What Makes a Good Book Cover?

[Michael Bujtas]

I've recently started looking into a graphic designer for my book cover. I have a few ideas, but I'm no graphic master.

So I ask you all, what makes a good book cover? Or what's your favorite looking one in the fantasy genre?

[Julie Gilbert]

No, The Collins Case is a Christian mystery (novella).  Thank you.

Ashlynn’s Dreams has a more traditional cover because the self publishing company I originally worked with made it based off of my design idea. What gave us the idea to go with a more "comic book" idea for Collins was that we designed a bookmark for Ashlynn's Dreams and I really liked the style.

My artist friend, Tim Sparvero, trained as a comic book writer and illustrator, so that's where his talents are best suited. Also, we were aiming for something clean-cut, yet different and with its own sense of style...unique without breaking any of my cover rule codes :-)

I'm curious how other people get covers. This is an interesting discussion.

[Michael Bujtas]

I'm also looking for a graphic designer to create a book cover for me. I was perhaps thinking about taking a look on DeviantArt or something.

Do you have any suggestions?

[Toby D Glen]

There's a good article I found a while back ...

http://humblenations.com/2012/04/12/14-tips-for-good-kindle-cover-d...

[Michael Bujtas]

Interesting find, thanks!

[John Kerastas]

I like my cover because Gerard Design - a terrific agency - boiled the entire book down into a compelling visual idea. Reactions?

John

[Adrijus Guscia]

Technically, good cover has good design concept(idea), is balanced (there should be a hierarchy of elements, to drive the eye in a sequence from one element to another - like title or graphic element being biggest, then  2nd element being smaller etc). Text doesn't have to be readable easily if the concept requires it, a lot of designers say text MUST be readable in small thumbnail but I disagree, overall some designs work better with text that is hard to understand at first and that draws you in). Graphics should be cropped out properly with no jarring corners (think cutting out a human silhoutte but including parts of its background that looks bad when you place it on your covers, it communicates unprofessionalism).

Not all authors want to break genre cliches, some just blatantly want to copy structure of other book and it's fine. Not original but fine. I really don't like all the romance books that have same idea behind them.. I'd rather add a thing from a scene that plays an important part in the book. Like one author used a picture pinned on a wall as a cover because there was a scene talking about it. So we went with it. It might help you get away from the cliched look. 

Hope this helps, if you got more questions, shoot them my way! ;)

[Wendy Jo Brees]

When I read Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes, the cover grabbed me. It had a boy and girl holding hands and said "Nineteen minutes" on the front. To me that helped grab my attention to pick up the book. I already enjoy Jodi Picoult as an author but the hand holding tied in throughout the book with the 19 minutes.

Some other covers I have liked are: Look Again by Lisa Scottoline, The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinksy and Light on Snow by Anita Shreve.

 

Some I didn't really care for but read because I really enjoyed them: Testimony by Anita Shreve, Mercy by Jodi Picoult and The Other Woman by Joy Fielding.

 

Hope that helps.