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Writing and Publishing, Part 31:
Becoming your own publisher:
Design and Manufacturing Techniques Continued:
Cover Design and Layout Part1:
I have said previously, from a marketing standpoint, the cover
is the most important part of your book. This is what people see
and what makes them pick it up. Don't brush it off.
If you are going the traditional route, through distributors and booksellers, the cover can be the difference between success and failure. Distributors will refuse to handle your book if they do not like the cover. Booksellers will make their buying decisions based on the cover, and, usually, nothing else.
To most of these people, a good cover design will be one which carries the name of a known professional designer. It seems to matter not one whit to them, wether or not the cover has anything to do with the content of the book. Garishness seems to be the main criterion. The more, the better. The appeal is not to thoughtful people, after all; it is to the masses.
That is just one of the things which has caused me to developed a finely honed contempt for distributors and the large booksellers. Like much of our modern world, I believe they have lost touch with their basic value systems. Literary ideals and ideas are simply not considered. Sales volume and bottom line are not just the main focus, they are the only focus. Perhaps that focus is necessary in the traditional channels of book distribution. However, it seems to me that it was not always that way.
Regardless of that, and regardless of how we choose to market, we must try to make people notice our books. This brings us back to the initial point. The cover is the major tool we have to bring out tome to the public's attention. Now, how do we make our cover get that attention. Let me repeat what I said in a previous essay. The questions we must answer in cover design are: ‘Who is the book for?' and ‘What do we want them to see?'
The who is the most important consideration in your cover design. Who is your audience? Who do you want to notice this cover and pick up the book? When you write, regardless of the genre, you are always writing to a selected audience who will understand what you are saying.
The flip side of this is, there are other people who will not understand or care about what you are saying. It's important to realize this and know who you implied audience is. Is it a handful of engineers or all of middle America? Is it the crazy right or the crazy left? Who are you talking to? If you are not aware of this, your cover design will probobly fail to communicate. You will not attract the right audience.
In this, it could help to create an actual profile of your audience. What do they like? What is their culture; conditions of birth; sex; age; race; political convictions. An easy way to do this is to select someone you know who is representative of your audience. Then you can ask questions. Will this make her laugh? Will this tick her off? Will she understand the point? Will she be drawn in?
As we fill out the profile of our audience, we begin to answer our second question. That is, what do we want them to see? Now, we must look at the details of our cover design and layout. This is where we suddenly realize that the cover is more that we thought. There is not one, but three parts to consider.
First, there is what we normally think of when we think cover. That is the face of the book, with it's title, subtitle, author's name and cover graphics. In addition, we have a back cover and a spine to consider. In a hard cover book with a dust jacket, there is even a fourth part, usually called the front and back flaps. Although there are two, we treat the flaps as a single entity.
Let's start with the front cover or face of the book. I have said before, and I still believe, that the facing cover of a book is an implicit promise to the book buyer. We are saying, what you see here is what this book is about. I will cite two of our books as examples of how I see this. These are, "Supreme Commander George," and "The Anatomy of a PC." You can see both of these covers in their publication descriptions at our website.
On the cover for Supreme Commander George, we see some of the props of a military officer. This implies that the story is about a well know Military figure. We are appealing to people who like military adventure stories. Sure enough, the book is a fictionalize account of a robot made in the image of that famous general.
In the Anatomy of a PC, we see all the makings of a personal computer, laid out in an interesting pattern. We are appealing to the kind of person who would like to put those parts together. Indeed, the book is a step-by-step instruction manual to do just that. We want this book to be of interest to an eager hobbyist.
So, our cover is a promise to the reader. This is what you will get if you buy this book. In addition, our cover should be attractive and professional looking. What I do not say here is that the cover should be done by a professional graphics designer. I only say that it should be professionally done.
If you feel uncomfortable about doing cover design, by all means, shop for a professional. When you do, make sure that this professional wants to enhance the value of your book rather than advertise their own, alleged, talent. Then, make sure that she or he will honor your ideas of what the cover should look like and do. Don't agree to any work until you have come to consonance about that. finally, of course, expect to pay professional scale.
Onward and upward. If a person picks up your book, probably the first thing he will do is give the front cover a split second of attention. Then, he will flip it over. He will look at the back cover. How long he looks will depend on what he sees. Unless you are well known, a photo of the author, a repeat of the title, and author's name will not be useful.
What we usually want on the back cover is something which will compel the reader to look further. If he likes what he sees on the back, he may look at the index. If he likes the index, he may carry the book to checkout. Thus, the back cover of our book should normally be a convincing sales message of some kind.
Here is the rub. Madison Avenue has so permeated our culture with fraudulent sales messages that most sales messages are simply ignored; as well they should be. However, that makes it tough for us honest people. What can we do? After some false starts and more though, I have concluded that some things still work. That is because they still work on me, when properly used.
First, I believe that short, positive statements about how something works and how it can be useful will be effective. Another thing which can be effective is an honest statement of the author's credentials. Finally, I believe that salutary comments from professionals can be effective.
For example, here is an edited version of the back cover from Anatomy of a PC.
You can build your own PC!
Regardless of what the other books say, you are not a dummy!
If you can program a VCR, you can build your own customized PC.
A PC designed just for you.
When you do:
You will understand how the computer works.
You will never again be intimidated by the PC.
You will be your own service person.
You will never again be dependant on slipshod, take-it-or-leave-it,
technical assistance.
And:
You will know what is inside the box. You will know you got what
you paid for and not some substitute component slipped in by a
flimflam vendor who thinks you will be afraid to open the box.
This book is a step-by-step, photo-illustrated guide to understanding, building, and maintaining a PC.
William E. Steinman is a 43-year veteran of the computer electronics business. Now he shares that experience with you in this clear, easy to understand manual. Also a student of language and writing, he translates the computer jargon into your language and makes you understand.
Buy this book, take it home, build your own PC, and proudly tell everyone, "I built it myself!"
"This is the best layman's primer on the PC that I have ever seen." —Charles Dattolo, 31 year Senior Systems Analyst, Ford Motor Company.
"This book is long overdue. It fills a very empty gap in the public's knowledge base. It's about time." —Eugene Schafranek, Principal Engineer, Process Systems Analyst, Ford Motor Company, retired.
In addition to the sales copy, there is one other requirement for the back cover of our book. That is the bar code. I have addressed this earlier, but it bears repeating. Book stores will not handle books without a bar code. The place to put the bar code is on the lower right hand corner of the back cover. It should be far enough from the edge to avoid being cut off in the trim process.
Now, to the spine. For the traditional marketing route, here is one hard fact. Unless you are a Steven King or an O. J. Simpson, people are not going to see the front cover of your book, face out, on the front rack of the book store. If they see your book at all, they will see the spine of your book, crammed in between many other books of the same genre, on a shelf in the back of the store.
Believe it, for the traditional route, the spine is important. It is the only part of your book which will be seen at all. What can we put here which will catch our book buyer's eye. This can be very subjective. What I like to do, is use hard white cover stock, with the title in a hard color. I want no washes or pastels here. I want hard colors like bright red, dark green, or dark blue. The white paper makes our title stand out and, hopefully, catch a wandering eye.
Next time, I will get into the actual layout of the cover.
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