Never Judge a Book by Its Cover?
You’ve written your book, or in the process of writing it, you have worked hard, very hard. I believe writing is one of the hardest things to do. You put your thoughts and ideas down on paper, used your creativity and your skill as a wordsmith, and storyteller. You challenged yourself for hours, days, weeks, months, and probably years of your life. You put your passion into your book. Now it’s time for the cover . . .
Whether on-line or in the book-store your book cover has to grab the potential readers attention. Two to three seconds–that's all your book has. The reader has to be enticed enough to pick your book up, or click on the cover, and the cover has to spark their interest, speak to them, make them want to read your book.
The cover sets the tone of your book, gives the reader a feel for what it is about, creates that intrigue, speaks to the genre: Non-fiction or Fiction, Biography, Autobiography, Self-help, Science fiction, Horror, Romance, Memoir, Auto-biography, True-crime, Mystery, Adventure, etc...
An effective book cover should not try to interpret every page of your book onto the cover, the point of a cover should be to create a little intrigue, a feel, or sense of what your book is about. Maybe it's that first chapter, or last chapter, one paragraph, maybe one sentence, or even just that one critical key-word, but that word or that chapter is the “moment” that captures your book, captures the heart of your story, the theme, the essence of your book.
Book Cover Design The Right Way!
A good book designer will work with the author, after all he or she knows there book the best, they wrote it. I have found in my book cover design experience that spans over two decades that authors usually know that “moment”. They just don't know how to turn that moment into a compelling, eye catching visual.
Graphic Designers, book designers, or more precisely Visual Communicators, know how to turn that “moment” into a stunning eye-grabbing cover.
That is what a good book cover designer can do, we are visual communicators, we know how to use image, typography, colour, layout, to bring that “moment” of your book to life. A good book designer, one with experience in book publishing understands the process, knows what it takes to create a cover which not only looks beautiful, but a cover that communicates the appropriate message, an effective and visually stunning cover that captures the essence of your book, of your story.
Over 20 Years working as a Book Cover Designer.
Let me capture your book’s "moment" for you, let me design your next book cover. Send me an e-mail, send me a quick outline of your book, a synopsis, back cover blurb, a chapter, a paragraph, a sentence, send me that “moment”, describe it to me. Tell me what your vision for your cover is, your book’s genre, your audience, or who you see as your audience.
And I will start working on your book cover right away. I usually like to supply somewhere between 3-8 cover concepts/ideas initially. Hopefully out of those you see one or two that feel right, that capture that “moment”. If not, then I will go back to the drawing board, come up with some new ideas, maybe one or two of the ideas from the first batch will give us an idea for a new direction to go in. From there I usually supply you with 2-3 new concepts based on that new direction.
Then, once we have the basic concept for your cover nailed down, I will tweak your cover, finesse it, work with you on the typography, colours, play with the layout, position of type, point size, bleeds, author name, front cover endorsements, or any other adjustments you might like to see.
I will make as many revisions as you want, as many changes as needed, until you are completely and utterly satisfied with your cover.
If you already have an image chosen for your cover then I will work with that image. For author supplied images I will usually supply you somewhere between 3-5 cover roughs, playing with colours, typography, layout, and again if needed 1-2 new layouts for second pass roughs. After that, any adjustments or changes you feel are needed.
Personally, my experience is that author chosen cover images are usually too literal, generally lacking that sense of intrigue, and not as potentially eye catching as they could be, or should be. My preference as a book cover designer in this instance is for me to use your image and mock-up a few covers but then at the same time to supply you with some alternative ideas or concepts. In the end, though if you are still wedded to you image/cover concept then I will work with you on tweaking that cover and making it as effective and as eye-catching as possible.
Final Cover Ready for Print or for uploading On-line.
Once you have a final front cover that you are happy with, you can then supply me with back cover copy, endorsement quotes, any other text, author photo, author bio, and I will work on the complete cover, front, spine, back cover, flaps if needed, and then supply you with a final Printer ready PDF, with proper bleeds to your book’s trim size.
With your book now ready to be printed and/or sold on-line, I can also work with you on any promotional tie-ins you would like, web banner, book marks, promo-cards, postcards, posters, etc.
