Monday, January 2, 2017

#InkRipples~Book covers



Happy New Year!!!! 

I drifted away from posting during 2016, but am back and looking forward to sharing my thoughts again in 2017.

And what better post for the first of the year than an #Inkripples post.


Today's topic: Book covers.

Book covers are more complicated than you may realize. After all, one glance must not only catch the eye of a prospective reader and entice them to pick up the book to read, but it must also reveal the genre and a subtle hint of the story.

If you're looking for a thriller, you aren't going to pick up a book with flowery script and a picture of a man in a suit and top hat with a woman in a belle of the ball gown, are you? No, because the cover is revealing that you're holding a romance (and most likely, a period romance.)

Color, font, and images are all used to help a reader know at a glance what the book they are looking at is going to be about. 

This was an important thing for me to learn when I worked with the cover artist for my first book. I answered a series of questions about my book, about what I'd like to see on the cover, and some covers that I liked that were in the same genre as I was writing.

I had always thought that book covers needed to represent a specific scene from the story, but that isn't true. A great book cover will capture the essence of the story through the colors, font, and images the cover artist uses. And it is much harder to do this than you think!




Do you agree that book covers are more complicated than they first appear? What are some of your favorite covers and why? Share in the comments below!  

Ripples in the Inkwell is a themed meme hosted bKatie L. CarrollKai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #inkripples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.

This year's topics are:

January: Book covers
February: Genres
March: Tropes
April: Revision
May: Fairy Tales
June: Blurbs
July: Heroes/Villains
August: Author Options in Publishing
September: World Building
October: Career vs Hobby
November: Finishing that Book!
December: Goals



15 comments:

  1. Your covers are beautiful, but I think Faery Marked is my fave. Anita does amazing work. There is so much that needs to be captured on a cover and I think the mood of the book can be the most difficult.

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    1. I love Anita's covers. She actually reads each book before she does the cover. Ironically for Faery Marked, she read an earlier version than what was published, and still captured the heart of the story perfectly!!

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  2. I have so much respect for the cover artists who manage to capture the essence of a book with a few strokes of their artistic pens. For me, I prefer covers that are simple, less busy. My last book cover was busier than I liked. My publisher got a little testy when I wanted to reduce the images. We finally came to an agreement, but... that cover is still not my fav.

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    1. It's hard when you and the publisher don't see eye to eye on the cover. Hopefully you both went into it (and came out of it) with the desire to do what was best to draw the reader's eye to your story.

      And, if the cover was one of the two you showed on your website today, I think they are great examples for mysteries!!

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    2. Thanks, Mary. Yeah, we went back and forth. But that cover is still not my favorite one. I didn't post it as a fav. Sometimes we just have to go with the flow!

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  3. I actually really love all your book covers, Mary! And, yes, book covers are so much more complicated than they seem.

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    1. Thanks, Katie. I like them all, too, although just like the stories, some of them are dearer to me than others.

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  4. Book covers are definitely more complicated than most people think. At least, book covers that actually sell books. And sometimes covers that are very pretty STILL don't sell books--or they sell them to the wrong people.

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    1. It is definitely something that takes more thought than I realized when I first started writing!

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  5. Yup. There's definitely a science to them--from the coloring, to the fonts, to the symbols, to the simplicity vs intricacy... Any designer worth their salt has done a TON of research into successful books covers and their elements. Pinterest is my favorite place for finding awesome covers.

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    1. What a great use for Pinterest. I must confess, I still haven't joined there....maybe someday 😊

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  6. This is a great topic and I'm getting to it. . .soon! Happy 2017 #InkRipples

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  7. The more I think about them, the more I realize just how much goes into a great cover design. They are definitley more complicated than they first appear. Your books have great covers. I really like Faery Marked. It's a book I would definitely pick up from a shelf to explore further.

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    1. Thanks! Anita (Race-Point.com) did an amazing job on that cover.
      And yes, there is a lot that goes into cover design.

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