We have to be honest about two things as far as book publishing is concerned:

1. People do judge a book by its cover.
2. A lot of great books are turned down by readers because of poor cover-design.

We cannot deny the fact that people open to reading all kinds of books pick up those that have a well-designed cover. In my experience, I’ve seen a few authors who overlook the fact that a book’s cover plays an important role in the sales of the book. They end up with a dull cover despite penning down great content. Here, we will see some effective book design tips and learn how to make your book get that edge against its market counterparts.

Generate Curiosity

Would you believe that one of the primary strategies in marketing your book lies in designing a good cover for it? Your book cover speaks for itself and is the first thing that a reader would notice. Design a cover, or sit with a designer, to come up with a cover that generates curiosity or an interest among readers. Your cover should contain something beyond the title and your name on it. It should have an element that makes your readers curious of what your book could be all about. You could use an image, combinations of colors, shapes, or anything that can stir an interest. If you succeed in coming up with such a cover, your book would sell more copies than it would otherwise.

Choose the Right Images

When you sit down to choose an image for your book’s cover, don’t hesitate to sit for an extra hour or two. Incorporating a totally irrelevant image will not only hinder your book’s sales but show you, as an author, in a bad light, too. I’ve come across a couple of books that had bizarre images. For instance, a romance-fiction had an image of a fighter jet and a comic book had an image of a guy with a knife. To avoid such disasters, pay attention to the concept and theme of your book and handpick images that sync with your book’s plot, story, or characters.

Go Minimal

It was a trend in web designing to create websites with minimalistic designs and you will now use it for your book. By minimalistic, I don’t mean any design. I mean a cover that has very few things and still manages to stir interest among readers. Minimalistic covers shouldn’t reveal much but tell only how much is required.

Color Psychology

You can also make use of colors and their psychology for your book’s cover and set the mood of your book. You should have come across the psychology of different colors online. You should think over the mood and genre of your book and use an appropriate color for its cover. For instance, black has a personality of being secretive, mysterious, and unknown – a very good choice for murder-mystery and horror novels. Choosing appropriate colors can work for you and help more in readers getting to know what your book is about.

How not to Design a Cover

• Using colors that are too bright and funky
• Using images that are copyrights protected
• Using fonts that are illegible
• Recreating a scene from your book
• Adding too many elements

If you pay more attention to your book’s cover and add a little more efforts, you can come up with a cover that could work wonders for you and your book. It is a good marketing tool you can have as an author. Think!