Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Carolyn Alder on April 14, 2011 at 1:13am

I want to know the pros and cons for having the price of the book visible on the cover by the barcode.

 

I am having Create Space publish a book and the List price is in the data file, but not printed on the book.

 

How will that affect sales? 

Permalink Reply by 1106 Design on April 14, 2011 at 9:41am

Hi Carolyn,

We have always listed the price under the bar code, unless the bar code itself contains the code 90000, which means "no price". If your book is for sale only online, I suppose it doesn't matter, but if you also sell books in person or in stores, I would think the price provides necessary information to the buyer.

Michele DeFilippo
1106 Design
Your book. Designed. With hand-holding.
http://1106design.com

 

Permalink Reply by Pavarti K. Tyler on June 27, 2011 at 7:46am

One of the things I think is essential is that publishers must have permission to use the graphics they want on the cover.  I know this seems like a no-brainer but I see it all the time.  You have to use stock-photos you buy the rights to or public domain images.

Permalink Reply by Dave Bricker on June 27, 2011 at 12:02pm

Without getting into the tarpits of what a cover should look like, I suggest a list of common mistakes that can be avoided.

 

1. Avoid cliche typefaces like comic sans, present, chancery, brush script

2. Don't distort type - choose extended or condensed typefaces as needed

3. Avoid glows, bevels, drop-shadows and other "filter" effects

 

As for best practices, I would encourage anyone, including a professional designer, to reference carefully researched selections of successful design work rather than simply sit down at a computer with a stock photo, a list of typefaces and a prayer. Great art and music has always been inspired by other great art and music.

Permalink Reply by 1106 Design on June 27, 2011 at 12:25pm

I would add that a helpful "best practice" is to look at the best-selling book covers in your genre at Amazon to learn what buyers like.

That being said, never attempt to copy a best-selling cover yourself (unless you're already a trained and experienced designer who understands the principles of  good typography). An amateur cover always looks it, no matter how proud you may be of your own efforts. If you're publishing your book for friends and family, any cover will do. But if your goal is to make money, the marketplace demands a credible cover design.

Michele DeFilippo
1106 Design
Book design and self-publishing advice, with hand-holding.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Bradley Flora on July 6, 2011 at 1:59pm

I agree with everything that Michelle DeFilippo and  Dave Bricker say in their comments, but I want to especially expand on one thing Dave said:

 

"Great art and music has always been inspired by other great art and music."

 

In that regard, I think that what could be considered a cover design best practice would be to study on an ongoing basis, the covers of bestselling books at the bookstore, the grocery store, or any book cover that catches your eye. (or online too, but I'm a very physical person, so I find that I get more out of studying designs in person..)

 

I've started taking five minutes out of every grocery trip to just look over the books in that section of the store, with the goal being to expand my own mental library of cover designs. It is a nice exercise because it doesn't take allot of time, and it allows you to stay current with mainstream book cover trends.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Bradley Flora on July 6, 2011 at 2:14pm

Another Cover Design Best Practice would be to make good use of the negative space in your cover imagery.

 

This means that you should be careful to make sure that background textures, and shapes, in the imagery do not distract, or overlap, with the text

 

The easiest way to accomplish this is to carefully choose which imagery is used for the cover, such as imagery that already has a good placement of negative space in the places that you might be able to use it, respectively, for the title, subtitle and authors name.

Permalink Reply by 1106 Design on July 6, 2011 at 4:41pm

Good advice in the last paragraph, Brad. I would add that one element usually dominates on a cover. That can be the title, the graphic, or even a blank background. The relative proportions of the elements must also be handled skillfully. There's no one right answer as to whether elements should overlap or not, as long as the arrangement leads the eye from the most important to the least important information. Cover design looks a lot easier than it is.  Designers spend a tremendous amount of time  "fiddling" with the font style, color, boldness, size, spacing, and positioning of type and images on a cover, until the result is "just so."

 

Permalink Reply by Becki Buchanan on July 8, 2011 at 9:21am

I would just like to add some insight from the printing side of designing a cover. Check with your printer to see if they can provide a cover or jacket template. This will assist you in the design process. A template will give you the proper spine bulk dimension. If your cover or jacket files are not set up with the proper dimensions, your printer will have to make the adjustments.

Permalink Reply by 1106 Design on July 14, 2011 at 2:30pm

Here's an example of a book cover where the type overlaps the image:

http://www.spannet.org/photo/the-federalist-companion?context=featured

With this image, we could have wedged all the cover text in the triangular negative space at the bottom, but the title and other text would have been too small. It's not necessary to show every bit of an image, especially one as familiar as the Constitution, with it's iconic calligraphy. We chose instead to make the title as large as possible, so that it would show up in small sizes online.

The science of book design is in knowing the rules. The art of book design is determining when to bend or break those rules to create a cover that's unique but still effective.

Michele DeFilippo, owner
http://1106 Design.com
Book design and self-publishing advice. With hand-holding.

 

Permalink Reply by Bradley Flora on July 14, 2011 at 6:12pm

"The science of book design is in knowing the rules. The art of book design is determining when to bend or break those rules to create a cover that's unique but still effective."

 

Thank you for explaining it so succinctly, Michele! That really lays out why it is worth considering the Return On Investment of paying a professional cover designer, versus the time invested (and the R.O.I. for the sweat equity) of doing it yourself.

 

So in that regard, another Cover Design Best Practice could be to know your own goals well enough to know if your book needs a professional looking cover (for you to reach those goals). If the answer is "yes", then it would be good to know enough about your own self (or whomever you are paying to design your cover) to know if it can be created with an eye towards meeting those standards that you established for your book.

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by 1106 Design on July 15, 2011 at 10:00am

If the goal is to publish a family memoir, then any cover design and any method of formatting the interior will do. There's no reason to invest money when there will be no sales. But if the goal is to sell books, and ask people to part with their hard-earned money, then the importance of a good design, inside and out, cannot be overstated.

A book's design is its package, and as we well know from our time in the supermarket, good packaging works. What convinces us that a new cereal or brand of cookies are "good" when we haven't yet tasted them? What makes us feel safe enough to give these products a try? A beautiful photo. Skilled graphic design. Sometimes even the size or shape of the package. The same principle applies to book sales.

Michele DeFilippo
http://1106design.com
Book design and self-publishing advice. With hand-holding.

 

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page