People often talk about the importance of a book's cover design, alluding that a great eye-catching cover can attract buyers and influence their decision to purchase the book. It is true that a well-designed cover is critical to your book having a professionally published appearance, but remember, self-published books are rarely displayed in the high street bookstores. Buyers on the internet browse online bookstores differently than they would a high street store. In most cases, they already have an author or title in mind, or they are searching by keywords or phrases (see book marketing). The book cover design remains a vital selling point online, but its impact can be reduced. This fact behind the sales of your book cannot be under-emphasised.
We all love a great book cover and we all want our book to look the best it can, but we need to keep the reality of what makes our book a great book firmly in the forefront: the content. It is vital to remember that this is what you spent months, and for some of you, years working on writing and rewriting. Unfortunately, some self-published authors forget this essential point and chose to skimp on vital components such as editing, in favour of an expensive book cover design.
Having said all that, here are my tips for creating a great design - and remember, you shouldn't have to mortgage the house to get a great cover:
For an ebook all you'll need to do is the front cover but it will also differ from the print version in that it should be low resolution (around 72 - 100dpi) in RGB.
The example below is of a simple book cover design for printing using layered images. Notice the single file incorporating the front, back, spine, barcode, and a 6mm bleed and crop marks:
Join me next time when we'll be discussing ISBNs, RRPs, CIPs (huh?) and your legal deposit requirements.
Until then...write on!
Tags:Andy McDermott / Director |