Book Cover

“Aspiring authors, get this through your head. Cover art serves one purpose, and one purpose only, to get potential customers interested long enough to pick up the book to read the back cover blurb. In the internet age that means the thumb nail image needs to be interesting enough to click on. That’s what covers are for. ― Larry Correia

This is probably the first and most prominent image on the visible part (“above the fold”) of your BSP. Is it the best it can be? Is the text readable? What’s more prominent: your name or the book title? What’s more important to be readable? Is the image intriguing? Or if it’s mostly copy, does it pull in the reader to want to buy the book or at least learn more.

We could have an entire course on just the Book Cover, but we’ll cover the basics here so you’re sure to get the most bang for your buck.

Action Steps

  1. Accept the fact that your book cover can always be better.
  2. Say, out loud, "I am not a book cover designer." (Unless, of course, you actually are a book cover designer.)
  3. Keep in mind that, at some point, you'll have to give birth to your cover for the rest of the world to see. Whew, glad we got #1, #2 and #3 out of the way. They are the most difficult.
  4. Write out a number that you're comfortable spending on your cover. We'll make it easy for you, choose one of these: $5, $50, $500, $5,000.
  5. Prepare a tiny document that you'll share with the book cover design team. To keep it simple, this can be the same as what you would send to a potential publisher. In other words, a synopsis of the book, maybe a (fake) review or two, and a sentence or two on who the book is for, etc.
  6. Share your 99designs cover candidates with the Book Sales Page Community.
  7. Share your book cover in the Book Sales Page Community.

Non Fiction

Resize and Optimize Book Cover Image

Insert Book Cover

Complete and Continue