Your book cover can make or break your book sales. That is a fact. With all the self-published and indie authors out there, it seems everyone is trying to design their own book cover. Those with knowledge of design know the value and the importance of applying proper design technique. So, before you release your next book, step back and look at your cover design. There are obvious signs that your cover is done by an amateur and some very subtle ones as well. To help your book avoid being classified as amateurish I offer the following seven warning signs.
Sign #1: Text Flush with the Edges. Margins around text give your design 'breathing room' and even more importantly, when covers are printed, if the text goes all the way to the edge of the cover, there is a good chance that some of it will either be cropped off or wrapped to the spine. Be sure to avoid this text placement unless it is a clear design decision.
Sign #2: Poor Color Choices. The first thing that needs to be decided is will the cover contain an image, illustration, or just text. When an image or illustration is used your color choices should be made based on the photo or illustration. To do this blow the image up as much as possible until you see small boxes. Then use those colors in the boxes to blend or contrast with your cover. Don't use a color just because you like it. Even subtle hues and tints of colors can cause your book cover to look amateurish. So choose wisely.
Sign #3: Font Families. Absolutely never use more than three fonts! With all the font choices we have available to us today, it is easy to get caught up in this trap. The fonts you choose should be easy to read at small sizes. So obviously, you wouldn't use an overly ornate font that only looks good in larger sizes. However, that doesn't mean your font choice has to be boring either.
Make sure that your font choices are distinctly different. Don't use just one font on the entire design. There are seven different font categories; Oldstyle, Modern, Slab Serif, Sans Serif, Fringe/Distressed, Script, and Decorative. If you chose one each from three of them, you will find it much easier to distinguish the hierarchy of the text. Which brings us to the 4th sign. . . .
Sign #4: Font Style. When you are considering your font choices think about what the story is about. If it is a romance novel, you might want to use a more decorative font than you would if it was an instruction manual. Don't just slap a font on the cover; think of the book as a whole.
Sign #5: Font Treatment. To make your font stand out the use of WordArt is the wrong choice. Often the color of the font chosen for your title needs a little boost to make it easier to read. Rather than adding a drop shadow or WordArt type of treatment, try giving your text an outer glow of a color with a slightly darker than the background it rests on, switching it to 'multiply' rather than 'screen' if you are given that choice.
Sign #6: Corner Treatment. If you decide to use background borders or fills behind text be sure that you use the right corner treatment. If your book, title, and cover image depict softness, then be sure your corners are softly rounded as well. Vice versa for the opposite, square corner treatment belongs on technical and crisp cover images.
Sign #7: Spine Text Direction. Designers who don't specialize in book cover design quite often make this glaring mistake. So, if a designer can make this mistake then you can imagine how easily and often an amateur makes this same mistake. Take a book or two off your shelf. What direction is the text sitting? You will see that, unless the book is a tome with a very large spine that allows room for horizontal text, the spine is readable when the book is sitting cover up. Be sure yours does too.
If you take the time to visit your local book store, or online book resellers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble, and look at covers in your genre you will come away with a good idea of what you like and don't like about their cover designs. This is also an excellent place to start.
I am confident that these first seven warning signs will give you a good start on designing an effective and professional book cover that you will be proud to call your own.
