A book cover is the outer layer of a book covering the
story. A beautiful cover attracts the
attention of readers.
Covers are not just design to cover a story;
covers are done to interpret a story. Thus, a book cover is the image interpretation
of a story.
A cover
should be able to portray a story, and if it doesn’t, then it’s termed ‘vague
cover.’
Covers don’t tell a good book, but covers
tell and interpret a story. They do that with image representation, meaning
that the whole idea of a story is interpreted in a cover. A reader can predict,
anticipate and tell your story through the cover. It also helps them to know
the genre of the book.
I’m so fascinated by book covers, I love
it when a cover looks beautiful, catchy and interprets. I never adore it when a
cover is just there; unattractive, dull and untold.
A cover
shouldn’t only interpret, it should also look attractive. The cover should
leave a cliche in the psyche of readers. When a cover is well interpreted and
looks very attractive, it gets the reader fighting with a rising urge to read
the book.
Two things should be noted when
designing a book cover, the interpretation and the attractiveness. Why because
cover plays a vital role in your book and that’s why many authors make
research, spend time and money to get the best cover. Through a cover, you can
draw people’s attention to your book and by the time they finish reading and
found it interesting they help promote your book. A dull and untold cover can
crucify a book especially if you’re a new author.
First have
an idea of your cover through the story. Think of what the whole story is all
about, is it talking about love or about crime. That will help you figure out the
kind of cover to design to represent the story. Mind you that interpretation
and attractiveness are two different words.
Interpretation is to explain the meaning
of your story through images. For instance, a romance novel cannot have the
image of a cookie because it’s not a story about biscuit. Likewise will a
thriller novel carry an image of a stripper; there is simply no form of
interpretation.
Attractiveness can be
drawn from the image and the whole design of the cover; from color combination,
additional designs and written words. Attraction as the word implies, the cover
should attract.
Good cover promotes a book, good cover draws the attention of
readers and good cover can make a book become bestseller. Don’t get me wrong
when I say good cover can make a book bestseller. I don’t mean that an
uninteresting and badly written story with a good cover will become bestseller
but what I mean is that a well written story with good cover will probably
become a bestseller. For instance, a new author publishes a good book and it’s
interesting, well written with a good cover; readers will be drawn by the
superb cover and they pick the book. After reading the book and they found out
that the book was interesting; they would spread and promote the book,
stimulating others to read the book. They can also make a good review and
through the review others will want to read the book. Gradually, the book
becomes popular and makes mark on the bestseller chart.
Paying attention to cover really helps to promote you as an
author. When the cover is good, the book sells itself. Aware that when a person
enters a bookshop to buy a book, the first thing that will catch his/her
attention is the cover which might lead to a sudden surge of uneasiness and
eventually gets the person to pick up the book. Covers keep one staring at a
book for few minutes before flipping into the pages.
In conclusion, a cover should interprets, a cover should be
attractive, a cover must have an origin, a cover should not have too many
colors and a cover should be catchy.
