Book covers! We love ’em but we hate them too… once we see the price tag that comes with a professional artist. If you’ve decided to make your own book cover, it’s easier and more affordable than ever.
BUT, an unprofessional or lackluster cover will result in poor book sales, while a polished, eye-catching design will draw the right types of readers to your book. Your book cover is your best sales tool – you really need to nail it!
So, to help as you design your own cover or pursue working with an artist, we’ll examine the following marketing concepts and cover art guidelines:
- Your book cover is your #1 marketing tool
- The visual elements of a strong book cover
- Affordable cover design tools
- Hiring a book cover artist
- Market testing your book cover
NOTE: since I specialize in sci-fi and fantasy, all the cover examples will fall within these genres. However, my general advice about marketing angle, artistic direction, and design programs is applicable to all fiction authors.
Your Book Cover is Your #1 Marketing Tool
Your book cover is your most effective marketing tool. And that’s how you need to think of it. You probably have a ton of images in your head of favorite scenes, cool characters, and dramatic vistas.
But accurately conveying the beauty of your world or main character is NOT the most important element of your cover. A cover is only effective if it will make your target reader pick up your book (and ideally buy it).
So first, you need to have an ideal reader in mind. You can learn more about this in my earlier post: “The Most Important Marketing Concept Authors Need to Understand.”
To interest your ideal reader, a cover needs to convey:
- Genre – a fantasy book looks a lot different than a contemporary romance. Make sure to use the general trends that are appropriate for your genre AND sub-genre. First impressions are lasting!
- General tone and themes – use color scheme, lighting, and subject matter to narrow your audience – is there a male or female figure on the front? A close-up of a face, or a unique, sprawling vista? Cool or warm tones?
- Accurate reader expectations – if your book doesn’t feature a lot of romance, you won’t want a steamy couple on the cover. If there’s a dragon on the cover, that dragon better show up! If your cover looks bright and cheerful, but has a tragic ending, readers might be miffed.
It is vitally important that you follow through on “the promise of the premise.” If your cover promises “high concept space opera” and you deliver “found family scrapping by in space,” you’ll irritate the readers who do pick up your story, and fail to find the ones who’d truly enjoy it.
Have you heard of “Chekhov’s gun?” It’s a phase that originated in the film industry – if you depict an element that has exciting connotations – like a gun, legendary sword, dragon, or battle – that element better show up in the story, or readers (viewers) will feel misled and let down.
Your cover makes a “promise” about the type of story and emotions readers can expect. Keep that promise.
How to Do Market Research
The best way to ensure that your book signals to the right type of reader is to complete market research. In other words, look at other covers within your genre and sub-genre to see what’s resonating with readers.
Look up your favorite authors. Skim through lists of Amazon new releases in your category. Save your favorite (genre-relevant) book covers to a Pinterest board.
What catches your eye? What do you skim past without really noticing?
Your own tastes are a good place to start, but it’s important to poll a wider field. There are some great communities online where you can post cover mockups, in-progress works, and alternate versions, and ask readers to vote on them!
Just make sure you’re polling people who actually read within your genre. Facebook, Reddit, and Discords have pretty active groups that tend to be pretty kind, in my experience.
Trends come and go, especially on social media – ask readers what designs they love, what turns them off in a cover, and which version of a cover looks best. These are effective ways to ensure that your cover not only looks professional, but also has the highest chance to sell your book.
Fit in But Stand Out
It’s important to find a balance between originality and familiarity. You want readers to look at your book and, within 0.01 seconds, understand what genre and sub-genre your story falls into – that’s all the time they’re going to give you.
However, you do still want to stand out. A book cover with a close up of a sword’s handle may convey “sword and sorcery” plenty effectively, but that’s all it does. Seriously, enough already – this tells me absolutely nothing about your story!
The same goes for the plethora of covers that feature a noblewoman in a puffy dress, a cloaked boy facing off against a dragon, or a random space ship hovering over a planet.
