The Coffee Pot Book Club: #WriterWednesday #TamianWood #CathyHelm #CoverDesign #BookCover #CoverArt #WritingTips #TipsAndTricks #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalNonFiction #WritingLife #WritersLife

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Join The Coffee Pot Book Club on #WriterWednesday as fabulous designers Tamian Wood & Cathy Helms share tips on choosing the right book cover #HistoricalFiction #WritingTips #WritersLife

Cover Design Tips

by Tamian Wood & Cathy Helms

I always begin any discussion about book cover design by making this one important statement -
'Whoever told you that your book's cover design doesn't matter, lied.'
~ Cathy Helms, Avalon Graphics

The old saying 'Never judge a book by its cover.' is actually misleading at best, because people almost ALWAYS judge books by their covers. Even if you are part of the 1% that does not judge cover designs, your readers are part of the 99% that does. Potential readers pick up books in bookstores based on what they perceive as an attractive cover. If all books were wrapped in brown paper, you'd be forced to make a decision based on the title. But this is not how this business functions. The very purpose of a book cover is to entice – to sell the product, which in this case is your book.

There are exceptions of course, famous and best-selling authors do sell books based on their names alone. But overall, every author out there must rely on an excellent cover, strong marketing, and platforms such as social media, etc. to sell their books. The phrase "Never judge a book by its cover…" is diametrically opposed to the reality we live in today. Bottom line is, your book's cover design is extremely important in today's highly competitive literature market.