Your book is NAKED! Cover it!
The first thing a customer sees about your book is the cover. I’ve talked about that much already. But what’s the second?
For most people, when they see a book they think they might like, the next thing they do is flip it over. What do they expect to see? [Read more…] about The Back Cover: Designing for Print
When I go to do a cover, the biggest time suck will inevitably be one thing.
The title font.
Perhaps this should have gone in to the post on image sizes and resolution, but I’ll talk about this separately since it seems to be something folks are curious about.
Image scaling.
It’s a tricky thing. Everyone knows that a book is a certain size, so you think that if it’s good enough for the cover, it should work everywhere else, right?
Wrong. Allow me to elaborate. [Read more…] about Successful Scaling
So, you want to hire someone to design a cover for your Great American Novel. Here is the first thing you, as the client, need to know:
Communication is key.
After all, that’s what a book cover is; it communicates to readers at a very basic level. The whole process of designing a winning image requires a solid base of communication. This goes two ways, for sure, so make sure that you find a designer that can listen to their client and respond effectively. [Read more…] about Communication and an Open Mind
A cover is the first interaction any potential reader will have with your book. Within the first five seconds, a reader will make a whole slew of inferences based on what they see before them. What genre is this book? Is it a lighthearted tale, or a serious one? How much effort has gone into this book? Was time taken to consider every part of production? Is the story intriguing?
These questions, and many others, will be answered with one look. That’s all you get. With the deluge of media out there, competing for a finite pool of consumers, their first look has to be one that leaves them wanting to know more. [Read more…] about The Heart of the Story
If you’re not a designer or are new to the wonderful world of book covers, you might look at my Project Questionnaire and be a bit overwhelmed by this question:
“5. Image size requirements. Please include resolution (generally 300 dpi for print, 115 dpi minimumfor digital images) and height/width requirements. If you intend to print, please list which service(s) you will be using, as well as formatted manuscript page count to ensure correct spine width in the cover layout.”
Here, I will elaborate on the information you’ll need to provide to any designer you want to hire to create something. This will relate specifically to cover design, as this is one of the most important things your artist will need from you. [Read more…] about Image Sizes and Resolution