You need to imagine not just how your book will look on its own, but how it will compare when stacked up against the competition – literally stacked in a pile at a bookstore, or more commonly these days, on an Amazon new releases list, Instagram or TikTok feed, or any other online platform.
These covers all look sharp and effectively convey “dark romantasy,” but because of the vague titles and intense similarity in visual elements, I get overwhelmed when looking at them all. I don’t know how they stand out from each other. I’ve stood in bookstores reading the back covers of books like this, and then as soon as I set them down, I forget which description goes with which title.
That’s why when covers like this come along, in the same genre and sub-genre, they shoot to the top of #booktok lists – because they stand out, while still fitting in!
So scroll through those lists! And especially look at the books and authors you’re using as comparative titles. You may love covers that use graphic design, but if your comps use highly realistic oil paintings, you may want to consider using that style to flag the same readers.
The Visual Elements of a Strong Cover
Choosing Fonts
I’ve put this at the top of my list of visual elements because unprofessional fonts are the most common mistake I see on covers these days. With photo manipulation, pre-made covers, and accessible programs like Canva, it’s more affordable than ever to acquire an attractive image for the base of your cover.
But a generic, improperly formatted, or genre-inappropriate (e.x. corporate text on a fantasy book) font will scream “amateur” even if you use a great image.
The above covers make the following mistakes:
- The font is simplistic, more fitting to a word document than a cover
- The color of the text doesn’t stand out well against the background
- The font is too small
- The title and design compete, rather than working in concert – part of the design is obscured, and part of the text is less readable – neither win (more on this in the next section)
Here’s a simple rule of thumb for picking your actual font: if you’d use the font in an email, DON’T use it on your cover (except in your blurb, which should be highly readable).
If a font is available for free in a word processing program, it probably won’t look professional on a book cover. It’s absolutely worth it to pay $15 for a month of Canva premium to select a few unique fonts.
A book’s title, author, series name, and any taglines or testimonials are often written in different but complementary fonts. Keep that in mind as you look through examples.
Focal Point and Composition
Focal Point
A book cover needs a strong focal point – the place in the image that your eye is instantly drawn to.
Covers tend to use either the title or the image as a focal point. Note that in the first two covers below, the image and backgrounds are relatively simple, while the text is much larger. In the second two covers, the images are much more striking, causing the eye to fix on them immediately.
Both choices are valid – just make sure that your text and image don’t compete with each other, like on the Realm of Dragons cover above.
Ensure your image has enough negative space for your title, or an area that is simpler in texture and color, so the words don’t have difficulty showing up clearly against the design.
Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds is a useful compositional strategy that divides an image into nine equal parts with two horizontal and two vertical lines. It’s recommended to place key elements along these the lines, at their intersections, or within the segments.
Our brains like segmenting things and following patterns. Harry Potter is placed squarely in the middle of his cover, and the title takes up the full top third. The pillars frame him pretty closely along the horizontal lines of the thirds.
On The Neverending Story‘s cover, each “third” in the bottom only contains one fanciful creature, giving us some mental space to process one and then another. The mandala motif on The City of Brass takes up exactly the top 2/3 of the image, with the pillar of fire and figure strikingly illuminating the center “column” of the book.
Guiding the eye
Using the rule of thirds is also helpful in designing a composition that draws your reader’s eye around the full frame – from image to title, to author’s name, and back again.
Amok‘s cover by @jiwosophy does a stunning job of this!
1. The title starts at the top left focal point, taking advantage of the reader’s instinct to read from top left to right.
2. The curve of the woman’s body along the top 1/3 of the image follows our reading path, ending in a second focal point – her face.
3. The linked arms and blades then cleverly lead us to the author’s name!
4. The dynamic curve of the young man’s body draws us to his head, which rests at another intersection of two lines.
Significantly, we don’t see his face. If we did, it would likely compete with the title for attention, as the human eye gravitates toward faces. The back of his head still serves as a focus, and his outstretched hand points us upward toward the woman’s feet, and back to #1 – the title.
Masterful! Not to mention, the motifs and style of this cover hint at the story’s unique worldbuilding – inspired by author Anna Tan’s Malaysian ancestry.
