Monday Musing (Book Covers, P2)

(Before I start my post, I want to express my love for the heroes of this world. Thank you to all of the people who've died or risked death for another person's life. The world could not keep turning without their selflessness and courage. I even took the time to draw my own picture, and then find a nice-looking one on photobucket.)

And now, back to my (somewhat) regularly scheduled post.

Everyone knows the phrase "Don't judge a book by its cover". Sadly, this isn't always true. We all have picked up a book and thought, "who would pick this as a cover?!" At least, I know a majority of people do at some point.

So what makes a good cover look good? This varies from person's preference to person's preference. Some people love thos covers with a girl in a dress. Some love the close up of a girl's face. Some like a supernatural feel to it. The point is, there's no one way to make a cover look good.

Here are four pointers to remember when you are looking at your cover:

1. Make sure the cover has to do with the book. If you are writing a general fiction novel about an abused girl, don't pick a vampire chewing on someone's neck. If you're writing some dystopia about evil unicorns taking over the world, don't pick a happy meadow cover with girly handwriting font. This seems like common sense, but some covers convey a different meaning than the story. Be careful.

2. The colors generally correspond with the mood of the story. Like I said, a bright, happy-looking scene with lots of blues and yellows and pinks are NOT good for a creepy dystopia novel. A disturbing, grays and blacks would not look good on a children's book. Etc, etc, etc.

3. The font is a big one, too. Like color, it should match the mood. From what I've seen, handwriting-style fonts are mostly general fiction romance, the antique-style font is for fantasy-type cover, and the arial fonts (the kind you use in English class) is for... well, it suits a simply designed cover. I assume it'd be fine for any cover, as long as it actually looks like it belongs.

4. The composition needs to be right. Composition is where and how everything is placed. A lot of times, the picture is what catches your eye first. It can be placed off center, or in the middle, but it is still one of the first things you see. The title is second-noticeable. It's usually placed at the top or in the middle. Overall, it doesn't really matter where it is, it's just the how. It should look cool to a lot of people, not just the designer of the cover.

This all seems pretty simple to me, but my main advice is to get a second opinion. You are biased towards it; we get that you love it. But it's not appealing to everyone, and if the fifth or seventeenth or eighteenth opinion still hates it, you should consider a new cover. 

Have a blessed day, remember the heroes, and enjoy life! <3