What makes a great ebook cover?

What makes a great ebook cover?

When you hire a designer, you're giving up the reins on your cover art to some extent. You can definitely use your gut instinct (which is usually right anyway) to determine when a cover is just right for your ebook. If your gut doesn't speak to you, you can also make sure your cover art is good by asking yourself and answering some questions.

Does the artwork stand out proudly on your web page? You don't want it to blend in with the background or be barely noticeable. Whether it's by color, texture, shape, exclamation points, or professional looking artwork, your designer needs to know how to add enough pizzazz to your cover art to get you noticed. This doesn't mean that you need microscopic detail or complicated figures or drawings. Sometimes simplicity does the job quite well. Artists know that. Look for the "stand out" factor on his designs.

Is the title prominent on the cover? You don't want too many words on the cover. Stick with the title, a byline, and short words. You may be able to effectively include a short bulleted list, but not much more. When you quickly scroll through web pages, you should be able to remember from a quick glance what the title was on your ebook cover.

If the title isn't lodged in your memory after a passing glance at the picture, then the artwork needs a face lift.Does the cover use four colors or less? Although rainbows are pretty, they don't stand out as much as solid colors. You can actually get by with three colors. In most cases, you'll need at least one more color besides just black and white.

Just like web pages can look unprofessional with too many animated graphics and background textures (moon craters, wood grain, tiles with photographs on them, whatever), likewise, your cover does not require all these frills. Don't be sold on an artist or his work because he can make your ebook cover look like a tie-dyed T-shirt. Unless of course your book is about tie-dying! Occasionally lots of colors or textures are called for, but usually not.Can you read each letter of text on the cover? You do not want a font that is difficult to discern. Interestingly, the simple fonts that we use every day when we communicate by email, are some of the best for ebook cover art. There's a reason fonts like Arial and Times are so popular.

People find them easy to read. Don't make your potential buyers work to hard to figure out which letter is which on your cover. In general, stay away from curly cues, unusual handwriting fonts, and heavily detailed lettering.

Does your cover have a large amount of red, blue, or yellow? These have been determined by psychologists to be appealing colors for consumers. In fact any two of these colors in combination with black and white would probably work. Steer away from brown, green, gray, and muted or faded colors unless there is some really good reason to use those colors. For example if your book is called "How to build a log cabin," your project may be well-served by browns and greens. But maybe not! Try red, blue, yellow, black and white first to see! By the same token, money ebooks do not have to be green, and ebooks for brides do not have to be white.

Does your cover look like a three-dimensional object? You are trying to convey an actual book, so you definitely want the art in 3-D. Make sure your ebook art has a spine and the appearance of some internal pages. Don't settle for a rectangular representation of only the front cover of a book. A flat rectangle could work for the first page inside your book, but not for a picture on a web site that is supposed to attract a buyer. Even though your readers will obviously have enough computer wherewithal to have found your ebook in the first place, in their hearts, they will still be attracted to online artwork that reminds them of actual paper books. It's just a fact of life, so accept it, and make sure your ebook cover art looks like a book.