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You’ve written a book, spent a generous time editing and revising it, and had one or more different types of editors looking through it; it’s time to start thinking about the endgame. As you turn your eyes to the horizon, one thing you need to start working on is coming up with ideas for book covers. It’s imperative that you jot down different ideas so you can figure out what’s best for your cover. While this article is geared specifically for fantasy, it can also apply to many other genres!
The book cover is the very first thing your readers will see. That means everything from the artwork to the typography all work together to present an attractive cover that captures their interest. After all, you’re competing against many other books in your genre and the goal is to stand out in a crowded field.
There are many types of design ideas for book covers that you need to take into account. You want to go with the right design that clearly communicates what your book is about while having a bit of mystique associated with it to draw would-be readers over. Give them a reason why they should read yours instead of the one next to you.
The book cover design should have synergy with its message. Incorporating the message, or the theme, of the book in the design goes a long way in giving a tantalizing peek for prospective readers. There are a number of ways to go about it.
Don’t discount the power of emotions when pondering ideas for book covers. Having the design convey the right emotion is a great psychological tool to lure readers over. Emotions like anger and sadness are commonly used in the designs of book covers.
Marking an important milestone, this is the fiftieth article in the writing a fantasy book series. As always, if you’re interested in seeing what else we have, you can find them on our blog page and peruse through them at your leisure!
As you begin thinking about what type of design you’d like for your cover, look at how others in your genre do it. You want to show people that your novel is in the right genre by going with images they associate with the genre it’s in. For example, many novels in fantasy have either a dragon, swords, or castle on their cover and readers instinctively know they’re fantasy-based.
So what design ideas for book covers should you account for? Before you do anything else, think about the cover art that will take center stage. It is so important to have the one that best communicates what your novel is about that it takes precedence above everything else. Once you have the right one, it’ll dictate all the other things you have to do.
In regard to the cover art, you have a variety of avenues to pursue. You can opt for a simple one like a jeweled golden crown with either a colored or no background. On the other end is a full-blown design that encompasses the majority of the cover, essentially a work of art. The front covers of the novels in the Harry Potter series are a perfect example of this. Go with the one you feel is right for yours.
Besides the cover art, the typography you use plays a great role so it’s critical that you choose one that is aesthetically pleasing and is clear and concise. Elements of typography you often see on the cover are the title — if it’s part of a series, the name of the series appears above it — and the name of the author which is sometimes right beneath it or at the bottom of the cover. There’s a massive plethora of typography options at your disposal from serif to script fonts.
As you sift through the sheer number of typography choices, keep in mind you’ll also have to do the same for the font. You can elicit for a stylized one like italic or go with bold. While some authors prefer to go with neither, settling on just a regular one, you can take this approach though it might be harder for your novel to stand out. Having the right font on the cover helps captivate readers’ attention.
The last design ideas for book covers revolve around the color of the words. Many novels use colors that contrast with those used in the artwork to create an interesting juxtaposition which helps draw people’s eyes. You want to use vibrant colors that pop and are easy to spot, not dull or drab colors that are difficult to see.
Every book conveys a message to its readers and yours is no exception. Thus, the theme ought to be presented in a way that effectively showcases what the book is about as well as serving as a visual aid. Many, if not all, of the cover arts depict the message clearly. The message goes hand-in-hand with its design.
When thinking about the cover art, write down different ideas on how you’d like to show the theme. There are many different ways to communicate the theme that it can be hard to narrow it down but you have to have a clear vision of what you want it to say. It’s usually a good idea to also look at how other books highlight what their central theme is so you have a good idea of how it works.
There’s a number of dynamic elements that work in tandem to articulate the message in a riveting way. One such is an object so integral to the plot that without it, there would be no story. In many stories, there is a powerful object that everyone is searching for, which is called the Macguffin that has the potential to tilt the scale significantly between good and evil in one direction. Having the cover art depict this object tells readers its importance to the overall plot and makes them curious to learn more about it.
Other stories use the polarity of the two factions whose actions drive the story by featuring them facing one another as the cover art. It works so well since readers see two opposing sides though they don’t know what for or why they’re fighting about. This is a great way to draw people in!
In fantasy specifically, many elements of nature are featured on the cover art. Each element serves to represent different things much like how fire symbolizes destruction or passion. You can use the elements to shine light on the story’s theme since people associate elements with several things.
Don’t forget the significance of animals, especially in fantasy. Dragons or other mythical creatures are a major attraction of the genre since they signify something unique to the genre. Dragons symbolize power whereas unicorns symbolize beauty or innocence. Many fantasy novels have creatures like them that play a prominent role in the plot.
Emotions are perhaps one of the biggest draws for readers. They’re a universal thing, something everyone identifies with which is precisely why you see so many cover arts depicting various emotions. Thus, it would be wise to think about what emotions you’d like to see when you’re exploring ideas for book covers.
Have you ever bought a book where either a character or creature on the cover had a blank emotion? Of course not because it’s not interesting! It didn’t make you want to buy it to see what happens.
So what emotions should you go with? There’s nothing wrong with looking at how other books in your genre to see what types are common to use. In this case, it’s best to follow the crowd as you see what emotions are more likely to help sell copies.
Emotions are broken into two core groups: positive and negative. Positive ones include happiness, cheerfulness, playfulness, and so on. On the other side of the spectrum stand sadness, despair, anger, and others. Weigh the costs of those you’re interested in seeing on your cover art against the benefits they bring with them.
Both groups of emotions appeal to the mass public. Let’s face it, people like to see the heroic protagonist looking determined as he holds his sword in his hand as he prepares to face off against the villain. They also get a thrill seeing the evilness oozing from the villain as he casts a spell or a monstrous creature hissing with rage that the protagonist must slay.
Besides being a central part of the cover art, emotions can also be tied into the novel’s main theme. Feelings like greed highlight the decadence of a society slowly falling to ruin or the terror of animals fleeing a raging inferno that spawned from a building that symbolizes the inherent tension between industrialism and nature and how the former affects the latter much to its detriment.
Creating the perfect book cover is not something you can do in just one day. Rather, it’s a multifaceted process and it begins with you start coming up with ideas for book covers. Not every idea you come up with will be great but somewhere in the ones you wrote down is the one that best communicates what your book is about.
You have to think about the overall design first before you do anything else. The type of design you go with as the cover art will impact all the others so it’s best to use it as the starting point. You want to use one that generates interest in your story but also is true to its spirit.
All books have a central message and the front cover is a visual description of said message. As you pen down ideas for book covers, think about what the theme of your book is and how you’d like to show it. Stories in fantasy typically feature an object, person, or creature instrumental to the plot while also conveying its deeper meaning.
Emotions also play a huge role in spurring people to buy books. They can easily identify with the emotions they see on the cover since they’ve either experienced it themselves or saw someone with said emotion at some point in their lives. Think about what you want to convey to them and tie the emotion(s) to the design and theme.
Coming up with ideas for book covers will take some time but it’s worth it, since the front cover is the very first thing your readers will see so you want to get it right the first time!
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