The Importance of Book Cover Design and How to Do it Right

I like to think my book covers are serviceable. And the service they provide is to show you the difference between a serviceable book cover and a professional one. But that's ok, because here I'm also trying to show you what not to do.

In any case, you'll see these change as I work my way towards a quality graphic designer I can trust. I've been burned a few times so I'm very careful these days.

You only have to peruse any famous author's book to see the difference between serviceable and quality. Even unknown authors will invest.

Now if you're anything like me, you'll generally be full of creative optimism—"No, really, this can work!"

Don't do it as a newbie—unless you have a degree or other relevant experience in graphic design. Unless you know what you’re doing. Just don’t. I’ve seen some godawful covers (including my own) that have no place on the serious market shelf of publishing, self or otherwise.

It was fabulous. Like many of my first covers, which are stuck somewhere on Google Images to offend the eye of any discerning reader.

Here's how I got started. My first effort contained three different low resolution images flowing into each other like an icecream sundae stuffed into an Eton Mess and topped with a BLT sandwich. I'd discovered layers, you see, and was so proud of my artistic flair.

And copyright? Eh? Que? Quoi?

It was fabulous. Like many of my first covers, which are stuck somewhere on Google Images to offend the eye of any discerning reader and there's not a thing I can do to get it back. There's a whole host of tools on the net that you can use to help you, but in this post we're concentrating on the most basic tips.

1. Drawing Attention

If you're keen to actually sell loads of books, without a good cover you won’t be able to draw much attention to your masterpiece. Not unless you have a wide sphere of friends and they love you enough to support you. But we can't all have those wonderful networks.

In the meantime we’ve all been conditioned to be superficial; and once you swallow that very bitter pill, you’ll realise that your brilliant story will gather no attention unless you prettify it.

2. Understanding Resolution

Also, you don't want this.

Most online publishers recommend that you use an image with at least 300 megapixels for your cover. Ever seen an image online that looks blurry? Not a high enough resolution with the number of megapixels is why. The image may not look too bad at a certain size, but try to enlarge it and you'll see how difficult it is to make out text or images.

3. Image Formats

I can't emphasise strongly enough how important it is to familiarise yourself with the paint programme you're using. Look up the difference between JPEG, PNG, TIFF, etc. You don't need to be an expert but there's no point in working on TIFF image if the platform you're uploading to only accepts JPEGs. Or using JPEG if PNG is recommended. (What they stand for is for another post.)

4. Photo Editors

Photo editors are programs you can store on your computer and use to edit your images. They will generally allow you to crop, change colour, move items, add shadow, merge two or more images, add text, and a whole load of other effects that allow you to create posters, flyers, book covers and so on. Photoshop is the most well-known; so much so in fact, its name has transcended to a verb, as in: "It's been photoshopped." 

I use Paint.net as my go to editor. Affinity is also very good, it's open source (free) and there are lots of techy-minded people out there who provide free support and which is free. Gimp is another free image editor, although I must confess I struggled with it and gave up. Of course if you have some money to invest you can go for Photoshop. It's a learning curve so if you pay make sure you invest the time in using it.

5. Image Storage Websites

Image storage websites offer millions of images for you to use creatively. For practice. If you're going publish, even a pebble in your back garden that you took a pic of yourself is safer to use than the beautiful brickwork of some ancient monument.

Stay safe. Use a professional or your own cover image.

I now strive towards covers with images done professionally or those I've taken myself. Stay safe, I say. And if you're going to do your own cover, keep it simple. A vague landscape and a sans serif font can take you a long way in a variety of genres until you've found a great cover designer.