Hellooo, everybody! Today I'm talking about the best and worst part of so many writers publishing experience...
The book cover!
Most writers look forward to the book cover process. It's fun
and exciting to get your book baby all decked up and ready for sale. But a shockingly large number
of writers don't know what they're doing, and in turn, their book cover looks about as appealing as
a soggy turd. Your cover is a marketing tool. It's the very first thing your readers are gonna see,
which means it needs to be on point. So why are you guys releasing the ugliest,
crappiest, junkiest, no goodest covers out there? What are you thinking?
Look, I'm not trying to be an asshole. Okay, maybe just a little. I'm trying to save you a world of hurt,
and get you some actual sales. So I'm breaking down the ten worst mistakes writers make,
when it comes to designing their book covers. These mistakes are so common which is honestly
such a shame because they are completely avoidable. Pay close attention to this list.
Seriously, take notes because this absolutely can and will make or break your book's success.
And I know number ten hurts, but I'm telling you because I care.
And also because your book cover sucks. Let's get into it!
(The sound of a pen scratching. LOGO.)
Hey guys, a friendly reminder. For the entire month of March 100% of the profits from my merch
store are going straight to United Help Ukraine. That's 100% of the profits. It's all going to an
amazing cause. So if you want to support United Help Ukraine and get yourself some fun writerly
goodies, please check out my merch store. I have it linked below. I also wanted to mention,
you will hear me talking about the company MiblArt in this video. What you may not know is
MiblArt is a Ukrainian based company. Please show them your love and support. They are working
really hard right now and obviously going through a very difficult time. So if you could send them
your love, that would be fantastic. Also, all of the book covers featured in this video were
made by MiblArt, so you will see firsthand just how incredible and talented they are.
Onto the video! Today's video was requested by one of my patrons over on Patreon,
Darkscribe. Like so many writers they wanna know all about how to create a marketable book cover,
and what sort of mistakes to avoid. I got you covered oh scribe of darkness. I'd also like to
say a huge thank you to my friends over at MiblArt for sponsoring today's video. MiblArt is an
amazing cover design company specifically geared toward indie authors. They work with every and all
genres and it's their goal to turn every author's book cover into their number one marketing tool.
I've worked with MiblArt myself, and I had a fantastic experience. They are super affordable.
They offer unlimited revisions. And you can get your first cover design concept in just five days,
which is crazy fast! On top of that they offer a 100% refund, and there's no prepayment for photo
manipulated book covers, which is a huge benefit if you're feeling cautious about the book cover
process. Additionally, they provide authors with cover ideas for free if they want to envision
their cover before making an order. And their designers are constantly analyzing the market
to make sure their cover design fits reader expectations. It honestly does not surprise
me that they have a five out of five star rating on Facebook. They were so easy to work with. Plus
their designers are so talented and professional. They offer photo manipulated book cover design,
they do illustrated designs from scratch, they offer a logo, branding, character design,
all kinds of features. They are amazing. Like I said I highly recommend MiblArt, they are
extremely affordable. But right now you can get an additional 10% off using code: Jenna10. Click the
link below, use code Jenna10, and get 10% off your beautiful book cover. Don’t forget to subscribe
to my channel. I post new videos on Wednesdays. And if you wanna be alerted as SOON as I upload,
ring that bell. The Savior's Champion and The Savior’s Sister are available in ebook,
paperback, hardback, and audiobook. They're available at all major retailers. So if you wanna
pick up this super swoony, super stabby-stab, bloody-blood, kill-kill, dark fantasy romance,
you absolutely should! I mean, it won awards. It's a fucking bestseller! You totally should. They're
linked below. Do it, yeah. Now I'm breaking down the ten biggest mistakes writers face
when they tackle book cover design. Keep in mind, this list is geared toward indie writers,
because if you go the traditional publishing route you will pretty much have zero say when it
comes to your book cover. Sorry about it. But for all the indies out there, don't do these things,
okay? Your potential readers will never forgive you. Actually they'll just never buy your book,
which is a whole lot worse. Number One (1): To hell with the genre. A lot of writers design the
book cover that they've envisioned for years, one that holds a deep profound meaning to them.
Which is fine, if it's effective. I'm gonna say this a lot throughout this video so be prepared,
but your book cover is your number one marketing tool. Which means more than anything,
it needs to communicate what your book is about, especially its genre. Your cover’s job is to say,
“Hey, readers see this book, it's all about knights and dragons. So if that's your thing,
open me up, bitches.” This is why we see so many of the same type of covers. People joke
about shirtless men on romance covers, but they exist for a reason. You see a shirtless man,
you know instantly that it's a romance. This is why reinventing the wheel when it comes to your
book cover isn't exactly a good decision. You don't have to replicate what everyone else is
doing, but your quirky indiscernible cover isn't doing you any favors. Make sure your book cover is
comparable and communicative of your genre. It'll go a long way in boosting your sales,
and not pissing off your readers. On a similar note, Number Two (2): To help with the market.
