Publishing School 302: Your book's cover

Your book's cover is your book's best advertising

Great covers are good for you. Sometimes authors assume that a template or standard cover design is just as good as a custom-made one. After all, they may be told, the chances of your seeing the design you choose on someone else's book are very slim.

That may be true, but a template design is just an attractive arrangement of colors and artistic items. It doesn't say anything about your book. If the total cost of your book comes to $5,000, as an example, then the value of the cover in presenting and selling your book is about $2,500.

The good news is that you don't have to spend that much for a great cover design. At Griffith Publishing, for example, we use a professional award-winning graphic designer. If the author has an illustration or photo to feature on the front cover or vivid ideas about how the book should look, we offer custom design services with multiple options and unlimited consultations with the artist for $600. Then it's yours, all yours.

Showcase your book. The cover of your book is all a prospective buyer in a bookstore sees before making a decision to purchase it. Even on the web, buyers look at the cover image while choosing a book. After purchase, the cover continues to identify the book and confirm the buying decision. You want to feel proud of your cover. From color to design to the words on the cover, the way your book is designed from the outside tells the prospective reader what they hope to find inside.

You can make sure your cover is the best it can be. Your book packager should begin the cover design process for your book by asking you a lot of questions: Do you have an illustration or photo you'd like to include on the cover? Are there any colors that you especially like or dislike? What is the general tone or mood of your book?

At Griffith Publishing we like to hear your suggestions and are especially pleased when you have a photo or the nugget of an idea about how you think the cover should look. Sometimes authors will send us a book with a cover they especially like. Of course, we can't copy the design of another book, but we can derive ideas for color combinations, text treatment and other elements from a published work.

Help your cover designer. In your first consultation with your cover designer, suggest words or phrases that describe your book, such as such as "a racy Western novel set in Yellowstone Park," or "a mother's guide to sanity during the holidays." Adjectives such as "soft," "sentimental," "funny," "action-packed," "clear and concise," "authoritative," "scientific," or "business-like," will also help your artist set the tone for your book.

Shop around. In a bookstore, study the covers of books written for approximately the same audience as your book. If you see a color combination or just a "look and feel" of a book you really like, buy it and share it with your book cover artist.

Don't try to copy another book's design. It just won't fit. However, a design for another book can give you ideas about color and style for your own book.

And what about your book?

Tell us about it.

We'd love to hear from you. Call us any time at 800 359-9503. Or send us email (hodi@mindspring.com).