Today I thought it’d be fun to do an analysis on book covers and go over what aspects you should consider when planning your book publication. This will be helpful whether you are creating the book cover yourself, hiring a book cover designer, or just consulting with the publisher who bought your manuscript. Let’s look at the three main areas of a book cover and what to consider for each one.
Front Cover
The front cover is what markets your book at a glance. The image should give a feel for the story’s tone and genre while hinting at the plot. This paired with a catchy title and your name will be how every reader judges your story at first. I know, “Don’t judge a book by its cover!” But we all do. It’s how we are wired and how marketing works. Use that to your advantage by making sure your cover accurately portrays the kind of story within and pulls the right readers to buy the book.
Text
The text on your front cover should include the book title and author name. Beyond that, you can do a short testimonial or a tag line, but don’t do too much. Most just stick with the title and author and save anything else for the back of the book. Only put something else on the front if you have a big name from your genre praising your book or the tag line greatly increases intrigue about the story.
When coming up with ideas for the text on your book’s front cover, think about font, size, and placement. Font needs to be easy to read. There are a million different fonts out there that can make this an overwhelming task, but you can always look at other books for inspiration. If you are working with a creator or publisher, you can simply pick either serif or sans serif, and let them do the rest. It’s their job to know the market.
As for size, you will want your title to be bigger than your name. Rare exceptions exist, such as Stephen King or James Patterson, but you won’t be one of them. The only reason to have the author name larger than the title is because the name sells the books. Big authors like J.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling don’t even have their names bigger than their titles because readers love the series in particular, not the author. Everything Rowling writes doesn’t fly off the shelf, only Harry Potter books. Same thing with Stephenie Meyer and Twilight, Suzanne Collins and Hunger Games, etc. Authors can be highly successful but not have a name that sells books. There is nothing wrong with that, but you need to realize that the book is often more important to readers than the author. Because of that, make sure your title is the first thing they read by making it the biggest text on the cover.
When it comes to placement, you can put the title and author name anywhere on the front cover as long as it’s easy to read. Look at your genre for ideas on how most authors present their text. By keeping with the trends, you’ll be signaling to readers that your book fits with the others in the genre that they like to read. Some people advise to always have your author name in the same place on every book you publish. I don’t think that’s super important, but I would recommend keeping the placement of the title and author name in the same spots for every book in a series. You want the books to look uniform so readers associate them with each other. Plus, it looks great on a bookshelf, and many readers hate mismatched books in a series on their shelves.
Background
The background of a book cover is the overall image that will cover the book. This will be a setting or color tones that invoke the feelings of your genre. Dark woods could be for a horror book, London could be for a mystery, or space can be used for a science fiction novel. What is the setting of your story? You can use that for your background. Or, you can simply go with a color palette that fits the feel of your story. Pick pastels for romances, dark colors for thrillers, etc. Look at other books in your genre for inspiration and make a list of common genre cues you find. Use similar techniques to convey the feel of your book to readers through the cover’s background.
Now when it comes to book covers, simplicity is key. Don’t make the cover look cluttered or too busy to get a clear message across. The background is there to be the background, not draw attention away from the title and main concept art. Pick something simple that conveys the right message, and then be done. If you are working with a creator or publisher, you can just give some ideas for a background and then see what they come up with for your book. They create book covers for a living and will know the right cues to plant in the background. Just make sure you have some guidance for them to make their job easier and get your vision for the book across well.
Foreground
The foreground of a book’s front cover portrays the main concept and is key to a good book cover. What is the most important part of the book that you want to get across? If it’s a romance, it might be a couple. If it’s a space opera, it might be the space ship. Pick an object(s) or character(s) that is central to your story. Remember to keep it simple. Don’t put all seven POV characters from your epic fantasy on the cover. Just pick the most important.
