Designing an Effective Book Cover

Even a good book may never part with bookstore if the cover doesn’t attract the reader’s eye. Bottom line, how your book cover looks like is possibly the most critical aspect of the whole book design and marketing process.

The following are some tips to help you make an effective book cover mockup:

Look at similar book covers.

Go to your local or online bookstore and look at books in the same category as yours. When you go to the part of the shop where someday your book might be, what’s the first cover that attracted your attention, and what is the reason? What made the cover more noticeable than the others? In the same manner, take note of the covers you thought were the worst. Be sure to look into the said questions as you create your book cover mockup.

Pick the right colors.

Think of the psychological effect of the colors you intend to use on your cover. If your book is about yoga, you may not want a red or orange cover because these colors tend to be exciting rather than relaxing. Use white or blue for your book cover mockup and you’ll end up with something more peaceful and probably more apt. Again, check out other books in the same genre and the colors they use. How do you want readers to feel about your book? What colors make you feel that way?

Put your name and book title in the right places.

Unless you’re John Greene, your name should be placed at the bottom of the cover. Instead, your title should be on top and as large as your name or preferably bigger. As soon as you have established yourself as an author, you can make your name your cover’s main attraction. In any case, the letters must stand out and be easy to read. Simple fonts in neutral colors are always best, and as you make your book cover mockup, be sure the text doesn’t lose itself in the color behind it.

Match the art.

The artwork you use should match the content of your book and must not distort the message is about. When she died, Agatha Christie’s murder mystery books had covers with gory pictures, like needles sticking out of someone’s eyes. These covers grabbed attention, but that’s it. People generally have an aversion to gruesome images. So don’t just think about making them take a look – they have to want to dig deeper.

Make it simple.

Keep the cover from being too busy. Try a distance test. Set the height of your book cover mockup to no more than an inch (Internet size). If your artwork could not be easily distinguished at that size, it is too complicated. Also set the cover art at book size and look at it from ten feet away. If the artwork couldn’t be easily distinguished, it’s probably not the best choice for your cover.