Judging a Book by Its Cover – Part 3

This week I chat to authors from CafeLit, Bridge House Publishing, and Chapeltown Books about the importance of book covers. The variety of book covers is amazing but every writer has one thing in common. We all want our covers to be the best they can possibly be.

The three questions I set my guests were:-

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.

Amanda Huggins – latest book All Our Squandered Beauty – Amazon Link

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
The cover for All Our Squandered Beauty was initially inspired by my painting, Inside the Sea, which was also the inspiration behind the work of the fictional artist, Hazel Mavering, whose sea pictures feature in the novella. The talented cover designer, Triona Walsh, then came up with several other elements to complement the image, and created a wild and wonderful cover which I couldn’t love more.

2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
I think the cover conveys the important role of the sea in the story, but the images and the bold blue colour palette let the reader know that this isn’t a gentle story of a quiet sea, but a story of change and movement, of turbulence – of a sea that, like life itself, takes as well as gives.

3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
I think you have to try and start with a single unusual, bold image which conveys the essence of the book, rather than worrying about delivering the entire story on the cover. A simple cover can often be more arresting than a ‘busy’ one.

Dawn Knox (with Colin Payn) – latest book The Future Brokers – Amazon Link

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
In 2019, I was invited to collaborate with writer friend, Colin Payn, on a book that would be set in 2050. Artificial Intelligence and Humans are often portrayed as being antagonistic to each other in books and films and Colin wanted to explore a different type of relationship and incorporate a subject that is a threatening our world – climate change. The result is The Future Brokers.

Since we wrote the book together, we made all decisions together and we researched other book covers in the ‘Cli-fi’ (Climate Fiction) genre and identified features they had in common. Most covers were based on layers of photographs and usually showed some aspect of climate change, for example arid desert, or as in our book, lots of water, representing sea level rise or floods.

We also noticed many of the other covers were divided into two distinct halves with large, futuristic text in either the top or bottom half. Having a rough idea of what we wanted, we approached Paul Burridge, fellow member of the Basildon Writers’ Group to design the cover for us. Paul, a graphic designer, listened to our ideas and came up with several designs and sent us his two favourites.

Without hesitation, Colin and I chose the same cover. We thought Paul captured the idea of mankind drowning, with the hand either being swallowed by the water or rising up out of the depths, depending on your perspective! The binary digits at the bottom also suggest it has some involvement with Artificial Intelligence too. The woman at the top is overlooking everything and is obviously one of the main protagonists.

2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
Colin and I are hoping a potential reader will see the book is set in the future. Of course, the title The Future Brokers gives it away but the text would probably make it clear even if the title didn’t. We decided to include a sub-title so it was obvious it involved climate change and hopefully, the hand rising or sinking into the water portrays that too.

3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
Research other books in the genre and try to match the style so people can see at a glance what sort of book you’ve written. While you’re admiring everyone else’s book covers, check them out as thumbnails. If they don’t stand out when they are tiny, try to work out why and avoid that in your cover.

Gail Aldwin – latest book This Much Huxley Knows – Publication Date: July 2021

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
This Much Huxley Knows is a contemporary novel for adults written from the viewpoint of seven-year-old Huxley which will be published in July 2021. The action takes place in a London suburb at a time of community tensions following the Brexit referendum.

I wanted a cover image that would give the impression of a child who spends time alone but takes joy from being outside in the autumn. The story follows Huxley’s quest to find a best mate and he believes a lonely old man called Leonard might be just the person (although his parents have other ideas).

2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
The picture of Huxley jumping for joy on the cover, is just what I wanted. I was told at a workshop on cover designs it’s best to avoid having a character’s face on the front (as this leaves less room for the reader’s imagination). The cover gives a good impression of the exuberant narrator at the heart of the novel.

3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
The first draft of the cover image had a darker background with the title in a white font. This was fine on a full-size version, but when the image was reduced to a thumbnail, it wasn’t easy to read the title. At my request, the cover designer lightened the image and changed the title to black ink so it stood out. My top tip is to make sure the title can be clearly read when the image is shown as a thumbnail.

Alyson Rhodes (writing as Alyson Faye) – latest book Darkness Calls – BundleRabbit Link

The cover I’ve chosen to send you is for my mini collection, Darkness Calls, as I had the most input into this one whereas other folk designed the covers for my other books.

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
I write about birds and women changing into birds or other creatures in my dark short fiction, and I was looking for a bird/woman hybrid image which I found in this wonderful image which I felt blended grotesqueness with a strange beauty. I chose the red title and author font to indicate – of course – blood and as a contrast to the black cover background.

