Whether you are traditionally published, self published, or combine the two, as many writers do now, there are two things everyone agrees about.
Everybody needs a good editor. (Nobody sees all the errors in their work. You are literally too close to it). The book cover must be well designed and draw readers in. It is the first advert for the book.
I thought I would ask writer friends for their thoughts on covers. This week I chat to authors from Authors Reach and the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School. I set them these 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.
Val Penny – Hunter’s Secret – Amazon Link
1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
My book covers for The Edinburgh Crime Mysteries series have a main character, Detective Inspector Hunter Wilson. All the covers feature a dark scene from the central part of Edinburgh and a silhouette of a character or of characters from the story. My most recent book, Hunter’s Secret, is no different.
2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
I hope it tells the reader that the story is set in Edinburgh, which is a beautiful city but has a dark side. The cover will also portray that the book is a police procedural crime novel as the figure on the front is a uniformed police officer.
3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
The theme of my book covers is the Edinburgh scene and the silhouette. It seems to work. My publishers and I discussed introducing a new set of covers this year, but when we canvassed readers, the feedback for this idea was overwhelmingly negative. The readers like the covers the way they are, so they will stay put. At least for the time being!
Jennifer C Wilson – The Raided Heart – Amazon Link
1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
For The Raided Heart, I was keen to use an image that conjured up the wild nature of Northumberland, where the book is set. I had decided, initially, to design the cover myself, so scoured Pixabay for images that fitted the image I was after. Strangely, I didn’t want any faces on the cover, which is why I was drawn to the image of the woman staring out into the distance.
The first full draft of this book was written when I was in my teens, albeit not much remains from that version other than a couple of names and the basic plot, with a major rewrite being completed back in 2009, where everything was shifted south from the Scottish highlands to the English borders.
I think, because I was so young when I wrote the book, the characters had been with me for far too long, and I could no longer see them as anything other than the actors I had based them on all those years ago. As a result, despite scouring stock photo sites, I couldn’t find anyone who fit the bill. This image, therefore, was perfect.
2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
A year after the book was released, I decided that it just wasn’t working – the original cover wasn’t saying ‘historical romance’, I don’t think, or if it was, it was also saying ‘designed on Canva’. I designed the cover for A Novel Approach on Canva, and am still really happy with it, but for The Raided Heart, I just wasn’t, so I turned to Laurence Patterson, of Darkstroke Books, who had published the Kindred Spirits series (the covers of which I absolutely adore, both the originals and the reworks).
I wanted to keep the original image, but make it more obviously fitting to the genre, so he expanded the image, changed the lighting of it, and used a wonderful new font, which to me just shouts ‘historical Celtic’. I’m absolutely thrilled with the result, and it seems to be going down well with readers too.
3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
Seek second, third, and fourth opinions! Even with the Kindred Spirits covers, being designed through a publisher, I always show a few trusted writing friends initial drafts, and certainly with the project I’m currently working on, I’ve been messing about with Canva again, to make sure I’m hitting the right notes with my plans.
I would also say, make sure those trusted friends know the genre you’re writing in. I shared the reworked cover for The Raided Heart amongst my fellow Ocelots, and with us all having similar vibes with our writing, knew I could trust what they thought, and that it would be right for the book.
Teresa Bassett – latest book The Mystery of Acorn Academy – Amazon Link
1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
I love this cover, which was created by Gina Dickerson of RoseWolf Design. Before working on it, Gina asked me several pertinent questions about the style and feel I wanted, and what kind of images came to mind for my book. I had some vague ideas concerning key aspects of the story, but couldn’t see how to fit them all together.
I wanted a clean, non-fussy look – something that does what it says on the tin! – and I knew my ideas needed thinning out. From my ramblings, Gina was somehow able to create exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.
2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
It reflects that my story is a mystery, with the characters to the fore. I love the enigmatic purple-blue skies, and the two figures have a likable, contemporary feel, with the hint of an interesting relationship between them.
My protagonist, Holly, is a very strong character (she has to go through a lot!) and I think this comes across in the image. The academy itself, an exclusive school housed in a mansion on top of a Cornish cliff, is also central to the story, almost a character in its own right. This is suggested by the way it stands in the background, all brooding and sinister.
3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
Gina produced various mockups for me to choose from, and I loved them all in different ways. I realised being so close to the project made it impossible for me to choose the best one for the story. What helped was getting feedback from two or three trusted friends. They were able to look at the images with a more dispassionate eye, and could tell me what kind of story the options implied to them, which ones drew their eye the most.
During that process, my ideas about what I wanted – or, in fact, needed – changed. There was another mockup I almost chose, which included cliffs and sea, where the mansion wasn’t so prominent. It was something I’d asked for, but when I thought it through, I realised it didn’t shout ‘mystery’ in quite the same way, and that’s what I needed to happen.
My advice would be: don’t choose too quickly, sleep on it, garner some opinions and go from there. And don’t forget to consider the size, colour and readability of your title and name! Bear in mind readers might well be choosing novels via their kindle or phone, and the cover image they see might be tiny!
Conclusion
Many thanks to my guests this week. I set you a challenge last week to look at book covers and work out whether they reflect the story within the covers well enough. I’ve found looking at a few of these has informed me about what I would like to see on my own book covers.
I know what I’m trying to achieve with what is my first advert for my book. And that matters. Clarity of thought is as important to book design as it is to the writing of the stories.
So over to you then. Have you any favourite book covers? Why are these special to you? Are they like the old Ronseal advert by “doing what it says on the tin”? I’ve never seen the sense in a cover that does not reflect the story in some way.
Mind you, one of my favourite quotes from P.G. Wodehouse comes from a book of letters by him in which he tells an author friend ‘God may forgive Herbert Jenkins Limited for the cover of …………………. but I never will!” (Discretion preserved here to protect the guilty book!).
That line makes me laugh and shudder with sympathy for Wodehouse here. Even the really big names don’t always like the covers produced for them!
Especially if you are going the self publishing route, you do need to have a proper cover design but shop around, ask for advice from fellow self publishers, and don’t forget to investigate the Alliance of Independent Authors. If you don’t know where to go to ask for advice on what to look for in a reputable cover designer, here is a good place to start.
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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Hi Allison. Again, like with the first in your series, I absolutely loved this one. So many ideas to consider!! Thank you so much for putting this series together. I’m enjoying it immensely 🙂
Many thanks, Jim. Looking forward to sharing the final part of this series next week with friends from Bridge House, CafeLit, and Chapeltown Books.