“But Jennaaa, I did what you said. My cover definitely reflects my genre.” Okay, but does it
fit your genre circa the 90s or today? What about its category? Is it looking more young
adult or adult? I hate to break it to you, but there's a hell of a lot more that goes into cover
art than just genre. This is when paying attention to the market is key. Just as genres and tropes go
in and out of trends, so do book covers. Sure maybe your cover screams fantasy,
but if it screams fantasy circa the 80s readers are going to assume it's outdated, which is a big
problem if this is a new release. Maybe your cover is indicative of romance, but it screams
innocent teen romance when really you've written a steamy adult erotica. You're gonna attract the
wrong readership and scar ‘em for life. Great job. This is part of the reason why so many authors
change their book covers mid series. Trends and expectations change, so authors feel compelled to
adjust for marketability. Again we are not here to copy, but we do wanna make sure our cover is
relevant, marketable, and engaging for our target audience in this current marketplace. Research the
industry. Pay attention to current styles within your target audience, and take notes. Number
Three (3): Copy and paste extravaganza. A lot of covers are made up of a series of stock photos,
which is completely fine. What isn't fine is when you can clearly see a series of individual images
layered on top of one another in a massive copy and paste photo dump. Maybe you can see the edges
where the image was lassoed out of its original photo. Maybe the colors or lighting don't match
up. Maybe it's pixelated or wildly distorted. Maybe you've copied and pasted someone else's head
onto a completely different body. We can see that shit. The cover needs to read as one cohesive
piece of art. The stock photos need to be stitched and blended together to create a unified whole.
If readers can clearly see the separation and distortion from one stock photo to the next,
they're going to assume that the book cover was unprofessionally self made,
which doesn't bode well for the contents of the book. Number Four (4): But, why is it so blurry?
This is a huge issue when it comes to print books, meaning paperbacks and hardbacks.
A lot of indie writers wind up with blurry covers, the images aren’t clear, the colors aren’t
saturated. Everything is faded and dull. It kinda looks like we're staring at the cover through
RuPaul season one filter. Now it's normal for there to be a slight color difference between
the ebook and print books, because they use a different color setting. But it's not normal
or acceptable for print books to look blurred and washed out to death. This is usually a result of
inappropriate file size, or resolution, or both. If your cover template is five by eight and you
end up printing a six by nine book, this is going to destroy the image quality. And if your file is
too low of a resolution, it doesn't matter what size your book is, your cover is gonna be fucked.
This might sound like technical mumbo-jumbo that you don't understand, but most publishing
platforms provide cover templates, and then you can send them over to your cover artist,
and they can take care of the whole thing. And if you order proof copies ahead of the book release,
you can make sure your print cover looks clear and clean. Basically this entire problem can be
easily avoided. So if you've got a blurry shithole of a cover, that's on you. Number Five (5): Your
fonts suck. It doesn't matter how beautiful your cover imagery is, if your fonts suck,
it's gonna ruin the whole thing. And fortunately for you, there are several different ways your
fonts can stink up your cover. First up, are you utilizing too many fonts? Congratulations,
your cover is a confusing mess. Second, does your font fit the concept of your novel? If not,
what were you thinking? I've seen horror covers with flowery cursive fonts, and I've seen romance
novels featuring fonts out of a nightmare. You're giving your readers mixed messages. They're not
gonna know what the hell your book’s about. Third, are you using unprofessional fonts like Comic
Sans or Papyrus? You might think I'm kidding, there's no way people actually do this. They do.
And lastly, the worst possible mistake you can make when it comes to cover art font,
is it unreadable? What's the point of words if not to read them? If your book is titled Love
on Venus, but the font looks like it says Love on Anus, that's a whole different kinda book.
Fonts are often overlooked because they're not as exciting as the imagery of the book cover, but you
need to pay attention to them because trust me, your readers are paying attention to them. Number
Six (6): You threw in the whole damn kitchen sink. This is a mistake a lot of newbie writers
run into. They think every teeny tiny detail of their novel is important enough to feature
on the cover. If this is you, you're an idiot. You know that one scene where that one tree is a brief
metaphor for life and growth. Yeah, no one gives a shit. Yes, your cover should communicate what your
book is about, but your book is not about every single image and symbol you plop on the pages.
