Getting those book covers right

We are unusual in that we give authors quite a lot of say in what their book cover might be like.

The overall concept

We ask our authors to give us a concept for the book cover. We almost prefer words at this point to pictures. Very specific pictures often have so many problems that we really have to let them pass.

 

One book was called See Through a Glass of Red and the author asked us to represent that description on the cover. It worked!

 

We issue a caution with short story collections. Wait until we’re at least through Edit 1. Sometimes we rename a story or even take it out altogether. What if that were the one you’d based your cover on?

 

Covers shouldn’t give spoilers but they can hint at what’s happening.

 

Don’t commission too soon

Your father/ son / sister / aunt may be a talented artist or photographer and you may have a vision of what your book cover may look like. But please don’t ask that relation to do too much work until we’ve had an opportunity to talk to them. Certain things have to happen: e.g. there must be room for the title and the by-line. The colours must be bold enough to show up. It’s such a shame if all of that effort goes to waste.

 

Types of picture

We like landscape pictures with the focal point on the right (though we can flip it if need be). Over on the left should be some sand / sea / sky / grass or fencing etc. that we can write the blurb on. 

 

 

This picture has been flipped yet no one complained about  the Blackpool Tower facing the wrong way!  

 

Occasionally we have used a portrait picture and just made the spine and back cover a contrasting colour. This is particularly so for novels in the Schellberg Cycle, The Red Telephone, Feisty Women and Walela. 

 

 

Take care with blue

It’s generally quite hard to get the colours on the cover to print as you see them on a computer screen. We have our screens configured so that we’re pretty near to what one can print. Blue can be notoriously difficult.

 

Available on the net doesn’t mean copyright free

No, it doesn’t. And you can get into a lot of trouble for using pictures that aren’t copyright free. We use pixabay a lot: not only are the pictures copyright free but also they are free. However, we do give a small amount each month to them which is shared between all of the artists and we do acknowledge any artist we use. 

 

 

Picture books are a little different

The design for the cover normally comes along with other illustrations though we often find that author-illustrators forget this one very important illustration. 

 

Working with artists

There are a handful of artists we work with who understand the way we work. Usually though if we work with an artist it involves us in more work than if we work on our own. We do also do a little of toing an froing with the writer. Sometimes we vary the font or the size and colour of the font. Often we’ll involve the writer with the blurb that goes on to the back cover. This has usually already been decided by this stage.

 

 

 

Pulling the eye of the would- be reader into the picture

It’s a little trick; if the potential customer is drawn into the cover picture they are more likely to buy the book.