10 Steps To The Best Cover For Your Book by guest @Mal_Rock

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The subject of book covers is a hot one, especially in the indie publishing world.

All the time I hear arguments like:

People should give all  books a fair chance…

Just because an author can’t afford a professionally designed cover, doesn’t mean the book is bad..

The cover makes perfect sense to me and I love it, so my readers will too…

The problem is, people DO judge books by their covers. They WON’T usually give a book with a poorly designed cover a chance.

Your  cover is the face of your work, so if the cover isn’t good or is all wrong for your target audience, potential readers will never get far enough to know your book isn’t bad.

You are attached to your story and the picture you have in your mind, and that’s great, who you really need to impress is your target audience because ultimately you want your book to sell.

So, what do you do? Let’s go through some steps you can take to ensure the best possible cover for your book. After all, you put a lot of time and effort into your book. You want the face of that labor to be spectacular, not mediocre.

 

1. Start saving your pennies.

This one is pretty simple. While you are busy writing your book, start putting a little money aside here and there, so when it comes time to pay for all those things you will need as an author to publish a great book, you will already have a fund started to get you going. This step not only applies to your cover, but also for editing services, (I cannot stress enough how important it is to have your book properly edited), and also for formatting and marketing. If you really want to make a go of being a published author you should be putting your best effort into it. Maybe you don’t have the money to publish the moment you would like to, but ask yourself what you want to present to your potential readers. Why waste all of the blood, sweat, and tears you spent writing this book by rushing it out of the gate and not presenting it in the best way possible? Would you go to college for years to be a professor and then show up to teach your first class unprepared? No! You would be planning from the moment you knew the job was yours. The same goes for your book. Make a plan, have a timeline that works in your budget, save your money, and get it done right!

2. Research your options.

Start looking around for cover designers. Ask your author friends if they have recommendations, and then follow up. No offense to any of your author friends, but don’t just take their word for it. Be sure to check out portfolios, and ask other authors how their experience with a designer was. Ultimately you want to find a designer that does professional work, works well with clients, and delivers on time. Take note of what types of covers the designer does. If they have 100 covers completed and they are all romance, that’s great if you write romance, but if you don’t, well they probably aren’t the designer for you. Or maybe they do many genres of covers, but specialize in a certain area. That is also something to be aware of. The point is, just because you like their work doesn’t necessarily mean they are the right designer for your cover. Do your homework!

3. Ask Questions!

So now you’ve found a few designers you think will work for you. What’s next?

Look over their FAQ and contact them to ask any other questions. Ask them about their process, fees, turn around, etc. Does it sound good to you? Do they communicate well? Did they respond back quickly? Doing this can weed some out right off the bat, so it’s a good idea to send a message just to see how they deal with potential clients and if they answer their email regularly.

4. Plan ahead…..way ahead.

Many cover designers are booked out 1-6 months. Make sure you do all the above steps with that in mind. It would be really unfortunate for you to do all that, find the perfect designer for you, only to have them be booked way past your launch date. Don’t expect them to be able to squeeze you in at the last minute. Planning ahead is essential. Plus, it gives you the necessary time to get whatever funds you may need to pay for services.

5. Be available and on time.  

So now you have your designer picked and you are ready to get started. Make sure you get them all the information, payment, links, documents, etc, that they need by the date that they ask for it. If you are late with any of that material, you are delaying their schedule, which could in turn delay the process and amount of time it will take them to get you a finished cover. The same can be said for responding to them during the process. You know when your date for start is set, and you should know the window of time they gave you for the process. So, when those dates come and they send a question or concept, be sure to respond back quickly. If you don’t get back to them for several days, you again may have just inadvertently backed up the completion of your cover.

6. Speak up if you have something important to say.

Cover designers are not mind readers! (I know, crazy right?) If you have any extremely important preferences about anything related to the creation of your book’s cover, tell them about it before you set anything up. Maybe you hate the color red….the sight of it makes you ill. Tell your designer before they make you a concept with a bold red title. If you have to have a character on the cover, be sure to be extremely  thorough with the physical description. Brown eyes, brown hair, petite, and curvy won’t cut it. How long is their hair? What color brown is it? Is it curly? Do they always wear it in a ponytail? Are they fair skinned? Do they wear make-up? How old are they? Do they have any scars? Do they wear jewelry? etc Every aspect of the character’s appearance should be covered, or you will most likely find yourself either going back and forth in emails a lot adding more of these details in one by one, or getting a concept back that has a model who is completely wrong for your character.

