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.

Wow, you’re ready to submit – exciting times!

 

Publisher or Agent?

First you need to decide if you’re going to try to get an Agent, or go straight for a publisher. The advantage of having an agent is that they already know the publishers, and are more likely to get your manuscript looked at with a sympathetic eye – or at all.

The advantage of going direct to the publisher is that you potentially cut out the cost  of an agent, but then again, without an agent to negotiate on your behalf you may not get such a good deal in the first place.

Our preference is to find an agent, but the choice is yours.

For brevity purposes we will only use the term agent below, but you can replace with publisher if you wish.

 

Make a shortlist of literary agents

Find a list of agents (UK = The Writers and Artists Yearbook, US = http://www.agentquery.com/), then make a list of about twenty that are the correct genre for you and are accepting submissions. 

This is your submission list. Sort the list into order by favourite.

 

Format your manuscript right

In general your manuscript should usually be in Courier New, with double spacing, page numbers and your contact details in the header or footer of each page. However, check the each agent’s guidelines and follow them TO THE LETTER.

If you can’t be bothered to take the time to follow the guidelines provided by a (very busy) literary agent, don’t expect them to bother taking the time to read your manuscript.

 

Write a great covering letter

Introduce yourself, include the title of your book, genre, word count (to the nearest thousand) and target audience. Include a paragraph with relevant information about yourself, including any previous relevant publications and writing competition wins.

Be polite and confident, don’t mention that your mum/mate/partner/hamster thinks your book is much better than most of the stuff in Waterstones, don’t say that you know it has problems but you’re hoping they’ll give you some feedback. They won’t.

 

Write a great synopsis

Apparently this is one of the most hated of tasks by most novelists, who complain that the complexities of their novel can’t be defined in a single page, or even paragraph. Luckily for you, yours is already practically done if you’ve followed the steps – it’s the short synopsis that you wrote all that time ago.

Go and find it and tweak it, ensuring it hints at delicious detail and flows compellingly. Don’t worry about giving the ending away – you’re going to have to give it away to an agent, otherwise they won’t believe that you’ve got a decent one.

If you haven’t followed the novel formula steps, then you’re going to have to do it the hard way.

 

Make sure the book is ready

At this stage, it’s easy to get over-excited about being able to see the finish line and rush into submitting.

But you mustn’t send your manuscript until you’re sure it’s the best it can be. If there are spelling or grammar mistakes on the first few pages, or obvious amateur mistakes, you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot.

Read it. Proofread it. Get your writing group to proof read it (or at the very least the first few chapters). Read it again.

 

FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES

This really can’t be emphasised enough. So much so that this whole paragraph should probably be in capitals. Over and over, agents say that they are amazed by the number of people who submit novels to them when they clearly haven’t read the agent’s website or their guidelines. They are there for a reason, and submissions that don’t follow them will almost certainly be binned outright.

Once you’ve got all the above sorted, start submitting! Submit to about three at a time (unless the guidelines of the agent forbid it, or unless you won’t be able to take that many rejections at one) and don’t give up or consider a rewrite until you’ve submitted to all twenty on your shortlist.

Good luck!

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