Artistic Style and Medium
Artistic style is one of the best ways to give readers a hint of your writing style and the “feel” of your story. As my lit professor loved to say, “form reflects meaning.”
Some top design styles include:
- Traditional media – oil painting or watercolor
- Digital painting
- Real life images – models, landscapes
- Cinematic cover
- Culturally or historically inspired artwork – Chinese ink painting, Greek pottery motifs, and wood cut prints
- Graphic design
- Mixed elements
Medium hugely impacts the depiction of light and color – watercolor or acrylic will look much softer than richly saturated oils or bright digital paintings. So this choice will greatly affect your book’s perceived sub-genre.
What style makes you the most excited? More importantly, which one makes you want to pick up the book?
It’s SO hard, but the most beautiful cover, isn’t necessarily the best cover. It’ll save you a lot of pain down the road if you accept NOW that some images are best left as supplementary art or interior illustrations, rather than as your cover.
You want to pick the style that best sells both your book and your brand as an author.
Here are some various covers for The Fellowship of the Ring over the years, and they each convey something different about the story. The 1st image is the original cover design, the 2nd cover looks more like a children’s book, the 3rd reveals the beautiful scope and literary quality of the work, the 4th is more cinematic, the 5th is a graphic design call-back to the original cover, and the 6th looks like a modern dark fantasy.
All these covers say something true about the story, but appeal to different readers. What type of reader do you want your cover to speak to?
Depicting Your Character
Some readers hate seeing characters on book covers, while others love it, or don’t really care. The choice is yours.
Characters are usually depicted on covers in one of 5 ways: silhouettes, shots from behind, multiple characters interacting, half or full body front view, and close-ups of faces.
1. Character silhouettes
In this style, characters are often seen from a distance or depicted through a simplified art style – little can be made out about the character except for gender, and pose.
These covers work harder to indicate their genre and sub-genre than to communicate what is unique about the main characters. These are meant to be archetypal depictions that make a reader think, “I like stories about swordsmen, or ladies in Victorian times.”
What to avoid:
You’ll want to be careful not to overuse graphic design elements that look like clip art cutouts. I’ve seen the same silhouette of warrior girls and dragons on so many book covers that it has become distracting. All I have to do is open Canva and I know exactly which one they used, which makes a cover appear less professional.
2. A figure shown in profile or from behind
In these cases, we don’t see the character’s face clearly, but are given more intricacy in clothing and other features.
This is a great way of indicating more about the personality and profession of your main character – soldier, noble, spy, alien, and so on, without committing your readers to a certain version of their face.
What to avoid:
You don’t want to be too vague here. I’ve seen a ton of fantasy covers that feature a cloaked or armored figure from behind, or a young woman with her hair blowing, and these figures don’t really tell us anything about the story or character. The examples above give enough detail to let us know general ages, professions, culture, and potential goals.
3. Covers that depict multiple characters
If your story centers around dynamics between one or more characters, featuring multiple figures on the cover can be a great way to establish reader expectations. You’ll let them know that the heart of the story centers around love interests, buddies, rivals, found family, master-apprentice relationships, and so on. Readers will also often assume that such a story follows multiple point of views, which is useful information to convey.
What to avoid:
Including too many characters on one cover can become distracting. It also makes it a lot harder to maintain continuity in later covers or if you have to change artists. Note that Kings of the Wyld, which features the most characters of those examples, still uses one character as a focal point, while the others fade into the background a little.
You also want to avoid having characters just stand around. In the covers above, the characters clearly have a task before them, and are not just posed before “the camera.” They look ready to solve a problem or leap into action.
4. A front view of the character (half or full body)
If you don’t mind committing yourself to an artist’s rendition of your character’s face, then go all in with a front shot!
The most effective character shots are dynamic, emotional, and indicate another layer of the world (plot, magic). These characters feel like they’re in the middle of a scene, and we’re holding our breath, waiting to jump in and see what happens next.