7. Listen to what your designer has to say.

A good designer knows the market. Part of what you are paying for is their expertise of the book cover market and trends in the genres they work, and overall. So, if they are telling you something isn’t working, or could impact the appeal of the cover to your target audience, or may work better another way….consider what they have told you. A good designer doesn’t make these things up just to have it their way. They want to help you get the best possible cover for your book which will help to sell it. Now, not all designers have a great working knowledge of the market, but this is something you can find out when you are asking questions of designers before you pick one out. (That’s #3 on our list here.)

8. Don’t ask your mom, dad, sister, cousins, neighbors, co-workers, and best friends for all their technical feedback.

It’s great to have a person or two to show your cover to and get a reaction from them. If something is glaringly wrong you want confirmation after all, right? That is wonderful and fine; however, asking everyone you know for their full run down on everything to do with the cover….. not the greatest idea. Everyone has an opinion. They are entitled to it, but do you really want the technical aspects of your cover dictated, and possibly ruined, by your mom whose profession is elementary school teaching, your brother the mechanic, and your neighbor the lawyer? Definitely not. Again, you are paying a professional designer for a reason. Make sure you get your money’s worth. Ask your mom for advice on your sons schooling, your brother to fix your car, and the neighbor for legal advice.

 If you are really worried about this aspect, ask ahead of time if your designer works on and completes all design work with or without ever consulting with another designer. Some designers will bounce pieces of work off a trusted friend or two in the same profession, making sure to catch technical inconsistencies before sending it out. This can make a big difference!

9. Triple check your cover

Once the cover is ready to be finalized, be sure to check it over, and then over again and again. Too many times authors find out months down the road, after the book is already in the hands of many readers, that there is a spelling error on the front cover or a watermark left behind. Have someone else check the text, too, because just like inside the front cover, typos slip by all too easily and having one on the front cover is not the first impression you want to give. It can ruin an otherwise perfect cover.

10. Go forth and sell your book

You now have the perfect cover for your book! Go sell the crap out of it and remember to give credit to your designer and show them some love!

About the Designer:

Mallory RockI work with authors to bring their literary works to life through covers, interior graphics, layout & formatting, cinematic book trailers, custom world maps, web graphics, and promotional materials. I am the art director at the author PR firm Novel Publicity, cover artist & print formatter for Evolved Publishing, and also work with Indie Reader providing custom cover and promotional graphics services. I have worked with authors like NY Times Best Seller Bella Andre and also with The Tannenbaum Company creating a look book for a fantasy novel turned screenplay.

I am an avid reader and enjoy books across many genres. But I have a very fervid love of dystopian and fantasy novels. I have been known to devour up to a book a day when my busy schedule permits. I enjoy combining my love of literary works with my artistic skills to help authors bring their work to life visually.

Find out more about Mallory on her website, Facebook, or Twitter.

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18 Comments

  1. Renee on April 18, 2014 at 10:37 am

    Well said! Every one of them, things I’ve said to clients at different times. It’s nice to have it all said in one place. Definitely adding this to my list of articles to show clients when we come to a crossroads about how to handle their covers. Thanks for articulating it so well!

  2. Renee on April 18, 2014 at 1:35 pm

    I’ve tried to comment a couple of times. It tells me that I’ve already said that, but nothing shows up. There must be something amiss with this blog. 🙁

    • Rachel Thompson on April 18, 2014 at 2:40 pm

      Your comment is here. sorry for any trouble, Renee! My web person is working on it.

      thanks!

      • Renee on April 18, 2014 at 5:12 pm

        I wasn’t sure anyone even knew that it wasn’t working. It kept timing out and sending me to a blank page. But when I tried to post again, it would tell me I already had! 😀 Catch 22! 😀

        Glad it’s fixed!

