Creating A Cover For Your Book... What You SHOULD Do - Thursdays with the Author

Creating a Cover For Your Book

What You Should Do

Back in my post Creating a Cover For Your Book - What Not To Do, I went over some humorous and important things to avoid when creating a cover. 

Today's post will contain some things you should definitely be sure to include while making your cover. 

If you can afford it, hire a reputable cover designer, and let them create the masterpiece for you. But if you're like me, and spending the money is NOT an option for you, check all these tips to make sure you're doing it right! :)

1) Quality Images

300 DPI (dots per inch) is the minimal requirement for nearly every self-publishing company. When searching for images online, typing HDR (high definition resolution) will (usually) weed out any low quality images. 

2) Don't Sacrifice Quality for Size

If keeping the quality of an image means the image won't fill the front cover, stick with quality. Quality of the image, even the font, should never be lost. It's better to have a beautiful and clear picture, than something blurry or grainy.

3) Title and Author Must be Easy to Read

No crazy, confusing fonts. No small font size. The title and author name should be clear and very easy to read. Some authors like to have their name larger than their title, while others prefer the opposite, or equal sizes. If you are a new, or relatively unknown author, your name should NOT be bigger than the title. When you are well-known enough that your NAME is what sells the book, THEN you can have your name equal or greater in size than the cover. Examples: Steven King, Tom Clancy, Nora Roberts, Nicholas Sparks. 

4) Pick a Theme and Stick With It

Your cover shouldn't be tying to explain every theme that happens in your novel. Pick a main theme or general appearance you'd like to convey, and stick with it. This goes for images, fonts, and general colors. Ever heard of the saying, 'less is more'? This applies to your book cover as well. Sometimes the simplest cover is the most stunning. 

This tip also goes for series. Each cover should be different but fit the overall theme of the series. Here's what my series covers look like:

5) Have Something in the Background 

Color, texture, a background image. DO NOT leave the background white UNLESS you have a border around the cover. A white background will be lost on retailer websites. 

6) Use Contrast
White on black, black over white, red on black, orange over blue, etc. A central image, a line of text... make it stand out from the rest of your novel. Perfect examples of this are the Twilight Saga Book Covers.

7) Put Your Cover Next to the Same Genre at the Store and See How Well it Fits In AND How Well it Stands Out!
You don't want your book to seem like it doesn't belong on that shelf but you do want to make sure it can be noticed when surrounded by all the other books out there. A good idea to try (and this goes for ANY genre) is going to your local store (grocery, book, etc), find the book aisles and the section with your genre. Take a picture of the shelves to take home and compare with your novel or the imagine in your head what your cover will look like, sitting on those shelves between all those other titles. If your cover won't stand out among the others, you probably need to change it. If it's stands out in a bad way, you probably need to change it.

Writing the Ugly Into Your Romance Novel - Thursdays with the Author

Have you ever been reading a romance and nearly choked on the sweetness coming from the pages? Have you ever finished a novel and wished, just once, one of the characters actually seemed real?

We know it's a romance... We know a HEA (happily ever after) is required. But that doesn't mean the characters are just chasing butterflies and smelling roses the entire time. 

In my first novel, Dark Mountains, the front cover blurb says it all. It states: "Not every happily ever after comes easily. Some love stories are born in the dark."

In that book, the main heroine comes from a violent, and abusive family situation that follows her to adulthood. The hero has to stop playing the knight in shining armor to serve his country in Iraq, where he nearly dies. Both characters have to overcome extreme situations, both physically and emotionally damaging, to get to their HEA. 

In my second novel, Irish Strength, the heroine is running from her violent, soon-to-be ex, when she finds the road to her HEA.

All my books contain real life struggles and situations that affect everyday people. True love doesn't just fall in their lap, especially right after living out a 'perfect life'. 

Your writing needs to reflect real life as well. Multiple failed relationships, abuse, drug or alcohol addiction, low self esteem, miscarriage, infertility, unemployed, stubborness, obesity, etc. etc. etc. 

A reader will never be able to connect with your character(s) if they are larger than life and 'perfect'. They will sympathize with the mother that's lost her child, feel the shame of the woman who's been beaten, carry the regret when the hero realizes his pride may have cost him the one thing he truly needs, struggle with the man who just can't leave the bottle in the cabinet. 

Those are the type of characters readers will connect with. Those are the HEA's that are believable. Those are the stories that are unforgettable. 

Are you writing enough 'ugly' in your romance?

Writing a Children's Book - Thursdays with the Author

I've heard some people claim that writing a children's book has to be easier than writing for adults. There's hardly any words. Children aren't picky and so on. Well I'm a romance author currently working on a children's picture book series and I have to say, that assumption is very wrong. Writing for children is HARD!

Just like with adult books, particularly romance, there are a TON of sub-genres in children's books. Picture books, easy reader books, early chapter books, biographies, science and nature books, young adult books (which have their own mess of sub-genres). Not only do you have to ask who your audience will be but how old they are and what level of reading are you writing for. 

Children, especially young children, might not be picky about what they're reading but the children aren't the ones buying the books. Adults are buying FOR the children. Which gives the author just another hurdle to jump through. 

And if you're writing for young adults, your job just got a whole lot harder. Pre-teens and teens have more say in the books they read and some are even buying their books themselves. You won't get away with writing that's sub-par.  

Now if you're writing picture books you run into a whole new set of problems. Can it compete with other picture books? Can you illustrate and is your artwork good enough? Do you pay money and have someone else illustrate? Do you self-publish? Do you send out queries? Will the agent hate your illustrations? Will they scrap the ones you paid money for and go with someone else? 

There are so many obstacles to overcome. Especially if you choose to self-publish. If you go that route, put your story and artwork up against already published and successful books. How does it compare? Can it stand against the traditionally published and professionally illustrated? 

For example, my children's books are about zoo animals. I can draw animals fairly well, with pencil, but haven't been able to master any other mediums. I drew some rough sketches for my first book and then shelled out a few hundred dollars for an art program and tablet for my computer with the hope I would be able to modify my sketches with other computer generated mediums. So far they loom ok but the general consensus is that my pencil sketches actually look better. Only problem? You don't see many children's books with no color or only pencil sketches. :/ 

Now I'm in a funk as to what to do or if I should give in and shell out way more than the few hundred I seemed to have wasted in computer tech for a professional illustrator. I'd like to self-publish so my options are limited, especially financially speaking. 

So word to the wise, any of you considering writing for children, it's not as simple as it looks!