Designing book covers few people think about the way book covers come into life, and most think. Writer of a book dont write books, they write manuscripts. The art of book cover design for a series 99designs. Articles on book design, book publishing, selfpublishing and how books are constructed. A professionally designed cover will instantly and attractively convey the essence of what your book is about. Design book covers with canvas free book cover maker. The rules of book cover design change decade by decade. Before long, the new designer had an actual design job. How to find and work with a book cover designer the. Online retailers like amazon do not distinguish between traditional and selfpublished books which means independent authors are often competing again big 5 publishers. Designing a cover for a controversial novel is always a fraught endeavor, but few novels come with as much visual baggage as lolita. The five steps to creating an awesome book cover design. If your book stands a chance at succeeding, its design has to match or, if possible, exceed what the. Cover design by jason ramirez and nayon cho viking, september 24 i have never seen a book that has a note on the cover included, but i am so glad that this one does.
So, one must consider a professional book cover designer for creating a book cover. Before you start creating your cover, make sure you have all rights necessary for the content of your cover image and that it complies with our content guidelines. The giveandtake of cover design is you may have to sacrifice one thing like the size and readability of your name for another like showing that your book fits the genre. Start planning and budgeting from the beginning of your writing project. Jul 16, 20 getting to design your own book cover is the sort of ultimately maddening power that probably shouldnt be entrusted to vain mortals. The arts and crafts and art nouveau movements at the turn of the twentieth century stimulated a modern renaissance in book cover design that soon began to infiltrate the growing mass book industry through the more progressive publishers in europe, london and new york. Today, some 15 years later, mendelsunds an associate art director at knopf, having. And a creative book cover design needs to be acknowledged and celebrated. Whether youve crafted a work of fiction, a childrens book, or an educational treatise into health and happiness. I hired a designer who i discovered via your ebook cover design awards. May 26, 2014 15 articles on cover design for selfpublishers by joel friedlander on may 26, 2014 20 comments one of the requests i get most often is for help on cover design. A great selection of reasonablypriced premade covers as well as design packages for covers and ads. Minimalism in book cover design less is often more.
A designer who specializes in book jackets understands how readers respond to layout and typography. This is because most glossy card stock papers that you will find at a copy store will max out at 11 x 17 or 12 x 18 inches in size. Book cover design articles and advice about hiring designers. Create appealing book cover designs for the digital world. She designed stone of fire, crypt of bone and ark of blood, as well as some of my nonfiction books. Unleash the potential of your written word with a book cover that exudes creativity. The 60 best book covers of 2016, as chosen by designers. Aug 28, 2018 the rules of book cover design change decade by decade. The colors, the type, silhouettesits bookcover poetry. The cover design should be able to convince the readers that the content of the book is.
This article will share 18 things that authors can prepare and have ready when working with any cover designer. The minimal style is timeless, from an old book cover you may run into, to modern book back cover ideas, its everywhere. So while it is clearly very important for a books cover to be striking, it is even more important that the title of your book is legible and the covers design conveys to the reader the genre and tone of the. Book cover redesign as marketing tool jane friedman.
If youre looking for a big and bold font to design an attractive cover for a book or even design titles for pages, this font is perfect for you. It was updated with new information and examples with help from karla lant. A successful book cover performs a remarkable feat. Derek murphy of creativindie covers is a brilliant designer and has designed a number of my own book covers. An eyecatching design can make the difference between a book that sells and one that stalls, so dont let your future bestseller get passed over due to a soso cover design. The book cover design world, it turns out, has something of an allstar squad of stock and archival image that show up on book covers time and. Eighty years of book cover design, joseph connolly. Caring about fantastic book cover design is one of those nonnegotiables for all authors. Having a professional book cover design ensures that your book stands out in a very crowded environment and sells, people do judge books by their covers and so you should make sure that.
Cover design secrets manipulate readers into buying books. The importance of cover design writers and artists. A successfully designed book cover will convey the tone of your book, will whisper hints without giving it all away, and will excite readers into actually opening up the book and reading. Seeing your books cover is often the first and only chance your audience has of finding and reading your book. Do something that looks great and would make a lovely gift. It manages to capture a potential readers eye so well that he must pull the book from hundreds of other books fighting just as hard for his attention. Well send you an email with your ebook cover design for approval. Getting to design your own book cover is the sort of ultimately maddening power that probably shouldnt be entrusted to vain mortals.
