It Takes a Strong Back and Spine To Be a Winning Cover
This is the final installment of blogs about the cover of your book.
I find it interesting to watch what people do when I hand them a copy of one of my books. After looking at, and generally commenting on, the cover, at least half the time, they turn the book over to the back cover without opening it.
So, what’s on the back cover of your book?
Here are three examples and a handful of tips.
Tip 1: Use third person tense. It makes your book sound soooo much better. Try writing your back cover text in the first person. Then, rewrite it in 3rd person. You'll be surprised at the different feel that provides—it makes your book more professional.
Tip 2: Use a smaller font than in the text of your book. Try a sans serif font (Arial, Calibri).
Tip 3. If you use a template, be sure to leave space where it says to leave space for your barcode.
Tip 4. A short biography (and photo?) is a nice touch. So are reviews—but keep them SHORT.
Tip 5. Include a description of your book. This is where you expand your logline to provide a view into the plot (see my blog from 7/29). Adding some text from the book is okay, too.
Finally, does your book have a strong spine?
Seriously! Look at the spine of your book. That part of the cover is what most people will see of your book most of the time. Books are placed side-to-side, not side-by-side on bookshelves to conserve space. As a result, the spine is all that’s visible to the passerby.
Make your spine a strong one. Here are the three spines from my books that are currently in print. Two are from publishers. The third is self-published through Amazon’s CreateSpace.
Notice the similarities, including the publisher’s logo.
I made up my own logos. I think a logo finishes the cover. However, if you notice the MJ and Kohler logos, they are simple. Mine are too artsy and hard to read when they are "spine" size.
Since the first version of this post, I've self-published more books and learned more about covers. Take a look at the difference in the RIFTS cover and the cover of the revised version of the book, INSECTICIDE.
- The front cover art is the same.
- The only difference in the spines is the title and font used.
- Notice that the tagline and the acknowledgement of the artist on the front cover are easier to read, my name is in a different location.
- The "boxes" are missing from the back cover. Boxes are generally a bad idea because they break the natural movement of the reader's eyes.
- The quote from a review at the top of the back is different.
- There's a question for the reader instead of the Bafwequian alphabet.
The next photo shows two iterations of cover ideas for the revised version of my book Premature Grandpa. The book's content was rearranged from a linear narrative of events to clusters of ideas with similar foci.
While I liked the idea behind the Navigating NICU version, my focus reader group supported NICU - An Insider's Guide. While the text on the back cover is too small to read here, it is similar in both versions. Notice the lack of boxes in the final version.
The Mixer Murder back includes a letter from private eye, Phil Mamba challenging the reader. The logos are more an eyesore than addition. They will be replaced . . . eventually.
Although The 5th Page is no longer the title of the novel, the back cover of Betrayal in Blue, the new title, will be similar, unless it gets picked up by a publisher. The back is a mix of review quotes, teaser, and a challenge to the reader. The book had an "okay" Kirkus review, so a quote from that review is on the front.
Notice how the front cover text, the text on the spine, and the quote on the back cover all have the same glow. Since the book is nearly 750 pages long, the spine is wide enough to get my name parallel to the top and bottom of the cover.
Next Blog: Over the next 13+ weeks, I'll be previewing one of my books each week. Backstory of the concept, brief synopsis, cover ideas, and other tidbits are included. Traveler's HOT L is the first.
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