It may seem unfair to judge a book by its cover, but the unfortunate truth is that most potential readers will do just that. Many an author’s fortunes have hinged on whether their book cover managed to convince the right readers to take a chance on it. In this post, we’ll walk you through the essential elements of an effective cover design to help you create a cover that will have your book flying off of store shelves — and so that you can spend less time on marketing . Why your book cover matters Cast your mind back to the last time you visited a library or a bookstore, and consider how many books you browsed. In just a few minutes, you may have skimmed the spines and covers of  dozens, if not hundreds, of books. In such a competitive market, you need to do everything you can as an author to make your book stand out from the crowd — and that begins with the cover design .  Thinking about the books you picked up, what about the cover drew you to them? Whether it was intriguing...

My proof copy of Madison Lane and the Wand of Rasputin A question came up recently in a Facebook group about submitting a cover to CreateSpace in the correct proportions. I, myself, ran into a few minor glitches during the process, so I thought I’d share the solutions (and tips) I discovered in case others are similarly perplexed. 1. Use the CreateSpace Template It might be confusing at first, because it looks like this: CreateSpace cover templates are calculated and generated according to your specifications ...but that extraneous white space is actually useful for having somewhere to move stuff while you’re working on various aspects of your cover. The biggest benefit of the template is that the spine width is calculated perfectly for you based on the number of pages in your interior file. Which leads me to tip 2: 2. Make sure your interior file is finalised before you begin working on your cover. Or, at the very least, don’t change the page count. 3. Work directly...

This past month I arrived at the narrow end of the editing funnel, where we examined all of the final finicky details. Copyedits Thankfully, considering I’m an editor, I received a pretty light copyedit. Comments from two copyeditors dotted my manuscript. Even though I recommend that my clients spell out all numerals, I had applied my own advice inconsistently. I had to decide when God was the almighty or the god of casual “oh my—” usage. My “blonde” was changed to “blond.” I surrendered a few commas, they traded a few back. One editor pointed out the possible unintentional humor in the sentence, “By the time we got to the butt-blaster, Angela looked pooped.” I had two weeks to address these edits and make any other final changes. Template review My first glimpse at the interior design and all its elements! Everything looked great. Because my book quotes "articles" written by a character who is a dance critic, and in one place contains a formal invitation, we had a lit...

A book cover is often the first thing a reader notices about your book. That's why you want it to be eye catching and appealing. Sometimes a cover will grab a person's attention, but not for the right reasons. It might be garish, gross, hard on the eyes, or contain other qualities that make a reader grimace after first glance. A good cover needs staying power to make it connect with your audience on a personal level. In a Blood-Red Pencil post on February 5, 2013 , I recommended my own cover designer, Stephen Walker . To decide whether or not a good cover is the best criteria for choosing a book, you may wish to check out Linda Lane's thoughts in her post . Today, I'd like to mention what I look for in a cover, and get feedback on your preferences. As in our prior  What's Your Answer features , I'll ask a few questions, and invite you to reply in the comment section. Q: In a choice between a cover featuring one or more inanimate objects, or a cover high...

After decades of work focusing on my craft as a writer, the time has arrived to project a new image as author. This past month has been all about image. Kathryn Craft My son, Jackson Williams, an amateur photographer with a good eye, great camera, and even greater patience, took a couple hundred photos of me over a two-day period, from which I selected photos for a variety of uses. The mug shots I had been using, that my husband quickly snapped around my house? Gone. Fresh photos with natural lighting have now taken their place, including a few fun shots like the one in the signature block, below. To the right is the head shot that will serve as my official author photo on my novel. With that behind me, I devoted the rest of January to designing my author website and starting a new blog. I had used Go Daddy’s Website Builder software to create my editing site at  Writing-partner.com , so decided to go the same route for my new author site at KathrynCraft.com . I favor cl...

This month’s question addresses appearance rather than content. How important is a book cover? After all, what’s on the outside doesn’t affect what’s on the inside. Cover artists can be expensive, and a great story is still great regardless of packaging. True, but . . . by extension, a potential reader’s expectation for a book’s content is very often created by the cover—this is especially true if the author is unknown or the reader has not heard of the book. From a reader’s perspective, the actual quality of the cover sets the tone for the anticipated quality of the story. As the saying goes, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” The cover makes that first impression. Recently, I read that more than 2 million books were published (or re-published) in 2011. Another source stated that number to be in excess of 3 million . Talk about mind-boggling! Now couple that information with claims that the number of readers is dwindling each year. The challen...

If you're thinking of self-publishing not only in electronic form, but also in print, a huge consideration is your goal. Do you wish to be considered a publisher in your own right? If so, I recommend Lightning Source as your printer. If not,  CreateSpace will work fine. With Lightning Source as your printer, you'll need to set up your own publishing company, which will establish you as a separate entity in the publishing world. This applies whether you're having your own books published or if you're widening the field as a small publisher and offering your services to others. Relatively speaking, it's not horribly expensive to set up a company, but there's some bother involved. You'll need to decide on a unique name for your company. You'll probably want to purchase a post office box, unless you wish the company's address to be your home's; then you'll register the company and send out notices. You might also consider a special log...