authors around the world who rest the fate of their book sales on the book cover. After all, it’s a marketing strategy that has worked for some of the most notable authors throughout the years.

But no matter how you brainstorm for ideas, you just don’t know what to do. And you certainly don’t want your book to become just another stock in a bookshelf. That is why you can’t just use a template. Oh, what exactly can you do?

Here are some tips on how to design a book cover:

1. Apply the theories.

   Did you know there are book cover design theories that you can use? Some of these theories are backed by research and science (can you believe it?).  Fortunately, famous professional book designers like Jon Gray and Jamie Keenan have shared them to everyone. So now, you’re free to use their works as your book cover design inspiration. Or, if you’re working with a designer, you might want to give him some tips regarding these theories – especially if he hasn’t heard about them before.

2. Contrast is the key.

   Have you ever noticed how black and white can attract the eyes? Well, that’s because of the thing that we call contrast. And that’s exactly what you have to do in your book cover. You have to make a strong dark to light transition (or vice-versa, if you prefer) to make your object or characters jump out at the readers. How can you do this? Just use the combination of colors that lay opposite in the color wheel. If done right, the colors are not only pleasing to the eyes but they are also distinct and interesting.

3. Use your reader’s emotions.

   Those little twinges that stir our hearts, oh well, emotions make us humans. So, use this “human-ness” to encourage your readers to pick up your book from the bookstore shelves. Put beautiful things in the book cover that appeal to the heart. Utilize a lot of lively and exciting colors.

   But remember that every type of book has its own emotion. That is why, the first thing you must do is to analyze what type of emotion would you like to convey to your audience. Is it love, loss or excitement? And once the cover is made, try to ask yourself: how did the cover make you feel? Did it coincide with your plans? If not, don’t be afraid to revamp it.

4. Play tricks on the mind.

   Have you ever heard of juxtaposition? This has been an effective marketing campaign for numerous products. Now, if you know what to do, you can also use it on your book cover layout. Just make it appeal to the brain and let it play its tricks. You can do this by putting together a combination of things or subjects that don’t usually go together, which makes them unexpected. This will definitely catch anyone’s attention, don’t you agree? In order to avoid confusion, you can just put a little subtitle to clarify what the book is all about.

5. Write in the right font type.

   Experimenting on the font type in the cover is not a bad thing. But it can definitely make or break the appeal of your book cover. Thus, it is very important that you know how to choose wisely.

   To ensure that you’ve made a wise decision, assess the genre of your book. Next, consider the initial book art design. And then, connect all the elements that you’ve considered to pick the right font style.

   For instance, if you’re writing a dystopian fiction, you might want to lean more on bold and industrial fonts. But if you planning to print a romance novel, you should use a lot of curly, italic and classy font types in a soft-colored background. That’s how you will grab the attention of your target market.

You see, these tips can be your secret weapon when it comes to crafting a creative book cover design. So, what are you waiting for? Apply them now and make your book cover do the marketing work for you.

If you have other cool book cover ideas, feel free to share them with us!

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2012/aug/16/book-cover-theories-edinburgh-festival
http://www.creativindie.com/8-cover-design-secrets-publishers-use-to-manipulate-readers-into-buying-books/