If you overcrowd your cover with too many images, readers aren't gonna know what the hell the book’s
about because they're going to be too overwhelmed sifting through the mass. Think about the main
points of your novel, the elements that occur consistently. Whether that's a color scheme,
various genre elements, or extremely important symbols. Feature those aspects on your cover
and nothing else. Which brings us to, Number Seven (7): What exactly am I looking at? Every cover
needs a focal point. Something that captures the reader's attention. Quite often, this is a large
focal image, like a person or a weapon. But it can also be an eye-catching title. This is especially
common in genres like thrillers or mysteries, or in nonfiction. This focal point does a lot of work
for you, because it's going to catch the reader's attention right away. This allows them to latch
on to the cover which means you are bettering your odds of them reading the blurb, learning about the
author, and then buying the book. This all sounds like common sense, right? Wrong. A lot of covers,
especially among newbie writers, have no focal point whatsoever. Sometimes it's due to clutter,
other times it's due to that copy and paste issue I mentioned already, but quite often it's due to a
lack of direction. If you're not sure which direction to go, think about one thing you
want to pop on your cover. Is it a visual, like a shirtless man? Or is your title alone shocking and
impactful? And don't forget your cover artists is on your side, allow them to offer their expertise.
That's what they're here for. Number Eight (8): Does the thumbnail even matter? Yes, it really,
really does. You know why brick and mortar bookstores are rapidly going out of business?
It’s because an overwhelming majority of books are purchased online. That means nine times out
of ten, your reader’s first impression of your book is going to be a thumbnail. This circles
back to points six and seven. Quite often, if your book looks shitty in thumbnail form,
it's probably because your cover is a cluttered mess or there's no focal point. The easiest way
to rectify this issue is to look at your cover in thumbnail form. Is it attractive?
Is it eye-catching? Does it stand out? Hell, can you even tell what's going on? If you answered no
to any of these questions, it's time to make some changes. Your cover needs to be clear, beautiful,
and striking in thumbnail view, or else readers are gonna scroll past it. Number Nine (9): Balance
is for acrobats, not for book covers, is something only idiots say. Have you ever looked at a book
cover and thought it's nice, but something's off. I can almost guarantee, the issue is symmetry.
The cover lacks balance which basically means that the imagery and fonts are very overpowering
on one side of the book cover, but on the other side it's sparse and underwhelming. This makes the
cover feel unfinished, unpolished, and honestly, unsettling to look at. Usually when we see an
asymmetrical cover, it's due to the positioning of the focal point image, versus the fonts. Maybe
you've got all of your writing all the way at the tippy-top of your book cover, you got an image in
the middle, and then there's absolutely nothing at the bottom. That's not gonna work. It's gonna look
weird, and readers will notice. If you're not sure if your cover lacks balance, flip it upside down.
If it looks wonky, you're done fucked up. This is another easy fix. All it takes is some rebalancing
and reorganizing to make sure that your cover has symmetry. And Number Ten (10): You don't hire a
professional at all. I can't believe I have to say this, but for the love of God, there are virtually
zero situations where it's okay, let alone and advisable, for a writer to design their own cover.
What's the one and only reason you can get away with designing your own book cover?
If you are literally a book cover designer. “But Jennaaa, I'm a graphic designer.” Okay,
do you have any experience with book covers? You know about page bleed, market trends, or spine
width based on page count? No, I didn't think so. “But Jennaaa, I'm really good at Photoshop.”
So am I. That changes absolutely nothing. Look, just because I sewed a pillow in middle school,
doesn't mean I'm qualified to design my wedding dress. Guess I gotta say it one more time. Your
book cover is your number one marketing tool. It is the very first thing readers are gonna see.
This is not the place to throw in the towel. Skipping this step hurts no one but yourself.
Hire a professional, it could be a lot more affordable than you think, and it will make a
huge difference in boosting your sales. So that's all I got for you today. Thank you to
Darkscribe for requesting today's video. If you'd like the chance to have a video dedicated to you,
or if you want access to tons of other awards, check me out on Patreon. You can get early access
to my videos. We have an exclusive writing group. There are monthly live streams. There are signed
books. I got it linked below. And thank you so much to MiblArt for sponsoring today's video,
and for such a great work experience. If you want an affordable book cover made by professionals,
I definitely recommend checking them out. And right now you can get 10% off using code:
Jenna10. Just click the link below, get yourself a discount, it's that easy. Don't forget to
subscribe to my channel. I post new videos on Wednesdays. And if you wanna be alerted as SOON
as I upload, ring that bell. The Savior's Champion and The Savior’s Sister are available in ebook,
paperback, hardback and audiobooks. So pick up a copy today. I know you want to, I can see it
in your eyes. They're linked below, get on it. And be sure to follow me on social media. I'm
on Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook and BookBub. And of course you can tweet me @JennaMoreci! Bye!
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