Secrets to Designing an e-Book Cover That Sells
With the increasing popularity of e-books, designers have been met with a new challenge: designing book covers that exist in a digital format rather than the typical physical book. E-books present a different challenge because they must be easy to view in smaller formats and on a variety of different devices. So what does it take to design a cover that will jump out on an e-reader while still retaining its appeal? Read on to find out.
1) Simplicity
E-book covers provide the designer with less room to work with compared to a physical book. Additionally, e-books are most often viewed on smaller devices. Therefore, simplicity is key in creating a successful design. It’s important to include only the most important elements, the title and the author’s name, and make sure that they are legible. Leave out captions or other text that will be difficult to read in smaller formats. Additional text will only make the cover look cluttered, and remember, we’re going for clean and simple here. Besides the text, you also want to include a cover photo that will give the reader a general idea of the book’s genre or mood. Make sure that the image translates well as a black and white photo, as not all e-readers or e-reading devices have a color option.
2) Size
Size is perhaps the most overlooked element of e-book design. Remember that your e-book is going to exist in a variety of different formats—from a small image on Amazon to an icon in the iBookstore. What this means is that you need to optimize your design for the smallest size possible. This is particularly important for marketing purposes. When readers are browsing for books online, particularly on Amazon.com, you want to make sure that they won’t skip over your book because your text is unreadable or your image is too difficult to see. If you make sure that your cover looks great even in the tiniest format, your design will make an impression on readers and lead them to clicking on the cover to find out more. For ideas on how to make your cover look better in a smaller format, take a look at and compare it to other book covers you see on Amazon. Simply browsing through other books in your genre can give you a sense of what other people have done to make their covers stand out. Pay attention to the images and colors they use, as well as where they place their text, as these elements can help you determine what may or may not work for your own cover.
3) Branding
Though you want your e-book to be simple and work well in small formats, it’s also important to make it unique by imprinting it with your own branding. In particular, if you’re planning on writing a series, you want to make sure that each cover has a consistent design so that readers are able to recognize and group them together. One way to do this is by linking the books together with a common element, such as a logo, font, or unique color palette that matches across all the books in the series. Another thing to keep in mind is that you want your book to stand out from the rest of the books in your genre. Branding can help you create something that will both make a mark and create a sense of unity in your layout and design.
For more help with cover design, or to find out how you can get professional, done-for-you covers for your e-book, visit www.perfectpublishingsystem.com.
By: Sabina Muslimovic