2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
I hope my cover says to a potential reader within these pages lies supernatural, weird, creepy and dark stories which will scare you a little bit but also entertain you.

3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
Don’t be afraid to experiment, try lots of font and colour mixes. Have fun with it.

Jim Bates – latest book Resilience – Amazon Link

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
My book Resilience is a collection of twenty-seven stories in which the overall theme has to do with the challenges individuals face that life throws their way. In most cases the main character is able to face those challenges and come to some resolution, usually positive. In other words, they learn something when conflict is resolved. In the end, the character finds out they are more resilient than they might have given themselves credit for. The dead wildflowers in the photo on the cover have found a way to persevere, just like we humans can.

2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
The cover is a photo my brother Tom took. He is a former landscape artist and a singer-songwriter who sees the world through the eyes of a poet. He’s also a very good photographer. I always knew I wanted to use one of his photos for the cover of this collection.

To us, the nature of plants growing in our ever changing Minnesota climate means they have resilience, so that became our starting point. Would we use bountiful summer flowers? Should we use pretty fall leaves? Tomatoes ripening on a vine? None of those choices seemed right.

We finally settled on the image on the dead wild flowers with their seed heads proudly standing up to the elements. To me the photo signifies that no matter what, life goes on and that’s what the stories in my book are all about.

Whatever challenges or tragedies one is faced with in life, through our resilience we can make the most of those challenges and maybe even become a better person for it.

3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
When I am browsing in a book store I am first and foremost drawn to a book’s cover. I told a friend once, don’t worry about the blurb, I’d buy your book just based on the cover alone. I was being facetious, but only slightly.

My tip is this: chose a cover that conveys what you want your book to convey. It doesn’t have to be flashy or extraordinary, but it should give an honest hint as to what’s in store inside. And you know what? If there’s a little mystery there, too, that’s okay.

Paula R C Readman – Seeking The Dark – Amazon link

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
Seeking the Dark is my new Gothic Horror/Crime novel. I’ve lived with the characters since finishing the book in 2005. When I first wrote it I imagined the front cover would depict a woman as one of my leading characters was Amanita Virosa. Since last year I’ve been busy editing the storyline and found a stronger point of view. This made me rethink what I needed on the cover to stand out from the crowded Amazon listing for vampire books.

Most of the books in this category depicted bloody fangs, neck chewing, half-clothed men and women. None of these fitted in with the theme of my story.

My publisher allowed me to hunt for an image suitable on a website. I typed in vampire and found a similar collection of covers to the ones on Amazon. The picture I selected leapt out at me as being the most fitting as it shows the two main figures in my story. The Dark, pictured at the top of the cover, has a menacing air that hangs about him. While at the bottom the journalist, Jacob Eldritch looks ready to hunt out the truth.

2. What do you think your book cover ‘says’ to potential readers?
Here’s an intriguing story which tells the tale of a journalist hunting out the truth behind the Dead Men Sleeping.

I do hope the cover speaks for itself and will attract all types of readers who are on the hunt for something different.

Of course, my writing has an edge of darkness to it, so I’m aware it might only appeal to readers of horror or crime, with a supernatural edge, but I’m hoping the cover will entice more main stream readers to take a look.

3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.
I thought long and hard about what I wanted the cover of my book to say, after all it is the first contact the reader has with my story. I knew it was important to get it right and I also knew what I didn’t want on the cover.

As far as tips go I would say look on Amazon in your book’s category and see what style have been selected by other authors and publishers. Then look at the best sellers in your category. Find one that jumps out at you, and think about what made it speak to you. Now think about it in terms of your own book. Remember you don’t want to mislead your readers by putting a picture which is completely out of context with your storyline.

Conclusion

A huge thank you to all of my guests over the last three weeks. Book covers take a lot of time and thought to get right but have that immediate “wow” effect on a reader when the cover does what it is supposed to do – draw people in to want to find out more.

And, of course, when all of us are marketing our books, being able to share our book covers (sometimes a bit at a time) in the run up to a launch is exciting. Book covers are also easy to share on social media.

My favourite thing about my book covers? Being able to use the designs for pens, notebooks etc., as prizes for the launches for From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic. Great fun to do and of course this kind of thing ticks the marketing box very nicely!

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

Related Posts:-

Judging a Book by its Cover – Part 1

Judging a Book by its Cover – Part 2

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

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