Judging a Book by its Cover – Part 1

Judging a book by its cover is a well known saying. We do judge by looks, even when we know we shouldn’t.There is one realm where the saying is 100% accurate and 100% justified and that is for book covers.

For writers, a book cover is crucial to get right. We all want the best cover possible to showcase our stories.

A good book cover draws people in to read the book.

A bad book cover – people are unlikely to pick the book up to even see if the blurb might be of interest.

For this series, I thought I’d invite author friends to share their latest book cover and discuss what was behind it.

For Part 1, I’m delighted to start the proceedings and then lead into friends from the Association of Christian Writers.

The lovely thing about this series is there will be plenty of wonderful pictures. Book covers, when well done, are works of art.

Tripping the Flash Fantastic – Allison Symes – Amazon Link –

Now Chapeltown Books have a square frame throughout their series of single author flash fiction collections so it was a question of choosing the frame colour and the central image. I’ve gone for green for this book (and a lighter shade for From Light to Dark and Back Again).

The central image for Tripping the Flash Fantastic is of a mysterious lit-up castle with lightning above it. This represents the historical stories in the book, the fantasy elements within it, and the lightning indicates this is flash. I love things that can flag up the genre to a reader.

The idea of the central image is to draw the reader in to wanting to find out more. Both of my book covers work well on social media and Amazon thumbnails.

It is best to keep a cover simple with a striking image and not too much text. I’ve seen “cluttered” covers with far too much text on them and that puts readers off. So when I’m looking at suitable images for my books, I’m thinking about what might appeal to a reader or intrigue them.

And now over to my guests. I asked them the following questions.

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.

Fran Hill – latest book is Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean? – Amazon Link

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
As the publisher designed my book cover, I had to rely on them to represent the ideas in the book as they saw them, and I was delighted with the result. The school tie abandoned on the hook is, I think, a genius touch and symbolises the messiness and chaos of day-to-day school life that I write about in the memoir.

I know there was a debate about whether there should be quotation marks around the title, but it was decided that readers would realise that was speech. I like the symmetry of the two endorsements either side of the tie.

The green background is, I feel, peaceful and likely to be the kind of colour on classroom walls. My absolute favourite thing about the cover though is the spine – it also has the tie on it, so can be picked out on a bookshelf very easily!

2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?

I think the book cover says ‘school life’ and that is a very accurate hint as to what is inside as it is a memoir of a typical year in my life as an English teacher. The schoolchildren are central to the book so the school tie also represents that feature of it.

3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.

My top tip would be to try to capture the mood of your book. Mine is a humorous book full of anecdotes about school life and, although it covers some serious issues about childhood experiences, it is funny and light-hearted most of the time. I think my book cover suggests that as it is playful.

Joy Margetts – latest book The Healing – Amazon Link–

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
Working with a publisher I was surprised at how little creative input I was able to have in the design for my cover. Of course they listened to my ideas, but the first cover they designed for me was so unlike what I had wanted, or described! Thankfully they went back to the designer with my thoughts and the final cover evolved.

I wanted it to scream medieval fiction, and was keen that it had a picture of either a monk, a horse, abbeys or a combination of these, to give a hint of what the story was about. The title The Healing was ambiguous without the historic link. It could fit into a variety of genres!

The designer focused on the manuscript illumination aspect of medieval monasticism, which is how we arrived with the ‘parchment effect’ and illuminated ‘H’. And found a great picture of a monk on a horse! The strapline also helps say what the book is about – it came to me in the night and the publisher was happy to use it.

2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
Hopefully, that this is a genuine work of historic fiction, set in the medieval period and involving monks! That it would sit well on a bookshelf with other historic titles. And that it has an intriguing title…

It is also eye-catching I believe. The colours we ended up with – the rich golds and bronze, really stand out against the white parchment. And I love the illuminated ‘H’!

3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
I didn’t realise how important the back and the spine are in cover design. I love the back cover of The Healing – almost as much as the front, and that the design carries through from front to back. But I think I am most pleased with the spine! How great the book looks on a bookshelf between other titles.

Ruth Leigh – latest book The Diary of Isabella M Smugge – Amazon Link

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
Well, the publishers actually designed it but they used Isabella’s story to inspire them. When I first saw it, I was blown away. We’ve got a thoughtful woman in silhouette and we’re privy to her inner thoughts (we would be – it’s a diary!) and we also have the Twitter symbol to remind us that she’s prolific on social media.

2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
It says there’s a mystery here. What does the picture of a carefree woman holding a little child inside Isabella’s head mean? What is she thinking about? Is there something behind the glossy perfection which she presents to the world? She’s gazing not at us, but into the future and wondering what it holds for her.

3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
Show, don’t tell. Every reader will interpret the cover slightly differently, so keep it simple and just put in a couple of little teasers to pique their interest.

Wendy Jones – latest book – Bertie at the Worldwide Games – Amazon Link

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
The book cover needed to be accessible to young children – bright, cheerful and appealing. However, it also needed a Scottish flavour as Bertie the Buffalo is representing Scotland in the Worldwide Games. So, the publisher – Sarah Grace – and I came up with the idea of a tartan border, to prevent things being too fussy on the front. The tartan is Ancient MacLaren which is my clan tartan, and the colour of Bertie’s kilt in the book.

2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
The book cover says Bertie is a cute buffalo who will appeal to the 2-7 year old age range. It also says, this is different: who would put a water buffalo and tartan together. It’s designed to intrigue and entice adults and children to look further.

3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
My top tip for a book cover is keep it simple whilst giving a flavour of what’s inside. Anything too fussy confuses a reader’s brain; you want to give them a little glimpse or hint of what’s inside so that they open the cover to find out more. Opening the cover is the first entry point to a potential reader and buyer of your book.

Maressa Mortimer – latest book Viking Ferry – Amazon Link

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
The inspiration behind the cover of Viking Ferry was the escape from the castle. I wanted something that showed secrecy, danger and maybe a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
I’m hoping it will tell a potential reader that there will be danger in the book, that it will be an exciting story, and that there will be darkness and light fighting each other.

3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
What I love to do with my book covers is layer them. I use BookBrush, and you can get overlays as it were, or make two pictures merge. I love the effect that creates.

Conclusion

A huge thank you to my lovely guests from the Association of Christian Writers. Next week, I’ll be talking to another range of writers including guests from the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School and Authors Reach.

I’m going to leave you with a mini challenge.

When you next pick up a book, rather than glimpse through it, take a few moments to study the cover. If it is a favourite book where you know the story, ask yourself if the cover reflects the tale well. If it is a new book, where you don’t know the story, and without reading it first, ask yourself what you think the cover tells you. Then read the book and see if you were right!

Related Posts:-

Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.

Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.

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