It’s all very well being told not to judge a book by its cover, but we’re going to do it anyway.

And with good reason. A book cover tells us what sort of story it is, what sort of mood and style will be contained within the words.

There are millions of books out there and we only have a short lifetime to read as many as we can – there’s no spare time to be wasted on reading things we don’t like. By ‘reading’ the visual information contained in a book cover it can help us avoid disappointment and find books that will float our boat.

If you’ve got an agent and / or publisher, there’s a good chance you’ll have very little say when it comes to the cover of the book. They will get their designers on it and they will know what will work in your market (you’d hope).

But if you’re self-publishing, or if you’re putting a few short stories online while you build up your reputation and skills, you may be called upon to create a book cover (or avatar) for your work.

 

So here are three tips to get you on your way…

Tip #1 – Target your audience effectively.

Remember that it’s not about attracting the largest number of people, necessarily. Doing that will result in a large percentage of them being disappointed – not because your story is no good, but simply because people have so many different tastes. Some people love romance and hate horror. Others are horrified at romance and want to get hooked on a good sci-fi. Others yawn at sci-fi and can’t wait to sink their teeth into a decent horror. You get the idea.

The book cover should give an indication of the genre of story, so that people can make an informed decision. If you accurately target readers in this way, more of them will enjoy the book and that will lead to the purest gold of marketing – word of mouth recommendations.

Tip #2 – Keep it Simple

There’s a temptation to try to include a lot of detail in the book cover, including a load of the characters, settings and visual representations of the plot twists. But this results in a fussy, amateur looking cover. Good covers make a simple, single impact that intrigues the reader; they don’t try to tell the story – that’s the job of the novel.

This also goes for fonts and colours. Never use more than two fonts (one for the title, one for the author) and be aware of your colour palette. Make sure the colours complement each other and that they aren’t too garish or varied.

Tip #3 - research other book cover designs

The best way to find out what makes a good book cover and also what is suitable for your genre is to see how the pros do it. Browse Amazon or visit Waterstones and cast your eye over the shelves. See what catches your eye, and which ones make you want to pick the book up and read the back cover. You’ll soon see what kinds of conventions are applied to your genre and how designers have used space, colour, font and imagery to evoke ideas and emotions.

For more articles about creative writing and novel writing, visit The Novel Factory website.

Much like online dating, self-publishing used to be something that carried a lot of stigma, but these days, with increasing direct communication thanks to modern technology, it's becoming much more prevalent - and legitimate.

So,  if you want to be a professional writer, should you consider self-publishing?

The advantages of self-publishing

Low barrier to entry

The key advantage of self-publishing is that nobody can stop you, or say your work isn't up to standard or 'what the market wants right now'. In the past, most people were limited by budget, as self-publishing would have required a significant investment, but with modern e-publishing and on-demand print publishing, the costs of self-publishing have plummetted.

Fast results 

Traditional publishing is notoriously slow, with years passing between books being written and finally making it to the shelves. If you're self-publishing, you could have something out there within week, possibly even days.

Route to traditional publishing

If your novel is a success in the self-publishing world, there's a very good chance it will get picked up by a traditional publisher anyway, so self-publishing can offer and alternative route if you're not having any luck with submissions.

The disadvantages of self-publishing

Legitimacy

The main reason self-publishing has got a bad rap in the past is that the majority of people who went for it were so called 'vanity publishers'. That is, they were people that could not get published by traditional means because their work simply wasn't good enough - and unfortunately, in the vast majority of cases, this is still true.

For every genuine gem that's self-published, there are probably thousands of books that barely deserve the name 'novel'. If your novel is lined up next to books with appaling grammar, punctuation and spelling, let alone plot or character, why would people assume yours is any different?

 

Access to Publicity - Time spent promoting

The literary agents and publishing houses have large networks in place that allow them to carry out hefty publicity drives for the books that they publish. When pitted against these giants, you may have trouble getting your work of genius noticed. In order to get anywhere, you may find yourself spending more time promoting your book than writing.

Low returns

Not that traditional publishing makes more than a handful of people rich, but self-publishing is even worse. Unless your book goes viral, the returns are so low that you may only ever make pennies. The ebook stores sell digital books for less than a pound or a dollar and most of that money goes to the bookstore.

So is self-publishing for vanity freaks or clever geeks?

If you've already exhausted yourself submitting to agencies without any luck, and you feel like you have the energy and inclination to do a lot of grunt work and self-promotion, then self-publishing is probably a viable option.

However, if you just want to be a writer, and all you want to do is write, it's probably worth pursuing the traditional publishing route for as long as you can.