The penguin book of japanese short stories penguin classics, cover design by matthew young the brief was very open to begin with. Meet the top book cover designers working today artsy. Canva boasts an extensive collection of templates and graphics, along with a huge collection of fonts which you can use to create an attractive book cover. Bad covers, with pixelated images, watermarks clearly visible, text badly formatted or aligned, and so forth, suggest to the reader that the interior of the book will be equally sloppy.
Jun 23, 2016 book cover redesign as marketing tool jane friedman if you are a wellknown author, your books may sell themselves because readers trust the story or the content, but if you are new, then you need to make a statement with the first thing a reader sees. Designing a cover is a long process, requiring preparation, consultations and numerous drafts and adjustments. Book design is the art of incorporating the content, style, format, design, and sequence of the various components and elements of a book into a coherent unit. Isbn 9780571240005 hardcover and isbn 9780571240012 paperback. Enjoy the showcase of what we consider some creative book cover designs.
Ebook cover design professional book cover design service. With bookstagramming becoming a force in marketing, are designers making covers more colourful, bolder and cleaner, to stand out on our. These 50 awesome book covers will inspire you learn canva. Browse the topics below to learn about creating an ebook cover. Nov 25, 2019 cover design by thomas colligan mcd x fsg originals, september 10 a fantastic and clever use of simple material to create both a tense backdrop and evocative type. The importance of cover design for selfpublished authors, collaborative groups and independent press has become less of an argument as the competition and.
A great book cover design, at its most basic level, is something that will help readers take you and your book seriously. When you publish or republish your ebook, well automatically add your cover image to the inside. Great places to find your book cover ideas and inspiration. The flashiest new book covers, including black leopard, red wolf by marlon james, ginger bread by helen oyeyemi, and bangkok wakes to rain by pitchaya sudbanthad, are designed for amazon and. Youve done the hard work and created an amazing book.
Mar 09, 2020 a lighthearted look at the world of cover design in fiction. May 31, 20 if a great design has gutlevel emotional appeal and the power to entice readers, a poorly designed cover can be a real turnoff. Jane is my current designer as well as doing my interior formatting. By its cover traces the history of book cover design in america and explores how the purpose of the book cover, the process of creating it, and the end result have changed over the course of time.
Still, she thinks twice before accepting or buying a book with a bad or cheap looking. Loud colors and bold or detailed graphics really grab attention, but they run the risk of drowning out the text of the title. Design book cover for free with online templates adobe spark. Book cover design design a creative book cover online. In this article, ill share the most important things to consider before jumping into design your book cover and how to know whats right for. Book cover redesign as marketing tool jane friedman if you are a wellknown author, your books may sell themselves because readers trust the story or the content, but if you are new, then you need to make a statement with the first thing a reader sees. In book design, clarity about book information is the prime concern. A sample contract agreement between an author and a book.
A welldesigned cover is the first assurance the reader has that the book is of a high quality, both in content and delivery. Our book cover maker allows you to choose from hundreds of layouts, making it easier than ever to create a memorable cover. An effective design is also a major factor to be considered in planning the layout for the book cover. A lighthearted look at the world of cover design in fiction.
Designing a book cover is the process of getting an authors manuscript into the hands of a reader, by materializing it giving it a form. A great book cover design is important for every author who wants to be successful, this is true for both indie authors and the big names that youd expect to see within the new york times best sellers list. If a great design has gutlevel emotional appeal and the power to entice readers, a poorly designed cover can be a real turnoff. Here we look at book series with aesthetically unified cover designs a lasting selling point over ebooks and. Explore canvas library to get started on your design. Book cover design is a complex balance of images, text, and information and you need someone who understands how each of these elements interacts with the others to best sell your book. Mar 30, 2018 and a creative book cover design needs to be acknowledged and celebrated. To fully cover both points, weve split this post into two sections. Complete our short form so that we have the details to design you the best book cover possible.
What authors need to know about book cover design the. How to build a profitable online business you can run from anywhere. Designing book covers few people think about the way book covers come into life, and most think you just call an artist and say make a book cover. You can also save money on design by using this book cover creator. Traditionally, a publisher handles the cover design. We will email you an invoice that is payable by paypal or credit card. Frank is a bold sansserif font that comes in 5 different weights featuring each weight in 4 different styles including oblique and rough styles.
