Review: Book covers

Today we had three employees from the University of Missouri Press come to our class to look at some book cover designs for some upcoming books they will be publishing.

I will probably most my designs at a later date, but I thought I would share some of the interesting information the publishers shared with my class because I didn't really know much about book publishing world.

The most interesting thing we learned was that books get returned - AFTER people read them because they can be returned until it stops being published. One of our guests says that means sometimes a book will be published for 20 years, so people can keep bringing it back.

Because of this return rate, publishers stray away from really dark book covers because they show the wear more than lighter ones. For example, they get finger prints on them, but the biggest problem is that the dark colors show scuffing more than the lighter ones. I find this surprising because I feel like white cars always look dirtier than black cars. I thought the same logic would apply here - wrong.

As with everything else, the Internet is changing even the world of book publishing. Because of uploading covers to sites, such as Barnes and Nobles and Amazon, they don't like white covers because you can't tell it's a book cover. If it is white, they would like some kind of border somewhere on the cover, so that it shows up better online.

Those are just three highlights and just about the cover of the book.

I found these 8 tips on The Book Designer's website for creating a killer book cover, so I thought I would share (Number 3 should look familiar):


Top 8 Cover Design Tips for Self-Publishers

1. Establish a principal focus for the cover—Nothing is more important. Your book is about something, and the cover ought to reflect that one idea clearly.
2. Make everything count—If you are going to introduce a graphic element, make sure it helps you communicate with the reader.
3. Use the background—Avoid white backgrounds, which will disappear on retailer’s white screens. Use a color, a texture, or a background illustration instead.
4. Make your title large—Reduce your cover design on screen to the size of a thumbnail on Amazon and see if you can read it. Can you make out what it’s about? If not, simplify.
5. Use a font that’s easy to read—See above. There’s no sense using a font that’s unreadable when it’s radically reduced. Particularly watch out for script typefaces, the kind that look lacy and elegant at full size. They often disappear when small.
6. Find images that clarify—Try not to be too literal. Look for something that expresses the mood, historical period, or overall tone of the book; provide a context.
7. Stay with a few colors—If you don’t feel comfortable picking colors, look at some of the color palettes available online to get a selection of colors that will work well together.
8. Look at lots of great book covers—You may not be able to mimic all their techniques, but the best book covers are tremendous sources of inspiration and fresh ideas.