They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but we do.
Come on, admit it. You see a striking cover you are more likely to pick it up. Right?
I thought so.
My alter ego, HelzKat Designs strives to do inspiring covers and I constantly learn by covers I see around.
Sometimes why you like a cover is not always clear, but learning some design and art concepts have helped me understand it a bit more and hopefully create great covers.
Let's have a look at some covers for DarkSider books. And boy we have some great covers. It was hard to choose them.
These show the lovely balance between the 'hero object' (design term for the focus object - hero, heroine, couple), the background, the typography, and the flow of the work. Colour - or lack of it - can also play a factor.
You can agree that all these covers make you itch to open the book or ebook and read the contents. A cover advertises the book. Good ones give you a hint of the world and story and it's a promise of more to come.
With more and more self (indie) publishing, covers are now in the full control of the author. My advice is not to forget the cover. You can do them yourself like Cathleen Ross does or get someone else to do them like Maree Anderson does (her hubby does).
I self published my short story, Sealed with A Kiss and having done a few covers, did the cover myself.
My hero object is the couple and I decided a black and white photo was more dramatic. It also worked with the red font. And the cover flows from name, text, photo and then title of the story.
Valid until 10 October, you can get a copy of this short story for free from Smashwords.
Use the code: ST58F
Happy reading and cover gazing!
Can a gift from her grandmother protect Lise?
Lise doesn’t believe in vampires. Or so she tells herself. Though, she constantly wears the garnet necklace her grandmother gave her, which wards off the creatures. Andreas, the man she’s attracted to, seems more than a little interested in it.
Could there be an ulterior motive?
For more covers, check out HelzKat Designs
Good post, Eleni. I know. We tell ourselves we don't really just judge books by covers - that we look past that to the blurb or whatever - but we DO get attracted first off to those covers.
ReplyDeleteWow, Eleni, enjoyable post! The cover is what pulls us toward a book - the colours, the type, the images. It's a package. Let's face it, when you go buy cars, you want something that looks good too! LOL! The cover is the first thing you see, and the blurb should be good enough to get the reader to open the book! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteExcellent covers and post, Eleni. I admit it - I'm drawn by the cover and have purchased way too many books that way. Congrats on Sealed with a Kiss. Dynamite cover!
ReplyDeleteThanks my lovely wenches for visiting the dark side :) And for agree with me.
ReplyDeleteSloane - thanks re Sealed with a Kiss - it was fun to work on.