In a post today ( in BBC News ), discusses the government of India’s strong interest in returning to the expansion levels of yesteryear. With a former growth rate of around nine percent annually, India’s latest growth rate has been around 6.5%+ recently. Actually, 6.5% looks great compared to many countries around the world for [...]
Book covers and professional editing expose an author as the debutante at the book ball. Aspiring authors I coach on how to write a book often overlook the critical nature of their book covers and professional editing. A book cover is an author’s billboard to the world, while professional editing showcases the interior architecture of a book.
Book Covers
Book covers should present a single visual element with quick reader impact. The person who created the cliche, “You have one chance to make a positive impression” must have been thinking about book covers. An author has no more than five seconds to make a positive impression before a potential reader moves on to the next book cover.
The front cover should scream to a potential reader “pick me,” “look at this book.” The back cover should “grab” the potential reader that just picked up this book that the book is worth purchasing with a catchy headline that connotes to the reader that this book was written “just for them.” Don’t get bogged down obsessing about testimonials and endorsements unless these blurbs in quotes are from subject gurus, The Pope, or someone of like stature. Testimonials and endorsements are often fillers and added when all the rest of the verbiage doesn’t resonate.
Here are seven tips to guide an author to maximize the “book billboard”:
1) Design for a specific audience. Every author should match their book cover to what their genre will be looking for by reviewing competitor’s books for ideas on colors and other visuals. An author should pay particular attention to the most successful competitions’ book cover look.
2) Create small. Book covers should look great online, in a catalog, book review… Pay particular attention to print size of the book title.
3) Match typestyles. Use fonts that match other successful books in the author’s genre. Use “MyFonts” (sources) to review various fonts. An author should restrict their number of fonts to no more than two or three.
4) Color matters. Use color to your advantage, as author, to get the best response from your demographic.
5) Harmonize the front and back covers. These two book covers create a two-step selling process. The front book cover is designed to reel the prospective reader in, saying this is a book to take notice of…appeal on an emotional level. The back book cover explains what the book covers with endorsements, benefits, features and claims. The front and back book covers should look like they belong together with the font sizes and colors.
6) Book covers with backbone… The spine of an author’s book is generally the only visible part of the book in a bookstore, so it’s important to make the title large and legible.
7) Drop being clever. When designing a book cover, it’s smarter to not try and be clever. Book covers need to be easy to understand and read.
Make print overruns of the book cover to use for marketing and publicity.
Professional Editing
A book is not judged only by its book cover. Every author should go to great lengths to not be one of those writers that readers end up playing the game, “spot the errors.” Publishers and printers tell me that they often receive book manuscripts riddled with errors in grammar, punctuation and usage errors. Granted, no one is perfect…but it is nice when an author makes an attempt to be as close to perfect in readership as possible for the benefit of book sales and reader respect.
An author wants to submit only the best, most polished manuscript possible. If an author cannot afford a professional editor (typically runs $.01 to $.02 per word), critique groups, English teachers interested in extra work, another author, a journalist…can review a manuscript. An author has poured heart and soul into writing a book…don’t short-change the “masterpiece” by publishing the first or second draft. Make the words jump off the page and shine. Once you have polished the manuscript, then work out the details on how to sell the book.
Clear editing from the beginning can facilitate subsidiary rights sales. “Sub” rights purchasers look for material that is ready to use and written clearly for their target audience. Make the rights buyers’ job easy and add to your bank account.
Book covers are the billboard for an author and manuscript editing for proper grammar, readability, etc. is the expression of the degree of professionalism an author chooses to convey to the world. The choice is yours…
Mike McCann
Mike-at-GlobalBusinessCafe.com
Reference:
Fonts for book covers http://new.myfonts.com/