clear
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

In Pursuit of Fabulous

Helping authors succeed. Lifestyle and writing blog.

  • Blog
    • Lifestyle
    • Books
      • Romance
      • Mysteries
      • Friend Friday
      • Posts on Writing and Self-Publishing
      • Goals
    • Blogging
    • Business
  • About Me
    • Contact
    • Greensfelder Mansion/Home Renovation
  • Romance
  • Cozy Mystery
  • For Readers
    • Sleuthing Women Cozy Mysteries
    • Cozy Capers
  • Shop The Store
  • For Authors
    • AWC – Authors Writing Clean Facebook Group
    • Newsletter Swap Sign Up Cozy Mystery
    • Newsletter Swap Sign Up Romance
    • Friend Friday Sign Up Page – Would you like your clean romance or cozy mystery book to be featured on my blog and social media pages? Sign-up here!
    • Posts on Writing and Self-Publishing
    • Cozy Capers

Why You Need a Kick Ass Book Cover

Why You Need a Kick Ass Book Cover
Share
Pin12
Tweet
12 Shares

A picture is worth a thousand words and people DO judge a book by its cover.

You need to design a book cover to sell books not just be pretty.

Cliche and so true.

Look at how Instagram and Pinterest have exploded.

People LOVE images.

Even before the onset of image-driven social media pictures captured people’s attention.

The cover of your book will be the first thing people notice as it’s sitting on the cyber shelves. You need it to stand out and grab people’s attention. To compel them to pick up your book and see what it’s all about.

Your book cover is all about marketing. It’s your first impression. You want that reader stop in her tracks and NEED to buy your book because the cover looks so interesting.

There’s a reason romance novels have half naked men on them.

Why You Need a Kick Ass Book Cover

As you know different writing genres have different cover styles. You won’t see bright colors and an illustrated woman shopping on a horror book or a bunch of robots on a romance novel. Book covers must reflect your genre, so they attract your audience.

Spend some time looking at book covers in your genre. Books by both traditionally published authors and indie authors so you can see what appeals to you. Put your reader hat on and determine what would compel you to try one of those books based on the cover alone. You need to know what’s out there, so you understand what you’re competing against and to know what the trend is.

I’ve spent money in this area duplicating efforts as I have found what I thought looked cool wasn’t selling. I’ve made cover changes that immediately increased sales because the new cover stood out more.

My first books have been through two or three covers because it took me a while to figure out what I was doing. And I don’t have it all figured out by any means.

I’ve had book covers designed where felt I was hitting exactly the elements I needed to reach my audience. But when I revealed it to my readers they hated it, and I had to start over.

It happens.

Unless you’re talented in design, this is another area in your business where hiring a professional is worth every penny. As I’ve said before focus your talents where they will be the most effective.

Don’t spend hours and hours on something that might not be all that great. Find someone who knows what they’re doing and outsources certain production elements. Then you can spend your time writing and creating.

A professional graphic designer is someone who understands how to visually appeal to your target audience. They will be able to tell you about different aspects of your cover you may not have thought of. That’s why they’re in the business they’re in because they want to make things pretty and marketable.

For example, I currently have a couple of different series I write. In the beginning, I worked with designers who were very inexpensive as I didn;t have a lot to spend. I thought my book covers were awesome, but each cover in my series looked much different from the other books in the series. There was no continuity. So the average reader wouldn’t know they were a series. It hadn’t even occurred to me that it might be important.

I’m a writer, not a marketer.

Then it was explained to me why from a marketing standpoint it was important to have my series branded. For all the books to look like they were part of a collection. It made perfect sense. Once he said it, I realized all my favorite authors have that continuity within their series. It just didn’t occur to me until my cover designer brought it to my attention. I’d always been more concerned about the pretty in my individual book covers rather than functionality or marketability. But they aren’t sweaters; they’re sales brochures.

Covers need to help sell your book.

Get your free author resources! Get the tips, motivation, and support you need to follow the path to publishing your book!

content el alce web 378482 Why You Need a Kick Ass Book CoverGet the tips, motivation, and support you need to follow the path to publishing your book!

Success! Now check your email to confirm access.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

Each platform you sell your book on, and the various social media platforms will have different expectations of cover sizes to upload to the platform. Something I didn’t think of until I tried to upload my covers to Audible and put a header on my Facebook Fan page. Because I didn’t have the right size, none of my old book covers looked good.

You will need your cover in all the formats because your cover art is your product packaging. It needs to look great in every single place you put it.

After all the hard work you put into the writing aspect, you owe it to yourself to put a great cover on it!

 

Get your free author resources! Get the tips, motivation, and support you need to follow the path to publishing your book!

content el alce web 378482 Why You Need a Kick Ass Book CoverGet the tips, motivation, and support you need to follow the path to publishing your book!

Success! Now check your email to confirm access.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit



Posted in: Blog Posts on Writing and Self-Publishing

Laina Turner

Author of clean romance and cozy mysteries (under L.C. Turner) and coffee lover.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and if you go through them to make a purchase, I will earn a small commission.

Older Post

Understanding the Basic Elements of Fiction

Newer Post

Why You Should Outline Your Fiction Novel

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. Why You need a budget if you're a self-published author - In Pursuit of Fabulous says:
    May 13, 2019 at 9:40 am

    […] art – You can buy pre-made covers such as the ones offered here anywhere from $50 on up. Or you can hire a cover designer that will […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Laina Turner Photo
My name is Laina and welcome to my blog. In Pursuit of Fabulous is a lifestyle and writing blog where I talk about midlife women's issues, the mystery and romance books I write, and the art of writing and self-publishing. My goal is to entertain, educate, and inspire women to be their most fabulous! Because life is better when you make it fabulous. Laina Turner Signature

Connect With Me!

Sign up for my newsletter

Cool Topics

  • Free Chapter Friday
  • Mystery – YouTube
  • video
  • Blog
  • Blogging
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • Business
  • Fiction
  • For Authors
  • Friend Friday
  • Goals
  • Lifestyle
  • Money
  • Mysteries
  • Posts on Writing and Self-Publishing
  • Romance

GRAB A FUN, FLIRTY MYSTERY NOVEL!

Promotions and Poison

What’s YOUR Lifestyle? FREE SHIPPING!

Gray Hair Don't Care Shirt
Privacy Policy
Fiction Books
Writing Warriors Collective
Monique theme