The Top 5 Goals for A Book Cover + A Great Course of Study In Self-Publishing . . .

You may know I’m in the class of poor writers.

My military pension is quite small so, when I got to considering a cover for the book I published back in May of 2011, I needed to get real resourceful…

Luckily NASA’s Hubble Telescope Image Site had just what I wanted and adding the words to the image was within my own skill set.

Even though the cover you see here may not have people on it (like so many covers do) and even though many folks won’t relate to a picture from space, I feel it captures quite a bit of the mood and theme of my short novel, Notes from An Alien…

I’m no “Book Designer” but Joel Friedlander certainly is and clicking on his name will let you check out the 26 other posts on this blog that feature him.

The post I’ll feature today is Top 5 Goals for your Book or eBook Cover.

From Joel’s article:

1. Announce its genre—This is very important for genre fiction, but it’s equally important for any book to be clear right away about exactly what kind of book it is. This seems to me to be the first concern of the cover designer.
2. Telegraph its tone—Particularly important for fiction and literary fiction, where the whole effect of the book rests on the skill of the writer. A cover can give you an idea of the writer’s voice in many subtle ways.
3. Explain its scope—Mostly for nonfiction. Understanding the extent of the book’s subject helps to define its target market.
4. Generate excitement (the “hook”)—Let’s face it, book covers are a subspecies of advertising design, and they can be powerful sales tools. But if nothing about the cover stops people, or evokes instant interest, fascination or curiosity, it can’t accomplish its aims.
5. Establish a market position—This is almost the sum of all the other goals listed here. Taken together, they establish the exact space we see the book occupying amongst all the other books that address the same topic or which are in the same genre.

Joel doesn’t just throw out short descriptions of his goals.

He lets you know he’ll be covering this aspect of book design (along with many others) in his up-coming Self-Publishing Roadmap.

Clicking on that last link gets you on an email notification list for Joel’s unique offering and here’s what he says about it:

“Trying to publish your own book? Getting confused? I bet. Listen, I’ve been publishing books for over 30 years and it’s never been easier—and more confusing—than it is today.

“That’s exactly why I created The Self-Publishing Roadmap: to help authors like you get up to speed with how to figure out the best strategies, the best practices, and the most profitable ways to publish today.

“The Roadmap is better than any book. Even the best books are out of date almost as soon as they’re published! With online training we keep up-to-the-minute with the latest developments.

• Proven strategies for any niche
• Self-paced instruction and a helpful community
• Get a marketing edge with hours of insider secrets
• Step-by-step learning from the internet’s leading authority”

By the way, care to share in the Comments how many of Joel’s goals you think my cover accomplishes??
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