How to Nail the 5 Key Elements of Your Book Cover
Don’t let anyone tell you that people don’t judge books by their covers. They do, and they will; it’s only human nature.
But here’s the thing: that’s not meant to scare you off. On the contrary, you can use this knowledge to create a fantastic, eye-catching book cover that stops readers in their tracks to pick it up!
And the first step to doing that is to get the fundamentals of your book cover exactly right. So let’s talk about the five elements you’ll find on every (or almost every) book cover these days — and what you can do to nail them down.
1. The title
Say goodbye to “TITLE OF BOOK” in Times New Roman, 12-point font on the title page of your manuscript! As one of the most important parts of a book cover, the title tends to not only be front-and-center, but also to be the largest text on a given book cover. The natural result is a title that commands attention and draws the reader’s eye.
The key to a great-looking book title is typography. Font is a language which communicates what you need it to say. Is your book a comedy? Or is it a high-octane thriller? For the former, you might consider a funky or whimsical font to encapsulate your book’s contents. Going bold and aggressive for the latter, on the other hand, might make sense to heighten the drama.
You can see this dynamic captured in the two examples above. The mystery-thriller on the left uses a vivid sans-serif font that makes it look contemporary and dramatic. Meanwhile, Pride and Prejudice needs no introduction — and its elegant cursive font conveys that classic feel.
2. The cover image
Of course, you can’t talk about a book cover without talking about its imagery. The importance of this can’t be understated — to the point that many iconic book covers owe their visual prestige to their imagery! Just think of the haunting pair of eyes on the cover of The Great Gatsby, the old man in black-and-white on the cover of The Giver, or the lovingly hand-drawn illustration of Wilbur and Charlotte on the cover of Charlotte’s Web.
Keep in mind that this imagery can include anything from a photograph to a digital illustration to a hand-drawn image. What’s most important is that you ensure it a) communicates the theme, tone, and genre of your book; and b) intrigues readers and makes them want to flip the book cover to read its summary.
3. The author’s name
Obviously you can’t forget to include your own name on your book cover! After all the blood, sweat, and tears that you’ve put into creating this book out of thin air, you deserve to have your name up front for readers to see.
The best rule of thumb to follow here is that the author name should be identical in font to the book title. This creates aesthetic coherence — even if the other elements of your book cover are quite different — bringing it all together visually.
While the font should be consistent, however, you can still play around with the size of your name on the book cover. On most book covers, the author name is in a slightly smaller font size than the title, so the reader’s attention is initially taken by the latter.
However, in some special cases, the author’s name is afforded a bigger font size than the book title — which tells readers immediately that this author is a big deal. Just take a look at Intermezzo above, where Sally Rooney’s name overshadows the word “Intermezzo.”
4. Testimonials
A book cover’s job is to give readers pause while browsing the bookshelves (physical or not). You want them to do a double-take, then give your book a chance — out of all of the other books! — because they find your cover simply irresistible.
Testimonials from readers can help your book cover pull off this weighty task. In case you aren’t aware, a testimonial (or a blurb) is a positive quote — often an excerpt from a longer book review — that’s used for promotional purposes.
And while a blurb isn’t a cover requirement by any means, it’s undeniably effective in convincing readers that your book is worth reading — particularly when it’s tastefully placed, in a smaller font, on the front cover of a book for everyone to see.
5. The tagline
Finally, a tagline is a short sentence that often appears on the front cover of a book. Like the book blurb, the tagline isn’t necessarily a requirement for publishing your book. Other parts of the cover will do the legwork for you — and if you’ve mastered the elements we talked about above, then you should already be well on your way to a beautiful book cover.
But if you have a tagline in mind you think will attract readers — and enough blank space on your book cover to feature it — then you can definitely consider using it on your front cover!
You’ll generally see taglines used on genre books. Take Rin Chupeco’s fantasy novel, The Bone Witch, which features a tagline written in first person to quickly draw readers into the narrator’s voice and world of the book. Meanwhile, Jessica Barry’s Don’t Turn Around sums up the central question of the book in just a couple of pithy lines.
At the end of the day, you should think of these different elements of a book cover as tools in your book marketing toolkit to maximize your book’s chances of success. If you wield them correctly and allow them to harmonize on your cover, you can ultimately create a book cover that you’ll be happy to let people judge.
(c) Savannah Cordova
Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors with resources and professionals to help them write beautiful books. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction, writing short stories, and analyzing literature into the ground.
