• Café Life is the Colony's main hangout, watering hole and meeting point.

    This is a place where you'll meet and make writing friends, and indulge in stratospherically-elevated wit or barometrically low humour.

    Some Colonists pop in religiously every day before or after work. Others we see here less regularly, but all are equally welcome. Two important grounds rules…

    • Don't give offence
    • Don't take offence

    We now allow political discussion, but strongly suggest it takes place in the Steam Room, which is a private sub-forum within Café Life. It’s only accessible to Full Members.

    You can dismiss this notice by clicking the "x" box

Self-Publishing Book Cover study

Invest in You. Get Full Membership now.
Invest in You. Get Full Membership now.
I know, right? But they are powerful. They still work.
Nah. Nobody's going to buy any of these, not in the genre fiction area. Like anything else with fiction marketing (arguably, anything else with fiction in general) there are trends and expectations and if you're not meeting them, you're on an uphill battle from the start. Even the existing novels of Alien and Return of the Jedi, two books somewhere on my shelves, are more saleable with the movie artwork on the cover.
 
Nah. Nobody's going to buy any of these, not in the genre fiction area. Like anything else with fiction marketing (arguably, anything else with fiction in general) there are trends and expectations and if you're not meeting them, you're on an uphill battle from the start. Even the existing novels of Alien and Return of the Jedi, two books somewhere on my shelves, are more saleable with the movie artwork on the cover.
Since most of the people on Litopia are looking for ideas on how to design covers for their self-published books and dont have access to movie stills.... I'd say learning how and why these attract the eye is worthwhile. But suit yourself.
 
Invest in You. Get Full Membership now.
Since most of the people on Litopia are looking for ideas on how to design covers for their self-published books and dont have access to movie stills.... I'd say learning how and why these attract the eye is worthwhile. But suit yourself.
I don't mean authors (particularly those here in Self Publishing) should go looking for movie stills on their brand new unfilmed books. :) But there are standards and expectations. A book is not in a vacuum, it must meet the buyers' expectations, and it's sitting on a shelf next to a hundred others with photorealistic graphics and brilliant typography. Covers need to be modern. These are not modern and would, anecdotally, not move people to the next phase: reading the blurb.

I am not a designer and only have one book so I claim no expertise, just what I've read from people who do know. Personally none of these covers appeal to me. I do have books with this style of cover, which I bought on the strength of the author's name, not because of the cover.
 
I don't mean authors (particularly those here in Self Publishing) should go looking for movie stills on their brand new unfilmed books. :) But there are standards and expectations. A book is not in a vacuum, it must meet the buyers' expectations, and it's sitting on a shelf next to a hundred others with photorealistic graphics and brilliant typography. Covers need to be modern. These are not modern and would, anecdotally, not move people to the next phase: reading the blurb.

I am not a designer and only have one book so I claim no expertise, just what I've read from people who do know. Personally none of these covers appeal to me. I do have books with this style of cover, which I bought on the strength of the author's name, not because of the cover.
These do teach design elements. And one of the things you learn in advertising is to look for what works, not what you personally like. There is a zen koan that essentially goes you cannot fill an already full cup.
 
Last edited:
...And one of the things you learn in advertising is to look for what works, not what you personally like...
Absolutely true. Is there a single well-selling book published in the last ten years using a cover design anything like these? I'm not aware of it. As a self-publishing writer, I'll hire cover designers to create a design that matches the market. I'm perfectly happy to be wrong, but why risk it? Self publishing is hard enough without taking chances on the cover.
 

Latest Articles By Litopians

  • The Joy of Lit Mags
    While my first novel is tentatively making its way towards agents who already have too much to read, ...
  • Advertising and Social Media
    There has been much discussion in writing circles about how much a writer has to self-promote these ...
  • Future Abstract: Fights at Night
    SATIRE ALERT: The following abstract is entirely fictional and does not represent actual events or s ...
  • Great Novel Openings Quiz
    As writers, we all know how important it is to grip the reader from the very start. Intriguing, surp ...
  • In The Summertime
    In the early seventies, I had a semi-Afro hairstyle and a shaggy beard. . I thought I looked like th ...
  • Working with a Literary Agent
    The Querying In a previous post I mentioned that I was back in the query trenches. To recap, my earl ...
  • Danger! Danger!
    What is perhaps the most feared creature of the Borneo rainforest, I hear you ask? Who is the King o ...
Back
Top