Your Book Cover: What Kind of a "First Impression" Does it Make?

[Gary Val Tenuta]

I was just reading a blog where a lady said she was ashamed to admit
she tends to ignore books with amateurish covers even though she
suspects some of the stories inside those covers might be pretty good.

As a book cover designer (www.bookcoversandvideos.webs.com) I can tell you no one should feel guilty about judging a book by its cover.

Why?

Because humans are, by nature, extremely sensitive to first impressions. The
corporate world has known this for a long time. That's why they spend
tens of millions of dollars every year on market surveys and research to determine
the effectiveness of their product packaging.

Two important things for authors to remember:

1. A potential reader's first impression of your book is the cover.
There is an entire psychology built around the concept of "first impressions"
that should be understood by anyone whose product (books, in this case)
is just one among many in competition for the public's attention.

2. Think of the cover of your book in terms of "product packaging" in the
same way that manufacturers regard the packaging of their products. The
cover of your book is the "packaging", the "box" (metaphorically
speaking) that contains the "product". The product is the story inside
the "box". More often than not, a potential buyer's assumption about
the quality of the product is determined by their perception of the quality
of the packaging.

Research has shown that people tend to make purchasing decisions within
a matter of just a few seconds based on their perception of the product
(that "first impression") which is influenced by the packaging.

It's pretty simple really. You're at the store. You see two products from two
different manufacturers, side by side, and both products are exactly the same
and so are the prices. But one is packaged very attractively with a polished,
professional look and the other packaging is rather generic and boring.
Which one are you likely to purchase?

**********************
Gary Val Tenuta
Author and Designer of Low-Cost, High-Quality Book Covers
www.bookcoversandvideos.webs.com

Below are some of my latest "product packages".

[Gary Val Tenuta]

Hey Michael - Thanks! :-)
And I haven't forgotten about those other hi-res images. Will send soon. Been swamped!

[Emily Hiesl]

Completely agree. Sometimes I do judge books *solely* on their covers - not bothering with reviews, etc. if I'm at the bookstore and just browsing. I'll buy the prettiest cover, rather than the best book. Not to mention that once you're reading the book, you begin to associate the characters/places/events with the images on the cover, so whether these images are pleasing or not will definitely affect your enjoyment of the book, right?

Emily
readerswell.blogspot.com

[David Shek]

I have to admit, I'm guilty of judging a book by it's cover. A lot of the time I would ignore a book if the cover doesn't look professional or sophisticated, so to me, the book cover is extremely important. So important that it affects my enjoyment of a book regardless if the book is good or bad. For example: the UK version of "Wicked" features a very simple and abstract black cover with the witch's green face breaking through the blackness and then you got the good witch to the side whispering into her ear. Other cover versions of the same book don't seem to be as appealing to me. In short, a well-designed cover is vital because, as with any advertising and marketing, it's trying to promote a product - the book.

[Leslie Wright]

Thanks for sharing some examples. While I do look for books based off their cover, it is interesting how similar covers can fool the eye. I have read some great books with bad covers, or at least covers that were not attractive to me, but in order to capture a larger audience I believe that the cover must grab you.
Great post.
Thanks,

[Dream Books LLC]

One of the biggest challenges a publisher or an author has is to get the right cover to fit both parties needs. An author wants the cover to focus on the story, the publisher wants the cover to sell. Sometimes one person wins over another and other times a compromise is made. Take for instance Twilights covers, they have nothing to do with the book when you initially pick it up. After you read the book you realize what each item means. Publishers and professional designers not only look at what looks good, they also look at markets, what different colors do mentally etc. After all the cover is the number one marketing tool the publisher and the author have to work with. You may have noticed most new covers by big houses are very simple. One or two things dominating the cover with maybe some background graphics hidden so much they are noticed only after you pick it up. It is those dominating items that sell the book. Sometimes those items have nothing to do with the book but fit the current market trends. Colors are also very important to drawing in readers. A cover has to be designed completely different based on where they are planning on selling the majority of books. An internet cover for instance needs to stand out in websites which most of the time have white or an off white background so for the internet blacks, blues, and golds pop better. Also the title is usually larger on Internet covers than bookstore covers. Bookstore covers you are usually having to fight lighting so you make the books bright so they stand out better even in darker areas of a store. Most publishers also focus on the authors name rather than the title in bookstores.

To sum it up, covers done right are very complicated and have a lot of time and energy spent in researching before anything is even made. Some mention stock photos being used over and over by big houses, it isn't because they can't get a different image, it's because it has been branded. Lets say the first time they use a stock image of a cross and that book is a bestseller. The next book in the series uses the same cross kind of like a little trademark because people are going to recognize it. Then they publish a book similar to the bestseller, they may use the same cross and just move it to a different spot and modify it a little so it is not completely obvious, however your brain does tell and instantly equates it to the bestseller. (Get the book Buy-ology it explains exactly how marketing is done today and how you can capitalize on it) The hardest part about a cover design made by a third party is trying to meet the needs of two very different goals. Publishers want money, Authors want fame (for the most part) and when a third party is hired by a publisher they get really only what the publisher tells them, vice versa with authors.

The biggest suggestion I would have to give authors is to trust your designer. Don't give them font ideas, or a preconceived cover design, let them use your synopsis and create for you a winning cover!

With all that said, just like Gary, we also have a cover design service for authors that would rather self publish or have publishers of their own but would like to have control over their cover as well as a host of other services. We just started these up to help authors as Gary did since we saw how much companies like Lulu, Create Space etc. are charging for a cover. (Lulu and Create Space is 900.00 and up!) You can find our services at www.dreambooksllc.com/services.html or cover design specifically at http://dreambooksllc.com/service/services/preproduction/coverdesign.... However we recommend that unless you are already self publishing or locked into a contract, to go ahead and submit to us first for consideration for publication.

[Raven Corinn Carluk]

When I was talking about the same stock image over and over, I don't mean for the same author or book series. I understand that aspect of branding. Once you've established the cross image for this series, it becomes a much a part of the book as anything.

I'm talking about unrelated books having the same cover model. In the same pose. Maybe darkened a little, maybe with a tattoo, maybe without his face. That's the drawback for small publishing that I'm talking about. All these cover artists are drawing from the same stock image sites.

The cover artist at my publisher has even used the same stock image for two covers, just flipped it and colored it differently for one.

I keep telling myself it has to be a joke.

[Gary Val Tenuta]

Shawn -
Excellent covers. Who was the designer? And who did all the character art featured in your video? And, while I'm asking, who produced the video? It's all superb work on every level.

[Gary Val Tenuta]

So it's a faux British accent? Well done! Man, your whole family is quite the pool of talent. You would have paid a King's fortune to get all of that from an outside source. Like I needed to tell you! LOL
Anyway, wonderful stuff and I hope you sell gazillions of books. :-)

[G Saunders]

It's not important - it's critical... A cover should grab the potential reader, pull them in. It must target the audience and make them want to look. I also like to build the cover on a particular scene in the story. When the reader comes across the scene it's an ah ha moment.

Greg
www.gregoryjsaunders.com

[ManOfLaBook.com]

Great conversation.

I almost always pre-judge a book by its cover.

In two of my latest Author Q&A posts I asked them about cover design as I find the process fascinating:
James R. Benn http://manoflabook.com/wp/?p=827
John Connolly http://manoflabook.com/wp/?p=902