These are the notes to a presentation on book cover design I gave at an indie author festival - this presentation combines lessons I've learned from designing over 1000 book covers; to get the full experience you should watch the video recording, https://youtu.be/nzmZqbb_np0 - or visit my site, www.bookcovers.creativindie.com

1. Derek Murphy
@creativindie
7Must Have Qualities
For a Book Cover That Sells

2. THE
1. Color Contrast
2. Light Dark Contrast
3. Spacing and Kerning
4. Appropriate (title) fonts for the genre
5. Simple subtext
6. A scene, not a collage (including text!)
7. A humanizing element
Qualities
Seven

5. Common
Thinking of a scene
Specific scenes from your book usually won’t work on the
cover, and are too detailed and complex.
Trying to be different
Don’t try and stand out, or be fresh and unique. You risk
losing readers who don’t recognize your book as
something they want to read.
Trying to communicate
Your cover isn’t to tell readers what the book is about; it’s
just to get them to pick up the book!
MISTAKES

6. CASE STUDIES From Hugh Howey

7. CASE STUDIES From Hugh Howey

8. CASE STUDIES From Hugh Howey

9. Make a Promise
A great cover image makes a promise to the reader. A poor cover
image chases potential readers away. Does your cover make a promise?
If you were to strip away the title and author name, does the image tell
the reader, “this is the book you’re looking for to experience [the feeling
of first love for romance; fear for horror; edge of your seat suspense for
thrillers; knowledge for a non-fiction how-to; an inspiring story of
personal journey for a memoir, etc].”
“Is this book erotica, or pornography? No, of course it’s not, but the
reader doesn’t know. Because the image isn’t resonating with the right
promise, we’re probably chasing away readers who would otherwise be
drawn to the story.”
-Mark Coker

11. THE
1. Membership
2. Lust Factor
3. The Blink Test
4. Subtitles and Taglines
5. Consider your Distribution Platform
6. Hierarchy
7. Be Clear Before You’re Clever
Damien Horner (@Damienhorner)
Foolproof
Design Tips
Seven

12. Cover MakeoversCASE STUDIES

13. Cover MakeoversCASE STUDIES

14. Cover MakeoversCASE STUDIES

15. 31. One Beautiful Picture
2. Foreground Character with Background Scene
3. Close up face (with some decoration indicating setting or genre).
Design Strategies
FOR EVERY GENRE
Foolproof

17. 3 Design Strategies
FOR EVERY GENRE
Foolproof1. One Beautiful Picture
2. Foreground Character with Background Scene
3. Close up face (with some decoration indicating setting or genre).

18. * Yeah but how? Layers and blending.

19. 3 Design Strategies
FOR EVERY GENRE
Foolproof1. One Beautiful Picture
2. Foreground Character with Background Scene
3. Close up face (with some decoration indicating setting or genre).

20. Good Enough?Is your cover
1. Getting Feedback
2. Does it SELL
3. How much resistance?
4. Try advertising without it
5. Get professional feedback
6. Is it exactly what you wanted? (Do you love it?)
7. Test out a new one (Canva, WordSwag)

21. Derek Murphy
derekmurphy@creativindie.com
www.creativindie.com
MAKE
THEM
feel it

22. T H A N K S
!!!