How to create Amazing Amazon Book Covers
One of the most important elements of Book Best-selling achievement, is your book cover. Sadly or fortunately, you choose on that, readers tend to embrace or reject a book just from the cover. They see the cover and they decide instantly whether they want to learn more about this book or not. Obviously, you have chosen books because of the covers too.
I don’t mean that you won’t go into the book to make sure you are interested, I didn’t say you won’t read the testimonials, the ratings, the contents and the blurb, but… If you hate the cover, you won’t go any further. You will just move on to the next suggested book on the Amazon’s Rankings page.
So, here I will give you 8 golden rules to follow in order to make sure your book cover is nothing but Brilliant, and ready to become an Amazon bestseller… But who am I to speak about graphic design? Well, I am not only a book coach. You see, I started as a graphic designer, some 20 years ago. I have worked for the biggest International Ad Organizations, such as Bold & Ogilvy, I have created designs for companies such as IBM, Sony Ericcsson, National Geographic, etc. and I have also been teaching at Graphic design Universities and Colleges for more than 12 years. Now that we made that clear, follow me along, and learn the secrets of a perfect book cover creation.
2. Your book cover will mostly be shown as a thumbnail if it is going to be promoted online (amazon) so make sure all letters (titles, subtitles, name of the author) are visible and readable.
I hope this sounds obvious. When you create your book cover, turn it small once in a while and check it on thumbnail size. Make sure you can read everything, and you can understand all the bits and pieces that constitute your visual promotion of your book. This way, when it is added on search pages, your prospect readers and buyers will not have hard time to find out what your book is about.
2. Choose good typefaces; readable, clean and clear.
Many typefaces are not clear or readable. They are more appropriate for logos. Do not choose too fancy typefaces, because your prospect buyers will find it hard to read your title and author name. I strongly recommend to go to https://fonts.google.com/ write your title and see how it looks with a big wealth of different fonts. If you want to download a google font on your computer, all you have to do is go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsqE4S6yts0 to watch this tutorial so that you download and install the fonts on your computer.
3. The photo on the cover must be chosen wisely.
Choose images that have not been used widely through the web. Ideally, make your own photo for the cover. I recommend a very good FB group, where you may learn a lot of things on making your own blog post photos, and accordingly, your own book cover photos easyly, just with your own Smart Phone:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LearnBlogPhotographyPrivateClub
Try to make or choose something that will not be too fuzzy, and ideally it won't have too many colors either, because, remember, your titles will be quite large, they might cover the entire image, and they need to be readable. So, too fuzzy colorful images will confuse your readers. Close Ups and Abstract images are ideal for book covers. You may find good photos for free at http://www.pixabay.com
You may also download images from my own Image bank; http://www.succeedyourgoals.com/imagebank. If you register here, you may receive 5 free photos per week and in general, the images that I sell cost between $5 - $15 which is a very affordable price. The best part is that and they are unique, which means that they have been photographed by me, you can't find them anywhere else and thus they are not widely used. In addition to this, you may contact me and make a special request on the photo you might need - if you don't find it in the image bank list.
4. Do never - ever squeeze photos, especially faces, because they look terrible.
Here is what I mean, many people try to transform an image but they do not know how to do it and keep constraint proportions. Sometimes you might need to hold shift-key while transforming the size, other times you might need to change the size from the upper left or right corner, instead of the sides, top or left. Even if you just add a photo on an online design service, make sure it is added properly. If you squeeze the photo, even if you think “it passes” or “nobody will find it out” I will argue boldly and tell you that everyone sees it, at least subconsciously. And subconsciously they will think this is a carp book because it has a terrible cover.
5. The real size of the book is A5 15cm x 21 cm
6. Use http://www.Canvas.com if you are not familiar with the Adobe Family programs.
7. Niche your style properly.
Your readers need to feel familiar with your style, this is why you need to do a lot of research on what is more appealing to your readers. You may look on the Amazon Bestsellers section, as well as, to create a poll on FB, or a Survey through emails. Ask your ideal readers what they prefer for cover, so that you have guaranteed success on this subject.
8. If your book cover does not look really professional, do yourself a favor and hire a Graphic designer.
Do you like what you have created yourself? Make sure you are 100% honest to yourself on this subject, because if you are not happy with your cover then, your prospect readers will not like it either. Most of you might already know the "fiverr.com- hack" where you can get any type of service for just $5 but... these people are not that good and they do not offer services that would stand out and make you a bestseller. For professional and very affordable covers (only $100), I recommend you to check our "services" section, and see if working with us would be what you need. We will be happy to work with you and turn you into an amazon bestseller.
Do you have any comments? I would love to read them and reply.