When you think of book covers, you probably visualize a beautifully designed jacket with the title and author name. The front and back covers are essential for an effective book marketing strategy. However, they are not enough.
A well-designed book cover will help your book stand out among hundreds of other books on the market. Even though, at first glance, your potential readers can’t see inside the pages of your book, they will definitely judge its quality based on its cover. This is why it is essential to invest time and effort into developing an eye-catching design that will drive sales by making people want to know more about your book.
Here are 7 secrets about book cover design that’ll actually drive sales:
- Research Before you Design
The first thing you need to do before even thinking about your book’s cover design is to do plenty of research. Find out what other books in your genre are doing with their covers. What are their colors, font types, and layout? What do those covers say about the book?
It’s easy to search for your book’s genre on Amazon, and to look at the list of bestsellers in that genre.
- Show Off Your Brand’s Unique Value
Your brand’s values are the things that make you different from your competitors. The best way to showcase your brand’s unique value is by including a stock image (or original!) directly related to your book’s theme or concept.
For instance, if you’re writing a book that discusses the benefits of financial planning, you could use a stock image of a graph or pie chart that outlines the percentage of assets and liabilities. This will allow your audience to quickly understand your book without even reading the title or subtitle.
When you use images relevant to your book’s theme or concept, you show off your brand’s unique value by putting your best foot forward, and quickly conveying your message to the audience.
- Make Sure the Image Appeals to Your Target Audience
The image on your book cover should be visually appealing to your target audience. If your audience is families with children, then an image of a ghost or an alien may not be the best choice.
It should go without saying that you should choose an image for your book’s cover that will make your audience think, “I want to read this book” instead of “I don’t want to read this book.”
And, if you want to appeal to a wide audience, you should select an image with a universal appeal. If you want to narrow your target audience, then choose an image that appeals to a specific group.
For instance, if you’re writing a book for women interested in technology, you could use an image of a woman wearing a pair of headphones, and sitting in front of a computer. This image appeals to women, and it also appeals to those who are interested in technology.
- Be Clear and Concise with your Branding Message
A branding message is a short statement that communicates your brand’s core message. For example, Apple’s branding message is “Think Different.” Coca-Cola’s branding message is “Open Happiness.” Your book cover should contain your brand’s short, concise branding message to communicate your book’s message.
When designing your cover, you or your designer should use a font style that is consistent with the branding message of your business. If you’re unsure of what font to use, you can choose a pre-installed font on your word processing software, or hire a designer to assist you with the book cover design.
- Utilize the Fascination of Color
What colors did you notice first when you opened this website? It is important to understand what colors will grab your audience’s attention. If you’re designing a cover for a book that discusses how to improve your health, you may want to use bright green and red colors to grab the potential reader’s attention.
Although it is important to consider the colors you select for your book cover, it is also worth considering how those colors are used. If you hire a good designer (or if your publisher has an excellent one for you to work with), that person should know which colors work well together, and how to incorporate those into the design you are both working on together.
- Change Up your Font and Font Size
When choosing your font, choosing one that will set your book apart from the others in your genre is ideal. Using a common font for your book can make it harder for people to associate the font with your title and it will be harder to drive sales with your book cover.
If you’re writing a fiction novel, you might want to try bolding your font or using a script-like font. This will help add a bit of playfulness to your cover while being bold enough to set your book apart from others in your genre.
If your book is nonfiction, you might want to go for something that appears more professional, and adds a certain weight and importance to the words.
- Add a Call-to-Action
A call-to-action is a design element commonly seen in advertisements, especially on social media sites like Facebook. This design element allows you to direct your audience to an offer, download page or website URL. It can be used to drive sales by prompting the audience to take action.
For instance, when designing your book cover, you can add a call-to-action option that asks the audience to share about the book on social media, download an audio file, or purchase the book.
You can also include a call to action that directs people to your website where they can purchase the book or sign up for your newsletter.
Conclusion
A well-designed book cover is essential for effective book marketing. It can help your book stand out among hundreds of other books in the market. Your cover should make people feel something, whether it’s excitement, curiosity, or something else.
William Opar is an expert Content Writer and Blogger who helps brands to grow their businesses and earn real money. He’s a freelance contributor to The Penny Voice, WritersWeekly, FreelancerKenya, Medium.com, and a savvy writer on Upwork. Feel free to contact him for high-quality freelance writing services. Get in touch via LinkedIn.
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