The Poet’s Toolbox: Four Book Cover Design Trends

Welcome back, poets! Today I thought I’d do something different and talk about one of my favorite things—book cover design!  If you’re planning on traditionally publishing a full-length poetry collection or chapbook, you will typically work with a designer and the publisher to come up with a book cover design you’re all happy with. While… Read more »

Book Cover Design and Blurb: Agony or Ecstasy?

Book Cover Design and Blurb: Agony or Ecstasy?

When I was a kid, after a weekly shopping trip to my hometown, the place our family arranged to meet before driving home was the bookstore. There we’d pick up the weekly magazines (Woman, Girl, Eagle… ) and browse books while waiting for stragglers to arrive. My parents — primary school teachers — would be… Read more »

book cover trends

#5onFri: Five Book Cover Trends from 2021

Despite the well-known saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” readers often shop with their eyes. Humans seem to be wired this way. “More than 50 percent of the cortex, the surface of the brain, is devoted to processing visual information,” points out Williams, the William G. Allyn Professor of Medical Optics.  So,… Read more »

sales-killing cover design mistakes

Sales-Killing Cover Design Mistakes to Avoid

They say the eyes are the window to the soul… but hardly anyone talks about how a book’s cover is the window to its contents. The common maxim, of course, is “don’t judge a book by its cover”—but there are some sales-killing cover design mistakes that indie authors can’t afford to make. Readers will judge… Read more »

Title Image: Judge a Book by Its Cover: How to SPARC Great Cover Design

Judge a Book by Its Cover: How to SPARC Great Cover Design

Welcome to the Author Marketing Toolkit, where you can learn from 20+ years of time-tested marketing and insights expertise, translated for authors. I’m Carol Van Den Hende, an MBA and strategist who’s known for bringing chocolate when I speak at conferences (surely, we’ll get back to in-person events one day!). I’m thrilled to be joining… Read more »

Building Your Publishing Team: Your Cover Designer

In my last post, I talked about the most important creative talent an indie author should add to her publishing team: the editor. This time, we’ll look at the creative in a close second position. That’s the cover designer. If your editor helps you get your manuscript ready for public consumption, your cover designer entices… Read more »