What to avoid:
You’ve likely seen many covers that show a character just facing the reader (as though looking at a camera), with a rather neutral facial expression and body language.
These depictions, while potentially “accurate,” are rather boring to look at. You want to at least partially answer the question: what makes this ranger, orphan, or prince different from the others?
5. A close up of a character’s face
This can be a very effective way to communicate something unique about the main character, display intense emotions, hint at a major theme in the book, or just show off a hot character! 😉 A close up can also indicate that the story will follow a single character’s perspective quite closely – perhaps even in 1st person.
What to avoid:
If you’re going to depict a character’s face prominently on your cover, you MUST maintain consistency across the series. Here is an example of a series that failed to do this.
These book covers all feature a different model, and none of them actually look like the main character, who is a redhead, not a brunette. Her face tells me nothing about the story or who she is – her expressions are passionless. These are also all essentially the same cover – a woman over a planet – which tells me nothing about how the series might progress.
In contrast, the most recent cover in this series actually depicts the point of view character accurately, down to her determined stare and dress uniform. We receive more information, including a fighter jet, which indicates the military themes of the book. Plus an accurate portrayal of her husband, and the inclusion of a unique celestial body, rather than a generic planet.
In summary, the face of a character rarely in and of itself creates a complete cover. Other elements, including clothing, lighting, and emotion, are incredibly important to hooking a reader.
Also Avoid
the uncanny valley
When creating faces digitally or with the use of photo manipulation, it’s easy for a figure to fall into “the uncanny valley,” the name for the unsettling, even repulsive, feeling people experience when encountering humanoid figures or artificial entities that are almost, but not quite, human-like.
Think creepy doll effect, photoshop catfishing, or CGI animals whose mouths and eyes don’t quite match up with their words.
Here are some examples of covers that look “off” because of over-photo-manipulation and the blurred effect of digital brushstrokes.
In addition to looking amateur, they just feel a bit creepy, which is the last thing you want a prospective reader to take away from your book. Make sure to look at an artist’s portfolio before you hire them. If you’re not confident your artist can depict faces well at your budget, it’d be better to simplify the design or show your characters from behind than to end up with this kind of effect.
Bad Photoshop
Badly photoshopped covers are less common these days. The technology is more accessible even for amateurs, and it’s a lot easier to find freelance artists on platforms like Fiverr that are both affordable and have better skills than those displayed in the covers below.
Still, it’s good to keep in mind that just because you can cram a lot of fanciful elements or light filters into one image, doesn’t mean you should. Even if the image layers are merged and shaded properly, such covers can still look a bit… extra.
AI-Only
This is a whole can of worms. But as a business, Creative Cornerstones takes a very simple approach: don’t do it.
AI can be a fun tool to create mock-ups for your own enjoyment, to brainstorm ideas, or to provide references for your artist.
But DO NOT use a fully AI crafted image as your book cover.
In order to create these images, AI scrapes existing art and copies it, stealing the hard work of real artists. You open yourself up to a word of copyright issues. Most lawsuits about AI are still ongoing, and you really just don’t want to risk it.
There are many ways to create a book cover for next to nothing.
Besides, readers can tell when a book cover is AI-made and often they won’t pick it up as a result. I participate in many author groups online, and when authors posts covers asking for feedback, one of the top, most repeated comments I see on AI artwork is, “if I saw this on Amazon, I wouldn’t buy it because it looks AI.”
Often, readers might not care about the AI art itself, but what it indicates about the work as a whole. It shows that the author didn’t have the budget to hire a professional artist, which means other elements about the book might lack professional refinement as well – especially the writing quality. They might think, “was this book ‘written’ by AI too?”
There are SO many books on the market, that if a reader has even the slightest doubt about the quality or ethical construction of your book, they’ll simply move on to something else.
Affordable Cover Design Tools
Whether you’re looking to create your cover by yourself, or simply want to make a mock-up for your artist, there are some great programs that are affordable and user-friendly.