Critical elements for book cover fonts and colors of all the book cover ideas that can go into excellent cover design, the color of the title is by far the most important. Our knowledgeable team has years of experience in print design in a wide variety of genres. The 8 brilliant fonts you need to use in your book layout with type combinations and samples. Cover design by oliver munday doubleday, february 26 this cover encapsulates all the information the reader needs with so few elements. Each of our book cover templates is printready complete with book spine, front and back cover. Yes, we really do judge books by their covers huffpost. Update each book cover layout with your own images and changes the colors, fonts and text to match the tone of your book. Still, she thinks twice before accepting or buying a book with a bad or cheap looking cover. Why book covers are so important writers and authors. The green and orange lines nod to the irish flag and represent the catholic and protestants. The book cover whisperer big 5 book cover design and book marketing. Create an ebook cover amazon kindle direct publishing.
The book cover explaining the scope of the book is actually a very cool thing, and it allows the reader to manage his or her time. There are many books published each year, so its evident that a good book cover design is likely to catch the eyes of the readers and help its chance of getting picked up and rise exponentially. In the words of renowned typographer jan tschichold 19021974, book design, though largely forgotten today, relies upon methods and rules upon which it is impossible to improve, and which have been developed over centuries. The art of book covers 18201914 no one has nominated us yet for the book cover challenge so we thought wed take matters into our own hands and publish some of our favourites from the first hundred years of the book cover as we commonly understand it today though weve not the restraint for seven spread over seven days, so heres a. Jul 31, 20 designing a cover for a controversial novel is always a fraught endeavor, but few novels come with as much visual baggage as lolita. Another is by librarians listing a book in a catalogue. These are just some of the amazing book cover designs that made us think, laugh, cry, smile, or contemplate about life. Having a professional book cover design ensures that your book stands out in a very crowded environment and sells, people do judge.
And if youre selfpublishing, you do have to go through this process, because designing your own book cover is a bit of a nono unless you have some book design chops, which lets face it, most of us dont. There is a great article on the spine where charlotte and claire discuss the ideas for their design. By using a book cover template, youll create a polished design for your book cover whether youre self publishing or sending. Then part 2 contains tips from our top designers on the best ways to design an aesthetically beautiful jacket. If you are new to this selfpublishing thing and getting book covers done, it might be hard to choose the right book cover designer. Covers from the 1990s now look colourful and almost too busy the wardrobe of the fresh prince of bel air would be a close aesthetic. Book cover design checklist before even hiring a book cover designer, each author should know what their cover needs and what designers usually hope to get, in terms of information, from the author. The decline and fall of the book cover the new yorker. Since many selfpublishing authors are starting out on a very small budget however, homemade, diy book covers are still a popular choice.
The cover can scare away a customer or lure them in. The cover image you upload will appear on your amazon detail page. These 50 awesome book covers will inspire you learn. Dont judge a book by its cover, a phrase derived from the perceived difference between the portrayal of a book on its cover or jacket, and the book s contents. But the more of these elements you can have in place, the better the cover will perform. Some of the first radically modern cover designs were produced in the soviet union during the 1920s by avantgardists such as. Even though weve all been told since childhood to never judge a book by its cover, the fact is that book cover design does attract readers. Chilling, arresting design that expertly delivers the message of a bleak but urgent book. Youll spend more of your funding where you need it most and save time and effort in the process.
But although i personally believe in paying professionals, im also aware that some people want to have a go themselves, or need to because of. Canvas book cover maker makes designing book covers amazingly simple even for nondesigners. How to design a contemporary book cover creative bloq. Nabokovs daring story has confounded book designers. Make sure it sells out by creating an awesome cover design. Dazzling, blocky book covers designed for amazon, instagram.
Canvas free book cover maker is ridiculously easy to use even for the novice or notsotechsavvy writer. Eyecatching book covers have an important role in attracting readers to pick up a title hilary mantels latest was even beamed. It features the work of rockwell kent, paul rand, roy kuhlman, and more. Covers from the 1990s now look colourful and almost too busy the wardrobe of the. Separating or setting the title into relief solves this issue and leaves you with a cover that is striking. The cover design features different umbrellas of different patterns, and in the center a yellow octagon shape of the umbrellas, bearing the title and author.