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Your book is about something, and the book cover design should reinforce that theme. Pick an element that takes control and reflects that theme. Avoid including too many elements in your cover.

Think of your book cover design like a billboard that you see on the highway. If the billboard has too many elements, you'll never be able to figure out what's being marketed. Billboards usually have a few words and are intended to quickly communicate to people driving 60 miles per hour. Make sure your cover does the same thing. What is the genre of your book? Can you feel the tone of the book through the cover?

Traditionally, when books were purchased at retail, a striking book cover was necessary to get the reader’s attention when placed on a shelf next to hundreds of other books. But because most retail stores displayed just the book’s spine, it was impossible for authors to differentiate unless the prospective reader picked up their book or the book was displayed in a more appealing manner. Great book cover design has always been necessary to get the attention of retail merchandising managers if you wanted your book featured – and that remains true today.

Today, however, particularly for indies, the vast majority of sales occur online. This has allowed indies to compete against traditional publishers but has also made it clear that to get the readers’ attention, a great story must be matched by a great book cover design.

A typical reader will do a search on Amazon and will look at a handful of books. Sure, content and reviews are important, but the book cover is the first thing a potential reader sees and the cover can either make or break that initial impression. This is not surprising. Great images create an emotional reaction in people. Because images are processed by our brains 60,000 faster than words, a great cover is critical to make an amazing first impression. A poorly designed cover not only fails to create the emotional reaction you want to create in your readers, but also implies that the contents of the book are also sub-par.

Covers can lead to more (or fewer) sales, can allow you to price your book higher (but underscoring the message of quality), and can lend you credibility as an indie author.

Don’t just take our word for it. Smashwords founder Mark Coker tells a story in his ebook, The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success about R.L. Mathewson, a romance writer, who went from selling five or six copies a day of her romance novel, to selling over 1,000 simply by updating her book cover image.

Yes! Every photo, image and word you include in the cover should reinforce the message you're trying to communicate to the reader.

But keep a few things in mind. For example, the author’s name doesn’t have to be in huge letters on the front cover. This is very common with self-published works, but far less common with works published by traditional publishers. There’s a reason for this – people will remember your name based on your written work, not because you put your name in big, bold letters on the cover. If you’re James Patterson or Dan Brown, your name in big letters can help sell new books. But for most indies, the title and imagery are far more important.

Especially today, when books are sold mostly online, you should avoid white backgrounds. White backgrounds disappear on a page, especially when shown as a small thumbnail. Use a color, a texture, or a background illustration instead.

Colors are important because colors create emotional reactions. The colors you pick should be connected to the story and mood. For example, a book best suited for the beach should consider incorporating cool blues and jade greens to give a tranquil feeling. Dramatic books should consider using black, bold red, and similarly dramatic colors to underscore the mood of the story.

The book cover image will be reproduced on large monitors and mobile devices. In fact, when you’re searching for books on amazon, you see just a small thumbnail of the image. That makes it especially critical that the design is simple. Simple designs are more memorable and less confusing, especially when viewed on a smaller screen. Take the iPhone, for example (or any comparably sized phone), a typical book jacket will be about 1/2 inch wide by 3/4 inches tall. That’s not a lot of space.

When you reduce the cover to a small thumbnail, can you read the title? Avoid using script fonts - those can be very difficult to read, especially when someone is seeing a thumbnail of your cover design.

Colors and a great image are critical to effective book cover design, but you also need text and an effective font that matches the cover and the story. For example, if your audience is mostly women, you might prefer fonts that have more feminine flairs, such as scripted fonts. But don’t go overboard – some fonts are easier to read than others. There are thousands of fonts and not all of them are clean and readable on a small screen. Use a simple typeface and be sure you’re not using many typefaces on the cover. It’s OK to use two fonts on a cover, but more than two fonts will make the cover look busy and less readable.

Look for imagery that expresses the mood or overall tone of the book. You want to provide a context, not a literal image.

And remember to focus on one main image. It’s tempting for some authors to get carried away by trying to represent all the symbolism in their story. But when it comes to book covers, less is definitely more. Remember that the cover will be typically seen as a small thumbnail and you want your reader to understand what they’re seeing. You don’t want to confuse or overwhelm the reader with conflicting or busy imagery.

While you may have three story lines, five characters, twenty scenes and several plot twists, pick one strong theme for the cover. Is there one constant to your story? One lesson? One value? One message?

Good design is about balance. Pick one constant and tell it visually through the cover design.

You should know the dimensions for the cover, any printing requirements, and what information will need to go on the front and back covers. The front cover typically includes the author's name, title, subtitle, images and sometimes a quote. The back cover may need an ISBN number, biography, and a quote. Every cover is different so think about what you'll want to have on yours.

Yes, and in fact, this is very common. You might need more help with graphics and illustrations or the layout of your book. You can easily starte a private 1-to-1 project with your favorite designer.

We know that authors have different budgets and we want to be sure that everyone gets a phenomenal book cover design. You'll get a great design regardless of pricing package. Having said that, higher awards to tend to attract more experienced designers and so you'll have more high-quality designs from which to choose your favorite. And, of course, if you need some privacy in your projects, our higher priced packages offer private galleries, non-disclosure agreements, and more.

If you are publishing your book through CreateSpace, be sure to include this in your brief so that designers know the specifications for your cover design. You can add these specifications when you initially post your project or at any time before you select the winner.

Yes. If you have specific images in mind, please include them when you post your project. You can also ask designers to use stock images (which you may need to purchase directly from a third party when you select the winning design). Designers will let you know whether you will need to do this, and the price, when they submit each design.

Crowdspring guarantees your satisfaction in book cover design projects. There's NO fine-print. We are not happy until you are. Authors are so thrilled with the designs they receive on crowdspring that we are proud to stand behind the work and make you an unconditional promise.