What’s spookier than the thought of coming up with a cover concept that’ll sell your book?
Um… not much?
Maybe finding the right cover designer or coming up with a marketing strategy…
But what if I told you the process of brainstorming ideas for your cover will ultimately help with marketing too, so you can kill two of those birds with one stone?
See, it’s all interconnected—which makes sense, considering that book covers are inherently a marketing tool.
Here’s a handy breakdown of the steps I would follow, as both a cover designer and a writer, if I were trying to figure out what the heck my cover should look like.
1. Put your manuscript away and spend some time reading (yay!).
The point of this step is to find comparative titles (“comps”) for your book. Books that are similar to yours in genre, themes, vibes, setting, plot points, writing style… you name it!
Something I hear from a number of authors is that their book is a bit of a trailblazer that doesn’t fit neatly into any one genre. Very fair! Then you just have to get extra creative.
Remember that comps don’t have to be exactly the same as your book. Think of them, instead, as books that have a unique aspect that’s similar to yours.
You can absolutely comp your fantasy novel to Crime and Punishment on the basis of themes and introspection even if yours isn’t about a murderer stewing in his guilt.
For example, Ireen Chau’s pitch for The Herbwitch’s Apprentice is “Jane Austen meets the early Barbie movies in this Regency-inspired fantasy.” Two vastly different comps, but it draws together separate aspects to appeal to the perfect reader for her book.
The easiest way to think about it is, “Who would like my book and what other books would they be reading?”
(Just don’t choose comps no one has ever heard of.)
Bonus: having a list of comps will be constantly helpful for you in all your marketing endeavours.
2. Make a moodboard of your comp titles’ covers and analyze them.
- Are they illustrated or photographic?
- Do they use hand letting or type?
- What kinds of fonts—serif, sans serif, script?
- What are the dominant colours or types of colours?
- What kinds of imagery do they use?
Cover design is largely subconscious! You want your cover to signal to your ideal reader that they’ll like what’s inside.
If your book is Jane Austen meets Barbie, you sure don’t want a blood-red-and-black cover with a sterile sans serif title and some deep abstract art.
Try to figure out what about your comps’ covers signals to their ideal reader’s subconscious that this is the book for them.
Whatever it is, I promise you, it was deliberate.
3. Brainstorm everything that could possibly fit on your cover.
Brainstorm ALL the words that come to mind when you think about your book. Plot points, characters, creatures, myths, settings, vibes… word vomit ALL OF IT.
Then dive into it deeper.
Your book has vampires? What symbols and colours are associated with vampires?
Inspired by Celtic settings? Google Images can give you loads of Celtic symbols and patterns.
Have Greek gods? What imagery comes with that?
4. Pull steps 2 and 3 together.
Close your eyes and switch on your imagination. All the market research you did in step 2. The imagery you researched in step 3. How can you pull it together into a unique, market-savvy cover that will sell your book?
Think about how you can signal to your ideal readers that they will like your book.
If people who love dragons will love your book, how can you signal to them? How do your comps signal that? What imagery can you use?
If people who love the classics would like your book, how can you invite them to take a chance on a book that’s two hundred years too young?
5. Bonus points if you sketch it out.
Worried your drawing skills are trash? *whispers* So are mine. Never fear, this does not have to look pretty.
Even if your sketch is just a bunch of blobs with labels on them (that’s what mine look like), I find this step is super helpful. It makes everything concrete and, if your memory is anything like mine, it’s a safeguard against forgetting what you came up with.
I just do the blobs as described, and add a bunch of notes about colours and details next to the sketch.
And there you go!
In just 4 or 5 steps, you’ve broken down one of the most intimidating parts of bringing your book to print.
“But Benita, what about the scene I dearly want to bring to life on my cover? It’s deep, meaningful, and central to the message I’m trying to get across. I have my heart set on this cover.”
I hear you, believe me. That is exactly what I did when I published my first book at 15.
But you need to ask yourself the honest question, “What is my goal for this book?”
Do you just want to see it in print and maybe sell a few copies? Or do you want writing books to be your day job (or at least make you some decent money)?
Because if the first one is your goal, then go for it—you can do absolutely whatever you like.
But if it’s the second one… then your book is a business. And everyone in a business needs to do their job properly, and your cover’s job is to sell your book. That is the purpose of your book cover.
“But isn’t the purpose of my cover to tell readers what’s inside the book? To tell my story in a nutshell?”
No, it’s not.
I’d differentiate here between the purpose and a goal. They’re very similar, but while one of your cover’s goals is to accurately represent what’s inside, your cover’s singular purpose is to tell your ideal readers to buy your book.
If your cover is not made to market, it will not pull its weight.
I know this might sound like I’m saying you need a soulless cover, chock full of overdone trends, but I promise I’m not. Think of all the gorgeous covers you’ve seen that perfectly fit the book—yet when you set them next to similar titles, they all have similar aspects that signal that if you like one, you’ll like the others.
I will say it again:
Your cover should tell your ideal readers they want to buy your book.
And I can promise you something else, too. That very specific scene is almost certainly not going to fulfil that purpose.
Remember, online book shoppers see a cover for a fraction of a second. That’s how long you have to send their brain the right signals. Something complex, overly specific, ~deep~ cannot send those signals in that amount of time.
So if you just want to hold your book baby in your hands, you have absolutely free rein. But if you want lots of readers to pick up your book baby, you need to convince them to.
And the first step on that road is your cover.
Agree? Disagree? Jump in the comments to let me know!
Kairos Book Design and Editing 