1. Strongly attract the eye of the potential reader. Having a visually attractive cover is nice. But it is of small importance if it doesn't draw the eye to it from among a number of other books of the same type. It must 'leap out' from the field of view it is in, whether that means the book shelf or table it physically sits on, the page on Amazon or other book reseller website, or a catalog page among other books of its type. This usually, but not always, involves strongly contrasting colors, themes, fonts or photos. Whatever it is, it must stop the potential reader's eyes squarely on it's cover and invite further inspection. Example,In the example at right, author Katherine Shephard's political thriller, Fraternity of Silence, the unusual purple background color of Fraternity of Silence, with its strongly contrasting black and white graphics alone made it stand out among other books. But adding the unexpected grouping of capitol dome, dog and old tennis shoe made it an arresting comination. Dogs and animals in general are a wonderful attention getting device. Barnes and Noble selected this cover for a large in store poster just based on the design and theme, even though this was a first-time, self-published author. 2. Make the title the strongest element on the cover. After all, it is the written word you are selling, shouldn't it get top billing? Better yet is if you can read it from across a good distance. For that reason, I generally advise short, succinct titles that are packed with meaning anc can be rendered large on the page. I like the font to be bold and easy to read. Example: Khotso Khabele's breakthrough treatise on advanced education principals, A.R.I.S.E. rendered his descriptive, but too-long title into an appropriate and compelling acronym, inviting closer inspection. 3. The cover's title and graphics must give an indication of what the book is about, or at minimum, who it is addressing. In the example used above, you know at once that the book is centered on advancing the interests of children, in helping them rise to greater heights or acheiving success. Example: In Pat Kirkland's innovative book on winning business communications theories and techniques, Predator, Prey or Partner?, the author used animals to describe different personality and communications types. This striking cover concept, depticting business people in the 'corporate jungle' with their appropriate animal's heads, perfectly and eyecatchingly expressed her concept beautifully. Once again, an effective use of an animal on the cover... 4. The style, colors and graphics should fit your target market. Both A.R.I.S.E., and Predator... were targeted towards a fairly conservative audience, so more muted tones and classical photos or illustrations would be a better choice that the potential readers would resonate with. The first towards educators, teachers and parents; the second towards business professionals. Whenever you have a fairly broad target market in which you are appealing to a wide range of tastes, conservative or classical style generally is a good choice. The trick is in making the realistic style come alive with concept. Even though you want to be creative and get their attention--you don't want the wrong kind of attention--like using flowers and butterflies on a book about tool and die making. 5. The title and illustration should be mutually supporting. This should be a pretty straightforward rule of thumb, but I notice it is often it is overlooked. Authors rightfully wish to create a catchy title that will intrigue potential readers. But sometimes a catchy title will just mystify--which is fine, but then the illustration or graphic needs to show the core concept being addressed and support the title in giving the right idea of what the book is about . Example: In top level economic consultant Dan Frishberg's expose on stock market investing, Escape from the Herd,Secrets of the Super Rich, I created an illustration of Dan looking down on businessman-cowboys 'herding' people through Wall Street. I used Dan's own face in this case because he is a high profile personality with a media presence. His face is fairly well known in the reader group he was addressing. The escaping figure was one of historical Wall Streets's most notorious success stories. This gave clear definition to what the title was alluding to. 6. Use the author's face on the cover when: ~ the author is widely known celebrity, speaker, professional with high face recognition ~ the author will be marketing the book in his lectures/seminars or performances (and whose persona is part of their product) Example: Greg Tamblyn is a raconteur and musical entertainer who wrote a book of his funny and touching 'road stories' in Atilla the Gate Agent. He sells this book at his concerts and on his own website, which those seeking to book him or find out more about him because of his performances, visit. He is a public figure, like Dan Frishberg. 7. Do not use the author's face on the cover when: ~ the author is a first-time self-published writer, or published but has low personal public recognition. It has been said that publicity people and publishers avoid backing books adorned with the faces of unkown authors. Example: Even though author Joan Bunney has a beautiful, model-worthy face, it was decided that she didn't have enough name recognition starting out to use her face on her book, Sexy in Your 60's. We opted to use a photo of her legs instead, which still perfectly supported the title (pardon the pun). 8. Title, graphics or both should be distinctive from other books of its type. Hundreds, maybe thousands of books are published every month. You have seconds, in most cases to distinguish your book from all the rest...especially when there are many written on the same subject. Your cover should strongly define your book has having a unique message , or one that gives another slant on an old story. Example: Thee are probably thousands of books on sales technique. Author and sales trainer Jack Warkenthien was presenting a fresh approach to the subject in his book on selling, Life's a Sales Call. Jack, being posessed of a keen sense of humor, nearly decided to title it "Life's Second Oldest Profession". Because of this, we ended depicting the apple that Eve 'sold' to Adam, on this very eyecatching cover, which is quite unique for its subject matter, and easily described his relationship-based approach to selling. 9. Author's name (by line) 'rules of thumb' If you're a bestselling author or have high public recognition, by all means, you can and should put your name big and bold, even the boldest element on the page, because people know you and are interested in what you have to say, or are eagerly waiting for your next contribution, like Michael Crichton or Steven King. But putting your name forward in a big way because you are seeking recognition is not likely to work until your readers find out they really like your work and want more from you. You want your by line large enough to be noticed and easily read, but unless your situation fits the above, your name should not compete in size, space and/or impact with the title. 10. Fine Spine Design A good spine contains the following: Title, Author and publisher's bug is generall all that is needed on the spine. But it must be a very readable title-by line. Picture yourself in a mega book store like Barnes & Nobles. You're looking at a wall of books on one of those bookshelves where you can barely reach the top shelf, and books are crammed spine out. Books with small print titles on colored backgrounds with little contrast of colors will be skipped over. Books with bold, high contrast titles you can see from thirty feet away will draw immediate attention. The Back Book Cover Design is a whole 'nother list. Contact me for details! | 
