Think about all the images
we're bombarded with daily via television, bus posters,
billboards, and more.
Your book cover is a billboard for your book. It needs
to have immediate appeal to your target audience; it
needs to tweak their interest in a split second.
The cover consists of three elements: front, spine and
back. The front cover and spine should provide instant
visual appeal. Clarity and simplicity are key elements.
Back
Cover
The back cover is an opportunity
to peak the reader's interest, and may include a concise
overview of the book, the author's photo, and some third-party
comments (reviews) of the book.
In this back cover, Webb Publishing took the opportunity
to feature some additional photos to peak the target
audience's interest, providing enough text to be of interest
to the reader, but not overwhelming.
Front
Cover
Text on the front cover consists of a title, frequently a sub-title describing
the content in more detail, the author's name, and publisher's name if you desire.
Titles are important! You may have a title in mind, but ask yourself if it quickly
and accurately informs the viewer of the book's content? You will have a better
chance of winning a reader if your content is immediately recognizable.
The finished cover shown to the right is designed to be of interest to a fairly
broad audience, specifically to those with WWII veterans in their family, or
family history in southern Saskatchewan.
The text was chosen to appeal to the potential consumers, highlighting the two
local towns, White Bear and Cabri, with the word Saskatchewan being intentionally
secondary.
Spine
Spines must also be visually
appealing, and typically include the book title and author's
name. The publisher's logo may also be included.
We have found that great
care must be taken when designing a book's spine, as
the inks on perfect-bound books tend to crack when a
book is opened. This is because laser printers lay a
layer of ink on top of the paper; the inks do not soak
into the paper as they do in traditionally printed paper
that is run through a printing press. Covers with solid,
dark colours near the spine tend to show this cracking
of the ink. The options are to change the graphic design
of the spine region, or to laminate or UV coat the cover.
