Hey all! This past month has been a busy time as I do final work on my upcoming novel-in-verse [dis]connection.

The latest activity has been cover design and there’s a lot of mental energy that goes into covers. We’ve all heard the expression don’t judge a book by the cover but we do, we TOTALLY DO! In fact, we often judge everything by appearance but that’s another post.

I’ve been thinking deeply and researching extensively to learn all I can learn about covers. Here I’m going to share a few things I’ve learned and hope you enjoy. These are my thoughts and learnings, your mileage may vary.

What your cover should do…

Your cover should interrupt your customer

When the customer sees your cover, they should feel compelled to stop what they are doing and investigate. Don’t blend in with the pack (more on this in a moment). When you think about customer buying behavior, consider the customer has a lot of choices. A simple search on Amazon can return all kinds of books and other things. Your cover should say “STOP SCROLLING! CLICK ME!” Same thing when the eBook is in your library screen. It should jump out and scream CLICK ME. On a shelf, the cover (and spine) should say “PICK ME!”

Your cover confirms the content

Your book cover should confirm the content inside meaning that if your book is a MG urban fantasy, the cover should communicate that. Once your cover screams out for attention, make sure it screams the right message. Don’t just say “CLICK ME!” or “PICK ME UP!” because that won’t lead to a purchase. The scream should be a communication “CLICK ME BECAUSE YOU LIKE BOOKS LIKE ME!”

I’m not saying all books in a genre should look the same. What I am saying is that there are millions of books competing with your book (not to mention movies, video games, phones, friends, board games, the list goes on). You don’t want the person to say “Will I like this book?” because now they’re analyzing their purchase. The buyer should intuit from the cover the book is for them.

Your cover should be a billboard

Think about Amazon like a search engine. You are scrolling through books to find your next read. You're probably not analyzing every detail of every cover or book. You’re absorbing information at the speed of scrolling and thus need GLARING SIGNS that will 1) interrupt your scrolling and 2) signal the book is what you’re looking for. Think of how Billboards work as you’re driving by. You aren’t reading long (if at all) and are just getting a blast of information.

Information Architecture is the intentional design of what people see/experience. Big things, bold things, contrasting things, get our attention first. Use billboard design to snag attention to the right things first.

What your cover should not do

Don’t make me think!

In Steven Krug’s book “Don’t Make Me Think”, he gives a masterclass in information architecture, user experience design and minimalistic user interface. Cover design shouldn’t make the customer stop and say “Is this for me?” or “is this in the right section?”

In sales in general, you want to avoid making people think. People don’t buy with their head, they buy with their heart (one of my sales managers told me once). Think about the last time you bought something that you deeply analyzed. How would you characterize that purchase? Was it the same mental energy you expend on a book? What is the mental energy you expend on a book? What about your readers?

Don’t assume you are your reader

Just because you like your cover doesn’t mean your potential customer will. Know your customer and obsess about their interests and behaviors. For example, customers of romance books have a common symbol on the cover that tells them “This is a romance book”. That symbol: bare man chest. Is that because all romance cover designers only have pictures of bare-chested men in their stock photo library? Probably not. It is because that is what the readers are looking for to signal the book is what they’re expecting.

In MG and YA, there are similar signals. Right now the fantasy signals in MG/YA are all about lettering and complex cover designs intwining those letters. Sci-fi, look for a single character (often female) on the cover with space scenes around them or hi-tech scenes around them. Explore the market you are targeting to understand what’s selling and get inspiration for covers. Don’t copy, recognize the patterns and determine how you want to creatively apply them.

On the topic of covers

I have a share this week. The cover of [dis]connection is almost ready for reveal. If you go to your local book store and wander around the YA section, you might be able to guess the book genre just by this preview. I’m looking forward to sharing the whole cover with you all soon but for now, here’s a preview…

[dis]connection is a dark urban fantasy with a techie slant. “It’s Frankenstein for the Social Network age” according to one reader. Here’s the blurb so far:

Friendless, depressed and isolated Erin finds an experimental 3d printer that lets her make a friend; but when her creation turns violent and threatens Erin's family, Erin must discover the power of friendship and her own self-worth before her creation takes everything, including her life.