  3. Rachel Morgan on April 19, 2014 at 3:21 am

    It is most certainly worth investing money in a good cover! I KNOW I shouldn’t judge the content of a book by the image on the outside, but I do. Every day. Whenever I get emails from the book recommendation services I subscribe through, I scroll through them quickly, and if there’s no cover that appeals to me, I delete the email and move on. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who does that!

    • Rachel Thompson on April 20, 2014 at 8:34 pm

      Thanks, Rachel (good name btw :).

      We all do that! That’s why great covers are so critical. It’s the whole ‘first impression’ thing. We do it with people and with books, songs, art, anything really. Visual appeal is how we do it. 🙂

      thanks for reading and commenting!

  4. Tara West on April 19, 2014 at 6:16 am

    Mallory, your covers are amazing. Thanks for this article. 😉

    • Mallory Rock on April 20, 2014 at 7:46 pm

      Thank you Tara. Glad you liked the article. 🙂

  5. Rebecca Poole on April 19, 2014 at 1:06 pm

    Great points, many of which I’ve said on numerous occasions. Thanks for providing this all in one spot for easy bookmarking. 🙂 Will definitely being sharing it.

  6. Rene Folsom on April 19, 2014 at 1:48 pm

    I read an article recently that showed just how Amazon displays search results. Most of the time, the cover is all you initially see. Reviews of the book are great and totally essential, but in order to grab the shopper’s attention initially for them to even see those amazing reviews is a stellar cover. So, well said. The cover is definitely one of the most important impressions you can make with potential readers. Another mistake I often see authors make is allowing their family or friends to “create” artwork for their cover, then worried about hurting their feelings by not using it. It’s important to remember that this is your product, not a family project. Great article! 🙂

    • Rachel Thompson on April 20, 2014 at 8:37 pm

      Good points, Rene. I agree wholeheartedly.

      Interestingly, we create personal Google+ accounts with our face, but when someone googles a book, it’s the cover that comes up — so creating a ‘page’ (same concept as Facebook) should be our focus.

      Family/friends — no. just as our high school English teacher isn’t an editor, neither is a family/friend who likes to create cat meme shots. NO. Run. Run away.

      🙂

  7. Delilah Stephans on April 20, 2014 at 2:19 pm

    Well said Mallory but really, shouldn’t number 4 be number 1? 🙂 My new saying that is going on my new site is “A book is always judged by it’s cover. Shouldn’t your cover be judged worthy?”

  8. Mallory Rock on April 20, 2014 at 7:59 pm

    Thank you all for the comments. Glad to hear the article is helpful now and for possible future use to you. 🙂

  9. Elizabeth Lang on April 21, 2014 at 12:33 pm

    Amen. I wish all authors, or anyone thinking of hiring a graphic designer, would read over this checklist first.

  10. MM Jaye on April 21, 2014 at 11:18 pm

    That was the right article at the right time for me, as I have to start working on my cover(s)–it’s a long story… My question is this: I think I’ve found the designer whose work resonates with me, but recently I saw the perfect model for my contemporary romance in another designer’s portfolio. Since most images designers use come from stock photo sites (I think), can I show the perfect model to my preferred designer, hoping she’ll find images of him, or is this like looking for a needle in a haystack? Sorry if this question is naive, but I don’t know the first thing about how your options work. Thank you for the article and congratulations on your portfolio. If I were in the dystopian/thriller/fantasy genres I’d look no further. 🙂

    • Mallory Rock on April 21, 2014 at 11:27 pm

      Thanks MM Jaye. It is possible your preferred designer may already know of this model you like. It never hurts to ask .Just know going in they may or may not be able to find the same one, but many models are very widely distributed among many stock sites. 🙂

      I might also ask your designer whether the model in question is one that has been overly used for book covers. While they might be perfect for your character, keep in mind that having a model that is the same on 100 other book covers (many in the same genre as you) may do more for your personal visual of the story than helping bring in potential readers. After all, what you want is not only a stunning cover that you love, but one that works well on the market in your genre to pull in your target audience. 😀

      Good luck with your book!

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