Are you writing a book? Are you designing your own book cover? Here’s a case study to improving a self-published book cover. If you are a consultant, speaker or coach, you may find that publishing a book may boost your credibility, open doors to more opportunities and help you land more gigs or clients. With the Internet at your fingertips and easy access to expert cover designers, editors, illustrators and page layout artists, it is much easier to self-publish a book than it was twenty years ago. You can take the role as general contractor and hire consultants to help assemble all…
You can design award winning book covers by using appropriate colors, imagery, symbolism, style and typography. Here’s how our team produced 7 award winning book covers at the CIPA EVVY Awards banquet. The Front Cover The front cover of your book should capture the essence of what’s inside. Smart self-publishers include an endorsement or short testimonial from a VIP on the front cover. Quality book cover design attracts potential readers faster than any other element, regardless of who you are or what you’ve written about. Large publishing houses and established authors all know a creative cover beckons to their devoted fans while also attracting new readers. Self-published authors…
Last month I revealed layout secrets from typesetters of best selling books. A professional book interior layout is just one ingredient in a recipe for designing a book that grabs attention and sells. Another ingredient is to create an eye-catching book cover. Here are some things to consider before designing your next cover. A book cover is like your bait. You have four ways to get consumers to bite, which are the front cover, back cover, spine, and possibly inside flaps. E-books are changing the face of book sales a bit, which makes it even more important to have a…
Friday, March 23, 2007 was the 13th Colorado Independent Publishers Association CIPA EVVY book awards banquet. After many years of celebrating with my clients with their EVVY award winning books, I had the opportunity as an author and publisher to enter my own book, Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal. I was thrilled to receive first place in the “How To” category. Shown below is the cover of my award-winning book. This year CIPA introduced the Technical Awards to recognize associate members for their contribution in book production. These awards go to editors, graphic designers, printers and illustrators. I…
Color is a magical element that gives feeling and emotion to art, design and advertising. By understanding the symbolic meaning of color you can choose the right color to support your marketing message and emphasize your design. You should always use color as a functional design element. A dominate color or overall color scheme can determine the tone of your message. Certain colors will help your product, marketing piece, corporate document or advertisement attract specific target markets and evoke desired responses. The information below will give you some generally accepted guidelines on the symbolic meanings of color and how you can use…
According to The Wall Street Journal, “The average bookstore browser who picks up a book spends eight seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds reading the back.” You can’t tell — but you can sell — a book by its cover.” Here are a few powerful book cover design techniques that professional book designers use: The Essential Elements For Your Front Cover The front cover presents your book title, subtitle, and your name. Golden opportunities often overlooked are including endorsements and short testimonials from VIPs. Think of your cover like a billboard. The best designs communicate the book’s…