I’m looking forward to releasing the project in late Spring/early Summer. Stay tuned for more details as they come.

Covers

This week, I’m thinking about covers and covering things so let’s see where we go in this story. I call this tale: Covers.

I didn’t want to get up
so I took the covers with me
to hide under my bed.

Climbing out of bed,
the bed springs squeak
and sound like a little
giggle.

Laying on the floor,
I see just how dark it is
under my bed.
Did something move
in that dark?

Mom’s coming,
I hear her stomping on the carpet
coming to pull me from the covers.
No time to waste,
gotta hide to get out of school.

Climbing under quickly,
I hear a giggle,
probably just slipped out of me
as I shimmy under the bed frame
and slither deeper
into the dark.

No one will find me
in this dark
and I can wait here
until mom stops looking for me.

She’ll leave for work
and I’ll still be here
no school today.

I should have thought of this
weeks ago!
Last night it just kind of came to me
like someone whispered it into
my ear.

Such a great idea!

No tests in math,
no lunch stolen by Tommy,
just sleeping
in the dark
under my bed.

Climbing deep under the bed
I watch for mom’s feet at the door.

The door is open,
I don’t like to sleep with it closed
cause the mirror catches lights weird at night
and sometimes
I see green lights under the bed
just my nightlight, I think
but still,
freaks me out.

She comes in,
calls for me.

Another giggle,
I didn’t feel it come out of me
but I guess I’m just so happy
this is working.

Mom calls again,
the bed shifts over me.
I freeze
feeling the mattress push down on me
as the bed rattles again.

Another giggle,
that wasn’t me.
It wasn’t the springs.
That was from on top of my bed.

Mom stomps to the bed.

“Get up Cabe!
I need to go to work
and you need to go to school!”

“Coming mom!”
A voice comes from on top the bed.

I know that voice.
That was the voice from last night.
Now I think about it…
I’ve heard that voice before.

It asks me to come to the edge
of my bed at night
to talk to it.

I never do.

A set of feet, my feet
hit the floor from the bed
and rush to mom.

“I’m up mom!”
The feet run out the room.

“Oh, sorry mom…”
The voice rush back to the room
feet slapping the carpet
in soft thuds.
”forgot something.”

The feet stop at the bed.
That giggling comes again
as a face drops down staring at me
with glowing green eyes.

Giggling as it sees me.

I’m staring at my own face.
It looks exactly like me
green eyes fade to hazel
teeth dull from needle sharp
to grinding flat.

“Now you’re the monster
under MY bed.”
It giggles.
”See you tonight.
Just kidding…I know better.”
It shakes its head in mocking laughter
”I can’t believe you fell for that.
Probably thought it was a good idea.
Probably thought I wasn’t under your bed
the whole time trying to get out.”

The thing that was under my bed,
the thing that now looks like me
runs out my room
closing the door behind it.

Pushing through the covers
I climb out from under the bed
but can’t.

An invisible wall keeps me
under the mattress
in the darkness
under my bed.

Looking at the mirror on my door,
I see myself panicking,
tears filling my hazel eyes,
tears sizzling as my eyes burn
in glowing green lights.

I scream
stretching my mouth wider
as my teeth stretch and sharpen
to needles.

I press against my prison
but the invisible walls
close in around me.

Outside my room,
the monster that was
giggles

giggles

giggles.

Free at last.

<eom>

I hope you enjoyed Covers. Thank to the Poetry Friday hosts this week Sylvia and Janet. Check out their blog at http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/.

Let me know what you’d like to see on the blog here. I’ve been adding a bunch of content to the website here so take a spin around. You might like some of the following items.

Have a great week!

Cover Photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels. Special thanks to tonight’s musical inspiration: “The Hu”.

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