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Designing And Choosing A Book Cover

October 26, 2010 by Joanna Penn 147 Comments

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OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn

Option 1

My thriller novel ‘Pentecost' is back from my editor and I am in rewrite mode. I am putting together my marketing plan and am currently just over 3 months away from launch (expected to be Feb 1st 2011). I will soon be putting together the back blurb and letting you read a few chapters, but to start the marketing in earnest I need to get my front cover sorted.

Option 2

In the last few weeks, I have been working together with Joel Friedlander, The Book Designer who has put together some fantastic options for my book cover.

I have included a number of iterations in this blog post for you to see and also to vote on in the survey at the bottom of the post. I am deliberately holding back detail of the book's plot as I want you to make a decision based on the cover.

Option 3

Is this a book you would like to read? Does the cover attract you or turn you off? Which cover makes you want to buy the book? (If none of them, do you have any suggestions?) Please add your preferred cover number in the survey at the bottom of the page and any suggestions in the comments of this post.

The process for any kind of design is iterative so it is important to remember when you get the first lot of images that they are not the final options. I sent Joel a draft of the novel so he could get some ideas, and he had a first pass at cover options giving me 9 different covers to comment on. I sent back comments on colors I liked, wording, fonts, images and Joel went round again. We did this several more times and narrowed down the options I specifically liked.

Option 4

Some of the aspects I particularly wanted to include were:

  • Fire and flames, given that the book is called ‘Pentecost' and fire is an overall theme
  • The words ‘a novel' or ‘a thriller' as I have noticed that the bestselling books are doing this now
  • A cover that is clear when sized as a thumbnail
  • My name clearly displayed as I am building a brand. It doesn't matter so much now, but in a few years time it could be more important. One of my favorite authors Matthew Reilly did this when he got started, and now he is huge in the action/adventure/thriller genre.

It's good to have some of these ideas in mind when you work with a designer, but also be open to their thoughts as well since it is their job to come up with new images.

Joel has some more great tips for book cover design here including:

  • Establish a principal focus for the cover, and stay with a few images. Don't clutter.
  • Avoid white backgrounds and make the text stand out with a title font that is easy to read
  • Have a look around at other book covers from novels/books in your genre to see what they are doing

Voting is now closed. Click here to see the results and winning cover.

******

You can now get free chapters of Pentecost on the Facebook page by clicking here.

********

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Filed Under: Publishing Options Tagged With: book cover design

Comments

  1. 'trick says

    November 2, 2010 at 5:54 pm

    I chose option 1 with option 2 a very close second.

    Reply
  2. Mamma og mer says

    November 3, 2010 at 6:51 am

    Number 2, without doubt. It’s elegant, piques my interest (I don’t usually read thrillers), and the image of a church combined with “a thriller” suggests some intrigue within the church. In the current clime I’d say that’s a selling point.

    Someone suggested that the orange used for your name should be stronger – I disagree. If it were stronger it would unbalance the design and compete with the flame, which is after all the main focal point of this design. In my opinion you name should be stated, as it is in the current version, not screamed.

    I would not use the “dropped cross T” with this design, even though I like it as a design element and as a symbolic reference to the content. I think the “dropped cross T” would add mess to an otherwise finely balanced design. Kudos to your designer. He’s done a fine job here.

    I’m not to keen on the other designs and I’ll tell you why:
    In numbers 1 & 3 you have to look long and hard (at least at the thumbnails) to discern what’s in the background, and number 4 is just, well, flames. Not terribly exciting in my mind.

    Best of luck with your book! I look forward to following your blog which I just discovered.
    All best, Therese

    Reply
  3. Keith says

    November 4, 2010 at 2:01 pm

    I voted for #2, but I would ask you to consider increasing the font size of the line ” A Thriller by” and changing the color to black.

    Reply
  4. andri kurniawan says

    November 5, 2010 at 4:38 pm

    wow ! this is amazing ! Jesus Christ loves and blesses you forever. Haleluyah ! Amen.

    Reply
« Older Comments

Trackbacks

  1. Book Cover Design: The Process Explained With Joel Friedlander, The Book Designer | The Creative Penn says:
    November 4, 2010 at 12:27 am

    […] week, I posted a number of options for the design of my book cover for ‘Pentecost’, a thriller novel. Thank you so much if you voted in the poll or left comments. I really appreciate […]

    Reply
  2. What Gets Measured Gets Managed. Testing The Key Elements Of Your Book Before Launch | The Creative Penn says:
    November 28, 2013 at 12:50 am

    […] his books, starting with the title ‘Four Hour Work Week’ and look where that took him! A few years back, I did a survey on this blog for the cover of my first book, Pentecost. The cover I liked didn’t win and I went with the […]

    Reply

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Most of the information on this site is free for you to read, watch or listen to, but The Creative Penn is also a business and my livelihood. So please expect hyperlinks to be affiliate links in many cases, when I receive a small percentage of sales if you wish to purchase. I only recommend tools, books and services that I either use or people I know personally. Integrity and authenticity continue to be of the highest importance to me. Read the privacy policy here. Read the Cookie policy here. I hope you find the site useful! Thanks - Joanna

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