5 Book Cover Design Secrets That Can Boost Your Book Sale

Book covers can sometimes be more notable than books themselves. Remember 1984 by George Orwell? What comes to your mind? Of course, the striking book cover. The power of book covers cannot be ignored. In fact, it can sometimes boost your book sale. It is why you should take utmost care when selecting or creating your book cover.

So, before you approach a self-publishing platform to publish my book, be informed of some book cover design secrets that can make a big difference.

Stick to your genre expectations

What is the genre of your book? Romance? Crime-thriller? Or something else? Browse the book covers of the bestsellers in your genre. You will notice similar patterns in color schemes, fonts, layouts, and images. You would want a cover that not only looks awesome but also fits naturally into your genre. If you go against what your readers are usually expecting to see, your book may end up with the wrong impression among your readers. The right book cover, reviews, titles, and blurb collectively make a great sale.

Make it POP

A lot of authors follow this simple rule of making their cover ‘POP.’ Some of you may not have an idea of what does it mean. But to simplify the things you can understand this with contrast in which the central object or character of your book cover is made to ‘Pop’ out. It can be done by reversing the character color with the background color, or spotlight or using bold, dark central image. Using contrasting colors is the simplest technique. However, make sure that they are pleasing color combinations.

Use a subtitle, tagline or teaser

A tiny bit more information in the form of the subtitle, tagline can make a big difference in your book covers. For fiction, this can be a hint of a major plot point or conflict. It would excite the interest of the readers without giving too much information. In addition, a small, extra text can make the book cover look more professional. However, keep it simple, in a lesser complicated font – small but easy to notice. Besides, the teaser should be really good. For non-fiction, the subtitle is crucial as it allows you to fit more keywords. If you are not okay with the subtitle, you can also add a blurb or review – this trick helps sell books.

Pick the right fonts with good effects

There are plenty of fonts you can choose to highlight the book cover. However, make sure that your fonts make a nice contrast with the background of the book cover. Use natural color contrast for text. To make your font stand out, use special effects by taking care that it doesn’t mar the fluidity of the cover. Also, don’t make the font too condensed – it makes the text less illegible. Instead, keep it clean and elegant.

Go simple

You can’t fit everything in a single book cover – font, color contrast, image, clothes, expression, decoration, weapons, subtitle and more. You just need the right elements in the right proportion. If you are at sea, it is advisable to seek professional help. Not all writers can struggle with Photoshop – it is a way too much work to take care of all the details. And, if you are amateur, you will end up something you wouldn’t like. Busy book cover takes more work than simple ones. Hire an illustrator to make the changes so that your book cover looks natural. If it doesn’t go smoothly, you could publish the book months earlier with a simple cover.

Implement these steps, and you will be on your way to get a book cover designed that will definitely hook readers and may even double or triple your book sales.