COVER STORY!

AND THE FINAL COVER IS:

Posted by: Genie Gabriel

Being both a writer and a graphic designer can be a benefit and a drawback. So far I've designed all the covers for my books. At times I've considered having another graphic designer work on my covers because I want a fresh perspective. So far, the control freak part of my personality has won out. Some covers I've changed a time or two. Others I want to change. Still others have stood the test of time and continue to sell books, so I've left them alone. 

I also design covers for other authors. It's an interesting process that seems different with each book. Some authors have a clear vision for their cover and don't want to deviate from that vision one pixel. Other authors have a vague idea of what they want and leave the major portion of the design up to me. Still others start out with one vision that morphs into something else as we work through the process of designing a cover. 

Since this subject came up recently, I thought I'd share what I do in designing covers. Each graphic designer works a bit differently, but here's my basic process. 

TITLE AND AUTHOR NAME AT ONE INCH WIDE

Covers for digital books selling at online e-tailers have some different challenges than covers for print books: Most potential readers are going to see digital book covers at about an inch or so wide in size. Obviously, that's not very large!

So the first two things I consider are:

--Is the title readable at that small size?

--Is the author's name readable at that small size? 

In addition to size of the font, that means a lot of contrast between the color of the title and the colors in the graphics on the book. This is sometimes painful for me because I like harmonizing colors and sometimes have to compromise so people can actually read the title and author's name at small sizes. That also means I don't use some fonts I really like because they aren't readable at small sizes. 

WHAT DRAWS YOUR EYE FIRST?

The next thing I consider is what draws my eye first. This should be the main graphic element of the cover and should also be easily recognizable at the small size most people will see when buying digital books. Other elements of the cover should simply support that main element.

That also means using only a few elements (two or three at most besides the title and author name) on the cover. Trying to put every character in the book on the cover will result in a blob of unidentifiable "stuff" when reduced to that one-inch size. 

TELL THE STORY IN IMAGES

Although it should be obvious, the cover of the book should fit the story. Covers for humorous books should bring a smile or chuckle to a potential reader. Historical covers should evoke the time period of the book. 

SIMPLE BUT NOT ALWAYS EASY

The above steps seem fairly easy. And sometimes I find a knock-out photo that screams "This is perfect!" It fits the story. The models look like the characters in the book. The tone and colors are perfect. I add a title and author name and we have a beautiful cover. 

Other times the pose of the models is great but the clothing is wrong for the time period of the story or the hair is wrong or any number of things don't quite fit. So two or more photos are blended together. Or the author and I brainstorm a different look for a cover. 

Whatever variations in the process, the result should be a happy author, a proud designer, and a cover that fits the story and helps sell books!