Creating the Best Book Covers

Writers need to realize that the cover of their book is the first thing most readers see, and unfortunately too many readers judge the book by its cover. However, for too many authors, there's a too easy temptation to get into Canva and design a quick and easy book cover. The problem is that they don't understand the individual parts that make up a book cover, the best placement for those parts, and lack the necessary graphics experience to put everything together. It's really not that hard to create a great book cover, and with a few simple tips it should be easy to put together a decent-looking cover that will help sell your book.

The Parts

There are three areas to work with: the front, the back, and the spine. The spine is the simplest to deal with as it has just the name of the author, the title of the book, possibly the series number, and the company logo (if there is one). The back should have the ISBN (or other tracking information), but otherwise, you have to choose between the blurb and quotes OR the author's bio. The front needs the title of the book, the author's name, and the cover illustration. By considering how these parts go together, it's possible to create a good-looking book.

Going Down The Spine

The spine is the most variable part in terms of size but is usually the easiest to design. The variable part is because the size of the spine is dependent on the number of pages, how thick those pages are, and the thickness of the covers; however, once you know how thick the book is, you can then size the spine appropriately. The title and author's name should run vertically and top to bottom with the top toward the front cover so it can be easily read when shelved with other books. If the book is part of a series, the number of the book within the series should be placed towards the bottom perpendicular to the other information (this is so it can be more easily identified). If there is a logo it should be placed at the bottom. If there's a small picture (such as a copy of the image on the front cover), then it should be placed at the top, although midway on the spine also works.

Dealing With The Back 

The only obligatory part is that the ISBN (or other number and/or bar code) needs to be somewhere near the bottom, usually on the right side parallel to the bottom; however, its precise location doesn't matter as long as it's easy to find. You have a choice: blurb or author's information. If you choose a blurb, it needs to be about 150 to 200 words long and fit in the top two-thirds or so of the back. You can place an illustration, either a section of the one on the front cover or something else, above the blurb.

If you decide to go with the author's bio, make sure the picture looks good and that it fits in about a fourth of the back. The text, which should be about 150 to 200 words, should go in a box that either encapsulates the photo and text or is below the picture. You can always put the information on the last page of the book or omit it altogether. Generally, include it if your book is non-fiction with a very brief (under 100 words) summary of the book, but go with the blurb if it's a work of fiction, and debate the bio for the last page of the book.

Being Upfront 

The front cover is the real fun, and usually the part that most who design their own covers get wrong. First, you need to have the title, the book series (if that applies) as a subtitle, and the author's name. The two most accepted formats are to put either the title or the name at the bottom and the other about a third of the way from the top. You can include quotes and awards, but these need to be relatively small and in the top or bottom third.

Placing these is important because they are important information, but you should make them look good. You also need to avoid looking busy (or placing too much information on the cover); it needs to be well organized. In that regard, debate placing any awards or quotes on the back cover, or omitting them completely. You don't want to over-complicate the cover; it makes it look cheap, makes the information confusing, and generally turns off readers. You need to create a pleasing product if you want your book to sell.

When it comes to the image, you can use a design, a picture, or even a photo, but don't look cheap. Whatever image you use needs to cover the entire front of the book, however, that image works out. If you use a fancy font, such as calligraphy, then it needs to be counted as part of the image. Bear in mind that the image has its own rules (just ask any decent illustrator), but the two big ones for you are that the image cannot overshadow the text (unless the text is part of the image) and that it shouldn't hide the text; just keep it simple and keep the interesting parts in the center of the cover (where there shouldn't be any text) and you should do fine.

Make sure that the artwork relates to the book; you're trying to set up the genre while ideally showing some sort of scene from the book, but as long as the artwork relates to the story or setting you should be fine. If you need to use complicated art, debate an old trick: Copy the picture onto its own layer in your program of choice and bring it down to 50–60% opacity. Then color the background a single color that's mid-tone or lighter, such as light green, medium yellow, or even light blue; try to avoid any shade of grey, cyan, or magenta. It's not a perfect solution, but it will make it look better.

It's also important for it to not look cheap. This means avoiding: 

•  Cut-out pictures, especially if they're stock photos
•  Single-color background 
•  Times, Helvetica, Arial, Comics Sans, and Papyrus (they're usually too plain or over-used)
•  More than one or two fonts
•  Obviously AI-generated art
•  Overly complicated art

The Bottom Line

Your cover is what will sell the book. Obviously, so will word of mouth, good reviews, and good advertising, but you also need to have a good cover. This should help you create a good cover, but if you can afford a decent book designer do so; it will save you so many problems. Nonetheless, just do what you can to create the best possible cover and you should be able to enjoy a little added success.