- CanvaPro: $15/mo
- Adobe
- Express Premium: $10/mo
- InDesign: $35/mo (cancel anytime)
- Book Brush: $149/yr (this one is designed specifically for creating book covers, ads, reels, etc. with tutorials and templates)
Canva and Adobe Express both have completely free versions too, but I highly recommend getting the upgraded version just for a month – there are way more templates and design elements available that will make your cover easier to create and more professional-looking. Since hiring an artist could cost $50-2000, $10 or $15 is nothing.
For more information about technical details such as image dimensions, trim size, and printing details, I suggest you directly consult your publication platform’s requirements.
Cover Specifications:
Hiring a Cover Artist
I do recommend hiring a cover design artist, at least as a consultant. There are a lot of refinements you may not consider, such as genre-appropriate lighting filters and color tone, or how much you should brighten an image to make sure it looks good once printed.
“Fixes” like this could take an artist just half an hour to spot and correct, saving you a ton of trial and error and pain down the road.
These days, I hesitate to recommend freelance platforms like Fiverr, because it’s hard to tell whether an artist’s work is genuine, or if they use AI and still charge “full price.” I’ve seen a lot of posts lately by authors who were burned by artists (often from abroad) who lied about their work, charging $100s-1000s upfront and then delivering work that contained obvious AI mistakes (distortions, disproportionate figures, oddly repeated patterns, etc.).
I strongly encourage you to choose an artist based on word of mouth recommendations. Ask people in your writers group, at local conventions and book fairs, and in online groups specifically designed to help artists and writers connect.
If, while doing your market research, you find an artist whose work you really admire, why not reach out? Don’t assume their work is outside your budget! Artists who work with small and indie presses usually have much lower rates than those who’ve created covers for the Big 5.
Here are 3 cover artists I recommend, in order of cost ($, $$, $$$):
1. Galadriel Coffeen, our in-house artist creates sharp, digitally painted covers that feature high contrast, striking colors.
- Her covers range in cost from $50-500, depending on design complexity.
- She also paints dragons and dramatic character illustrations!
- See more of her portfolio here.
2. Kirk DouPonce of DogEared Designs creates luminous covers for sci-fi, fantasy, and thriller books. At the moment, he is not accepting new commissions, but if you like his work, you can check back in the future and reach out on his website for a quote.
3. Jeff Brown has created stunningly epic covers for indie authors and big names alike. He charges $4000, which includes typography, full usage, multiple print covers, multiple deliverables, etc. and is currently booked over a year out. Find more examples and information on his website.
Market Testing
One more hugely important reminder: once you have a couple versions of your cover, test their effectiveness! Ask your target readers (on social media, in your newsletter, in groups, at book events, etc.) which cover they’d be more likely to buy.
You can even ask what the cover says to them about:
- Genre (and sub-genre)
- General tone and themes
- Reader expectations
Readers LOVE seeing covers and voting on which ones they like. Don’t assume that just because you and your artist love it, they will too.
You can’t just “change it later,” as it becomes extremely complicated to list various cover editions on Goodreads, which is one of the major platforms for gaining reviews.
Learn More
If you’d like to learn more about creating a competitive cover, I recommend Eschler Editing’s Pocket Editor course: Crushing Your Cover. They go into further detail about cover design strategies for various genres, including nonfiction. You can use the code Cornerstones10 to receive 10% off the course.
I work with Eschler Editing, an award-winning team with over 25 years of publishing experience. They’ve successfully launched work with bestselling authors, traditional publishers, and indie creators.
Hi, I’m Caylah Coffeen, a freelance editor and marketer of sci-fi and fantasy books. I love reading and writing and am a follower of Jesus Christ.
I’ve worked for Monster Ivy Publishing and Eschler Editing, and am currently a weekly editor with Havok Publishing. Reach out to chat about books and publishing!
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Great article! And you know how to put it into practice.
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I saw this link posted in a group on Facebook. Very timely as I am currently designing my first novel’s cover using my husband’s artwork. Your insight is just what I needed. Thank you!
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I’m so glad to hear that! You’re very welcome. I would love to see your cover some day. 😀 Best of luck!
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