You've written your book, now you need an eye catching cover...

It is the first thing a reader sees, the cover of your book. Lets face it, a cover has to appeal to a reader, to make them pick it up, or even consider buying it.

With this in mind, AuthorHouse have come up with eight great tips to help self-publishing authors who are creating the cover to their own book, or having the cover designed by someone else. 


Their tips include:

• Do your research, look at other covers in your genre. Consider why certain covers appeal to you while others don’t.  

• If your book will be available in a bookstore, it may not be displayed with the cover showing, so check the spine to make sure the title and author name are legible. 

• Is your title big and easy to read? Avoid overly stylistic fonts, as this might make your book look amateurish.

• There’s a good chance that most potential readers will see your book online. Look at your cover when it is the size of a thumbnail, is it still readable? Effective?

• Make sure your cover has a focus! Don’t try to incorporate too many elements into the cover, this doesn't work for books. 

• Does your cover fit your book’s mood and genre? 

• Test your cover with a focus group composed of readers of your genre. What do they think? Listen to their feedback!

• Finally, unless you’re a professional graphic designer, with the correct experience, consider hiring one. Money spent on cover design could be as important as the money you spend on your editor. 

The team at Words Worth Reading Ltd can help you edit your book and get it ready for publishing, visit our website to find out more about our editorial services. 

Image: Shutterhacks, Flickr