You’ve written your book, or in the process of writing it, you have worked hard, very hard. I believe writing is one of the hardest things to do. You put your thoughts and ideas down on paper, used your creativity and your skill as a wordsmith, and storyteller. You challenged yourself for hours, days, weeks, months, and probably years of your life. You put your passion into your book. Now it’s time for the cover . . .
Whether on-line or in the book-store your book cover has to grab the potential readers attention. Two to three seconds–that's all your book has. The reader has to be enticed enough to pick your book up, or click on the cover, and the cover has to spark their interest, speak to them, make them want to read your book.
The cover sets the tone of your book, gives the reader a feel for what it is about, creates that intrigue, speaks to the genre: Non-fiction or Fiction, Biography, Autobiography, Self-help, Science fiction, Horror, Romance, Memoir, Auto-biography, True-crime, Mystery, Adventure, etc...
An effective book cover should not try to interpret every page of your book onto the cover, the point of a cover should be to create a little intrigue, a feel, or sense of what your book is about. Maybe it's that first chapter, or last chapter, one paragraph, maybe one sentence, or even just that one critical key-word, but that word or that chapter is the “moment” that captures your book, captures the heart of your story, the theme, the essence of your book.
Book Cover Design The Right Way!
A good book designer will work with the author, after all he or she knows there book the best, they wrote it. I have found in my book cover design experience that spans over two decades that authors usually know that “moment”. They just don't know how to turn that moment into a compelling, eye catching visual.
Graphic Designers, book designers, or more precisely Visual Communicators, know how to turn that “moment” into a stunning eye-grabbing cover.
That is what a good book cover designer can do, we are visual communicators, we know how to use image, typography, colour, layout, to bring that “moment” of your book to life. A good book designer, one with experience in book publishing understands the process, knows what it takes to create a cover which not only looks beautiful, but a cover that communicates the appropriate message, an effective and visually stunning cover that captures the essence of your book, of your story.
Over 20 Years working as a Book Cover Designer.
Let me capture your book’s "moment" for you, let me design your next book cover. Send me an e-mail, send me a quick outline of your book, a synopsis, back cover blurb, a chapter, a paragraph, a sentence, send me that “moment”, describe it to me. Tell me what your vision for your cover is, your book’s genre, your audience, or who you see as your audience.
And I will start working on your book cover right away. I usually like to supply somewhere between 3-8 cover concepts/ideas initially. Hopefully out of those you see one or two that feel right, that capture that “moment”. If not, then I will go back to the drawing board, come up with some new ideas, maybe one or two of the ideas from the first batch will give us an idea for a new direction to go in. From there I usually supply you with 2-3 new concepts based on that new direction.
Then, once we have the basic concept for your cover nailed down, I will tweak your cover, finesse it, work with you on the typography, colours, play with the layout, position of type, point size, bleeds, author name, front cover endorsements, or any other adjustments you might like to see.
I will make as many revisions as you want, as many changes as needed, until you are completely and utterly satisfied with your cover.
If you already have an image chosen for your cover then I will work with that image. For author supplied images I will usually supply you somewhere between 3-5 cover roughs, playing with colours, typography, layout, and again if needed 1-2 new layouts for second pass roughs. After that, any adjustments or changes you feel are needed.
Personally, my experience is that author chosen cover images are usually too literal, generally lacking that sense of intrigue, and not as potentially eye catching as they could be, or should be. My preference as a book cover designer in this instance is for me to use your image and mock-up a few covers but then at the same time to supply you with some alternative ideas or concepts. In the end, though if you are still wedded to you image/cover concept then I will work with you on tweaking that cover and making it as effective and as eye-catching as possible.
Final Cover Ready for Print or for uploading On-line.
Once you have a final front cover that you are happy with, you can then supply me with back cover copy, endorsement quotes, any other text, author photo, author bio, and I will work on the complete cover, front, spine, back cover, flaps if needed, and then supply you with a final Printer ready PDF, with proper bleeds to your book’s trim size.
With your book now ready to be printed and/or sold on-line, I can also work with you on any promotional tie-ins you would like, web banner, book marks, promo-cards, postcards, posters, etc.
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