Like the effect of a magnetic force, readers are lured into the world authors create through the powerful designs of their fiction book covers.
We are all familiar with the phrase 'don’t judge a book by its cover'. And while it is important to follow this metaphorical advice in all other aspects of decision making, during book selections, this is hardly the case.
While browsing through those long aisles of books in a brick and mortar store or scrolling down the never-ending webpages of e-book collections, your readers have less than a second to stop at your book and read its back cover or details. It will be the design of your book cover that will grip their attention and make them think about reading your book.
Captivating fiction book covers have the power to pull readers in. Like the effect of a magnetic force, readers are lured into the world authors create through the powerful designs of their fiction book covers. The colourful graphics and the stylish fonts are enough to stop the readers in their tracks and give your book a try.
"A picture is worth a thousand words."
So, it can be rightly said that when it comes to creating a fiction book cover, readers remember another famous metaphorical phrase…a picture is worth a thousand words.
Fiction book covers should be able to do the following:
· Instantly hold your readers’ attention
· Convey the genre and feel of your story
· Lead them to making a purchasing decision
Captivating fiction book covers increase the likelihood of your book getting purchased.
3 Best Practices to Creating a Captivating Fiction Book Cover
Experts recommend that while choosing a design for your fiction book cover, you must bear in mind that your design:
1. Makes the Title of Your Book Prominent
No matter what color or image you select for the background of your book cover, you should always make sure that the title of your book remains the primary focus and is clearly visible from afar.
It should ideally fill the middle space of your cover and be big and bold. While selecting the font style, ensure that it is simple and legible. Similarly, the font color should be one that stands out even if your background is pitch black.
2. Doesn’t Over-Crowd the Cover
It is advisable that your cover design should be simple and crisp. If it has too much text, or too many images then it will overcrowd the cover. Your reader will find it difficult to focus on the title of the book and the main image.
Standard practice is to follow a hierarchy. Meaning, make the title of the book the biggest and the boldest. The sub text should be a little smaller but right below the title, whereas the name of the author should be at the bottom or top of the book cover.
To keep your cover design simple, select a single image that runs from the front to the back cover and from the top to the bottom of the book. As they get drawn to the visuals, a connection is established between your reader and your story.
And last but not the least,
3. Sticks to the Theme and Genre of Your Book
A quick web search will tell you that all genres have their own specific cover designs and ideally, authors and publishers stick to that.
For instance, a horror or mystery novel will mostly feature fonts like Chiller and Smudger. The image will be that of a dark night, a monster, a murder scene or a haunted house. Whereas, a romantic novel cover will usually feature the image of a woman, a couple or a scenery and the font colours used will be bright like red, pink, blue, or purple.
Sticking to the theme and genre of your book will help you build an instant connection with your readers because they know the standard cover design and will be able to spot your book from afar.
If you want your fiction book covers to be just as captivating, then contact us now and we will help you design the perfect cover for your book. To see some examples of our work click here.
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