Then, because the foreground is portraying a key part of the story, make sure you have an accurate image that represents it well. If you are working with a creator or publisher, describe in detail the object or character. If the dagger is made of gold with silver inlays, let the artist know that so they get it right. If the main character is going on the front cover, make sure you give his or her gender, race, attitude, and outfit style. The last thing you want is a girl picking up the book for the cool regency dress the woman wears on the front but the book is about a woman in Nazi Germany. Readers will become upset if the wrong cues are given on the cover. Even something as small as a woman being blonde on the cover when the main character is a redhead can set people off. The foreground of the book cover is the main focus for your marketing to readers so make sure it’s accurate.
Back Cover
Once the reader has seen the front cover and likes the signals it’s sending, they will flip the book over to read the back cover. This is where you give your sales pitch to the reader. Why should they buy the book? What is inside that is worth their money? While imagery was important for the front cover, text is key to the back cover. Let’s look at what to consider when crafting a good back cover.
Text
While the foreground is the most important part of a front cover, the text is important to the back cover. Readers look at the back to learn more. This is where you’ll put your tag line (if it isn’t on the front), the book blurb, and any reviews or testimonials you want to share. You can even put a small author bio and author picture on the bottom if you want. What do you think the reader needs to know to make an enlightened decision on whether to buy the book or not? That is what you put on the back cover.
You must be concise and impactful with the words you choose though. Typically, you don’t want more than 200 words on the back cover, and most of those should be used for your book blurb. Make sure that every word counts. If the information you are conveying won’t increase someone’s desire to buy the book, then don’t include it.
Background
On the back of the book, the image can be a continuation of the background from the front cover or just a solid color. Most authors just use an extension of the front cover’s background. This shows cohesion between both sides of the book. However, if the background is too busy, it may make it hard to read. Remember, the goal of the back cover is to convey information on why the person should read the book. Making it readable is the most important part so don’t make it hard to read.
Foreground
There probably won’t be a foreground for your back cover. Occasionally, authors have a small element from the front over on the back cover. For example, he may take a dagger the protagonist is holding on the front and lay it on its side at the top of the back cover. This isn’t necessary though. If it clutters the back or makes the text too small to read, then don’t do it. Readers look at the back cover to read more about the book, not see more pictures.
Book Spine
If your book is sold in bookstores, most likely the first thing readers will see of your book is the spine. One slim glimpse, and it has to grab their attention. You can do this with you color palette, text, and maybe a little bit of imagery.
Text
The biggest selling point for your book’s spine will be the title. Take time to craft a catchy title so readers want to pull it out and investigate further. Make sure your font is clear, big enough to read, and pops off the background. Shopper’s eyes will skim over dozens of books on the shelf, and you want yours to stand out. That doesn’t mean to make it obnoxious though. Keep it simple and clear, but make sure every word pulls its weight to catch their eyes. Beyond the title, you will need to have the author name (it can just be the last name), and it will typically be smaller or the same size font as the title. If you are publishing with a company, they will probably have a logo to put on the spine as well.
Background
The background on the spine typically matches the back cover. If you have a solid color, then it will wrap around to the spine. If the front cover’s background wraps the whole book, then it will be on the spine as well. I’ve seen where the spine is its own color, but usually that’s if the front and back match each other and the spine is used as an accent. You can do as you see fit, but make sure it isn’t too busy. Remember, you want the words to pop off the spine and grab readers’ attention.
Foreground
Most book spines don’t have foreground images. If there is an image, it’s usually the publisher’s logo. You can put a small image on the spine though, as long as it enhances intrigue around the book. Typically, these small images go at the top of the spine. However, it’s okay if you don’t put any image and let the book’s title speak for itself.
Final Thoughts
I had fun analyzing book covers for commonalities across all genres, and I hope this helped you think about your own books. Whether you are creating your own cover or working with someone to design it for you, you’ll need to have some input on how it looks. Make sure it conveys the message you want so readers who are looking for your type of story can find it. Have fun with it, be creative, and then listen to the professionals about what works well. Hopefully you’ll end up with something that sells your books and makes you proud to show it off!
Thanks for reading!
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