Considerations for Book Cover Design
Never Judge a Book By Its Cover …Or Should You?
It’s the century-old saying, but one we take seriously at Chandler Book Design. Reading is an all-encompassing experience for book lovers: To be able to turn each page and to feel the embossed indentations on the cover after finishing a chapter for the evening, are the microscopic design details that make reading tangible books an experience. All of these small characteristics complete the appearance of your manuscript and are decided upon in-house at Chandler Book Design when creating the cover design for your book.
Most of us might be guilty for being initially drawn toward brightly coloured illustrations or darkly photographed ominous figures on covers from across the Waterstones isle – but it is the cover what first and fore-mostly draws the reader into a literary work. Most of the time readers are not browsing for anything in particular, but are hoping an eye-catching cover design will capture their attention. Through decades of designing book covers at Chandler Book Design, we know the expectations of the industry and we have expertly fine-tuned our clever design practices to consistently produce eye-capturing designs.
Design to Suit Your Genre
A cover only has seconds to make an impact on the buyer, so it’s important to create a bold cover that skilfully reflects your specific genre. In the initial stages, communicating the essence of your story to the design team is essential. Consider what subject matter might be presented upon the cover: The main character? A location? Or perhaps even a symbolic metonym for the narrative (take for example the notorious ring used for J.R.R. Tolkens, Lord of the Rings) – Even the most niche storyline details may make a significant difference in the configuration of your cover design. The imagery itself should reflect the genre of your work: Photo-realism images give the reader a referable visual of characters and landscapes, or may display factual or hero-images for your book. Illustrative design sets a different tone and may associate your literature with a certain or audience or age-group.
Design to Suit Your Audience
It is important to consider targeting your cover artwork toward a specific age group. In a recent project for children’s fantasy fiction author Chris Connaughton, the novel The Essence Hunters needed to appeal to a younger audience; whilst simultaneously portraying the darker aesthetic that ran throughout the book. We attentively produced the imagery on the cover to depict a dark and mythical backdrop – although ominous, the cover appears appropriate for a young adult audience.
Design for eBooks and Digital Works
Additionally, at Chandler Book Design we also consider how your design will transfer into the digital marketplace. When creating an eBook, readers have the opportunity to search through a sea of titles across the digital marketplace and therefore, creating a captivating design that transposes well into the digital realm is essential.
Design to Suit… You!
At Chandler Book Design, we work symbiotically and collaborate with you to manifest the cover design you had envisaged whilst writing your book. We offer a bespoke service so that your cover reflects the tone of your manuscript in a unique and creative way: with no templates or pre-designed covers used, each cover we create is made exclusively for you and your title. The entire design process from layout to cover design is manufactured in-house at Chandler Book Design to alleviate any complications in your publishing process, and to leave you to the important stuff – writing! Whatever aesthetic you’re searching for, it’s safe to say, we have got you… covered.