Tips to Design Your Book's Front Cover

Your book's front cover is the picture that speaks a thousand words. It's what your book looks like to, hopefully, millions of viewers and readers out there. You've got to make it good, and there are a number of ways in which you can do this.

If you don't have a specific idea in your head, and there may be many of you who don't, that's OK, because as with anything there is a simple formula you can use.

1. What is your book about?

The front cover is the face of your book. This is the first thing your reader will see, so it needs to be designed to draw the reader in. It needs to give the reader a taste of what they can expect to find in the book. The front cover is the epitome of show, don't tell.

Many writers will have a picture in their head of how they want the cover to look. If not, these questions may help you:

·        What does your main character do? Are they a detective or a sailor or maybe a painter?

·        Where is the book set? If your main character is a sailor then maybe the book is set on the high seas.

·        What happens in the story? Is it a murder? Is it a love story? Is it a drama?

Try to incorporate images that start to tell the story for you.

2. Is there a key/major theme?

You're unlikely to find the front cover of a murder mystery depicting two people in love under a starry sky. Likewise, any self-respecting romance is unlikely to feature a bloodied knife on the front cover.

Take the key theme and try to find images that illustrate it.

3. Where to find the images?

There are a multitude of websites offering images - some free, some not. It all depends on what you are looking for.

If you manage to find something free online then use it, but if not, it's a relatively small investment to purchase five images. Usually these images can be downloaded over a set period (up to one year), so if you don't use all of them now, you can use them for your next book.

Here are some useful websites:

·        www.shutterstock.com

·        www.istockphoto.com

·        www.gettyimages.com

·        www.alamy.com

·        www.imagesonline.com

4. Colour scheme.

What genre have you written for? If your book is a mystery, you'll probably want to steer clear of colours such as pink or lavender? Thriller, mystery, crime novels call out for dark colours full of foreboding. Chick Lit, on the other hand, works well with the use of white, pretty colours, and pastels.

Consider the colour of the spine of your book. This is particularly important if you are producing a paperback or print-on-demand edition.  At some stage, the book will sit on a shelf, and that's where the spine comes into its own. Make sure that your spine colours work well with the font colour so your title and name stand out.

5. Layout - DIY or Pro?

Here's where it can get tricky. If you're not a graphics person or don't have some rudimentary knowledge of graphics software, you may decide to opt for a professional to lay it all out for you. I did.

After days of trying to get to grips with a software programme, I gave up. After all, I want to spend my time writing rather than trying to get my head around a completely different skill.

6. Front cover hook

I'm a fan of a hook on the front cover. It's a teaser; a tantalising insight into what the book is about. I always remember the story - legend, by now, I imagine - of the guys who concocted the screen story for the film, Alien.

Their challenge was to summarise the story to the film makers. They described it as "Jaws in space."

Those three words give you the Alien story in a nutshell. No need to explain, no need to embellish.

Thing is, you don't want to give away too much on your front cover, but you do want to use words to précis the story into a bit size chunk of a taster.

7. Back cover blurb

Here's where you set the scene a bit more. Here's where you introduce your characters and the journey they are about to take in the book. It's a short pitch or synopsis, and there is an art to getting it right. Get a few drafts together, and pass them amongst your friends for feedback. You're looking for an I'd like to read that response or I'm dying to know what happens to them.

8. Your name or pen name?

This is ultimately a personal choice. You write under whatever name you choose. People may advise you why a certain name won't work or why something else would work better, but essentially it is your choice.

One thing I would say - these days with personal branding and the stratospheric rise of social media, people (readers) are looking to connect. In that quest to connect they want to get to know you, and they want to know the real you.

Just something to bear in mind.

9. Proof

You will have done it to the manuscript in various stages of rewrites and you will have done it with the final draft of the manuscript but sometimes seeing it in a slightly different format to the one you normally work in, may help you to see things more clearly.

Proof it one last time.

Remember, the more professional you can make your book the better. Be proud of your work, it's taken a tremendous amount of time and effort on your part.

Your book's cover puts a face to the name - make sure the face you put out there is a good one.