No matter how many times you hear the tired adage “never judge a book by its cover”, you will never get you past the fact your book's cover is as important as its content.
While I've been self-publishing, I've always looked for the easiest ways to produce covers for my ebooks. I recently decided to publish these in paperback, and I chose to review their covers and do new ones. It can be costly to hire a company or even an individual to help design your book cover, but if you're willing to spend some time and money on this, it can pay off in the long run. It's another investment in your book: making sure it's dressed right for the part. Since I wasn't making money self-publishing, I chose commercial free images, usually abstract patterns, and free fonts that I redesigned using a cheap paint application. I steered clear of images unless I could incorporate them stylishly, and in one case, this turned out really well and actually made a huge difference to the number of copies picked up on the first day I released the book. I didn't have half as much success with any of my other ebooks, so this said a lot to me.
My first traditional publication Live to Tell was a lesson in communication for me. I did have a mockup idea for the cover, which was extremely basic. I felt using a simple, mysterious image was better than trying to make a kind of pastiche of aspects of the book. A shadowy wood seemed the best fit for this, so the theme went over into the trailer.
With my latest novel, Into the Other, I had a basic mockup I provided, and the designer also quizzed me on some of the aspects of the story to incorporate into the cover. The end result was astonishing, and I was highly impressed, as were other people I showed the preview images to. The final printed product turned out great, and it was mentioned even the style of the font for the title correlated with the theme of the story, something I didn't notice myself. I really enjoyed working with this designer, and she was amenable to my requests for changes and asked for my feedback. She was also reasonably priced.
I have asked friends in the past to design covers for me, but they were strapped for time and we weren't able to come to a final product we had in mind, so I went with what they gave me and finished it myself. If you do know people who are talented artists, and they are willing to assist with your cover, that might work out well for you, but if you're not coming to a professional arrangement, or feel uncomfortable imposing deadlines on friends, you're better off seeking the assistance of a professional. If you are fortunate enough to be talented with digital design, you still need to be conscious of the style of your cover and if it resonates with the intended audience. I've noticed a running theme in many book and movie covers: mysterious or menacing girl with long hair, silhouetted cities with similar font designs for the title, composite images of couples and sweeping plains popularised by romance novels, and so on. So do you stick with the theme of your genre, or try something different?
Your font usage and placement also can make a difference, as well as choosing whether your name should be larger or smaller than the title. Cover design isn't ever about the image itself; there is also the front and back matter to consider, deciding whether to incorporate the same image into the spine of the book, and how much text you want to use for the blurb and other back matter aspects. Embossing your front cover lettering is another option. Most print on demand companies can do the bare minimum, so consider how effective your cover can be within the constraints of their printing requirements. Of course, a big publishing house is going to provide people to work with, but not everyone can be so accommodating, and sometimes you have to call in your own help.
No matter what you decide to do, your cover will be judged by your potential readers. It can make or break sales. Standing out from the crowd is vital now, especially online. Make sure you do what you can so your book is dressed for success and less likely to fade into the background.
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