Each book needs a cover. Resurgence is no exception. As I recently posted my book cover and book description (I finally came up with one after a few hundred versions but that’s for another post), it’s the perfect time to talk about book covers.
When it came time to get a book cover for Resurgence, as I had no idea how to proceed and at the time, I had no skills with anything resembling Photoshop, I searched for information. I looked at some website of some book designers and picked a designer whose covers appealed to me.
In my day job, I constantly deal with requirements, business and system requirements. I just can’t get away from that. It’s probably no surprise that my first instinct was to write a document that I could give to a book cover designer to explain what I was looking for.
That’s exactly what I did.
A book cover that sells
As I had done no research into what makes a good book cover, especially one that sells, my idea for Resurgence was totally wrong. I can’t really blame the designer, I pretty much got what I asked. I just didn’t ask for the right thing.
As I was searching for information about marketing, I hit upon a checklist that included having a book cover that sells and a link to information about what made a good cover.
It didn’t take me long to realize that what I had made was not going to do well. I compared it to other covers in my genre and it felt like it stuck out like a sore thumb.
A good book cover needs to do the following:
Evoke an emotion
Relate to the title
Fit in with other books in my genre
Attract the right reader
A book cover does not:
Have to represent a scene in the book (in fact, it’s probably best that it does not)
It does not have to be faithful to details (such as an exact depiction of an object)
I won't go into more detail than that as there are others expert in this with blog series written about this particular subject. Here are where I got most of my information:
CreatIndieCovers before & after examples and the associated blog
What I learned after hours of research is that my Resurgence book cover:
Stuck out negatively when I compared it to other books in my genre
Did not align with my title
It tried to be too exact to the story
Did not really evoke any emotion
I only have myself to blame. I should have looked into what makes a book cover before I reached out to a designer instead of asking what I thought I should be asking for.
Picking a good book cover designer
A good book designer will ask the right questions:
What your genre is and your sub genre
The significance of your title
To sign an agreement
To get a better feel for what you need
Notice that what’s important is what you need and not what you necessarily want.
A good designer will explain what you need and politely explain that your ideas, well, suck. Listen to them if you want a book cover that sells, one that fits your genre and fits your title, one that will help you get readers.
If you don’t believe them, find other books in your genre. If you have a good designer, you will realize they’re right and you’re wrong. Accept it.
Final Resurgence book cover
As I had paid for a first book cover and beyond having the cover, there’s more that needs to be added to the book cover like a review or sentence and more still for the print version, I ended up creating a new book cover myself.
The posted Resurgence cover came after probably a hundred versions or more to get to that version.
I was able to do it myself because of everything I learned to complete the map that will be in Resurgence. I actually learned more skills to manipulate images while creating the cover.
The advantage of doing it myself (there are many tools out there that help) is that when it comes time to create the print version, I will be able to do it myself and make any adjustments required.
The cost saving of doing it myself does come at the price of writing. I accept that. And as I’m not a professional book designer, it also comes at the risk of not getting it right.
The good news is I’m better equipped to evaluate my cover.
I may work with a designer in the future. At least I’ll know what too look for and what I need.
I'm nowhere near publishing, but I'll undoubtedly need to think about a cover at some point. You make some great points, and I think your cover looks fantastic!