I love searching for a book cover for a new story. How do I decide on the cover that works? It has to fit the genre, but it also has to fit the story. I believe every cover should tell the story or, at the very least, reflect the story inside. I don’t look for works of art, and I’ve learned to shy away from covers that are too busy. I look for something original (definitely NOT generated by AI). The cover might have an image that reflects my main character, or it might be reflective of the plot or the setting of the book. But I want a cover that makes sense within the story. For example, my cover of Finding Hope. This so well reflects my main character and her journey and will give the reader an image of what the character looks like after her personal transformation.
For mystery and suspense, I chose this cover for A Private
Practice because it tells you the story is about murder and police activity. And
I was able to carry the theme through the next two books in the series, Child’s
Play and Portal to Murder. A reader pretty much knows what to expect given
these covers.
The cover for The Game tells you it’s a romance but also
depicts a woman holding a football and a male baseball player in the distance. I
had the artist add these two figures. In the story, Caroline plays QB for a
women’s football team. J.C. is professional baseball player whose career is teetering on the brink following an injury. When I wrote the
sequel, The Game Changer, I was happy to find the same basic cover presented in
a different way that reflected the next shift in Caroline and J.C.’s story.
One of my favorites is the cover I designed for Almost
Heaven. The little yellow cottage and white picket fence are central to the
story and significant for Annie, the main character. It’s also an example of the
setting becoming a character in itself.
Authors are often asked if they think the book cover is as important as the story inside. Surprisingly, I’ve heard authors say they don’t think so. I disagree. That image is the first thing a reader sees, and it should entice them to pick up the book and, hopefully, read the back blurb (also significant in selling your book). Everything about the cover is important: images, font, placement of title (and tag line, if you have one), and author name. An author once suggested to me that using the same font for your name on every book imprints your name in the mind of the reader. I can see how that works, but sometimes the font needs to change to fit with genre, if you write across genres. Font should be clean and readable, in any case. But don't be afraid to play with it a bit, the way I did with Mister Fix-It. The tools tell part of the story.
When I write a new book, I often search for a cover before the book is finished. That gives me a visual image that motivates me to keep writing. This cover for my upcoming release has kept me focused on the story with the beach setting and the symbolism of the missing roof shingles.
Over the years, I’ve changed a few covers on some of my books because
I learned a lot along the way and found covers that better represented the stories,
that were cleaner and more professional looking. It’s important to cover your
book with something that fits the story, is appealing or intriguing, and that
looks professional. Don’t write a gem of a story then wrap it up in something akin to a brown paper bag. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, make sure you
have the skill and tools you need. If not, leave the work to the professionals.
Hire a cover artist or find cover art sites where artists present one of a kind
covers that they create (not generated with AI.) Your readers will thank you.
