Today’s blog post is all about Book Covers Design
Author Carina Alyce asked in a comment to one of her Instagram posts:
Do you feel like all the books in a series should be a similar shade, or would that make the books too difficult to tell apart?
As there are a lot of “ifs” to this question, we thought it would be worth putting together a longer piece.
There are several POVs here. Let’s start with the Reader.
First, the obvious: It’s personal preference. As simple as that. Then, there are two kinds of readers – those who mainly use e-readers and those who prefer paperbacks. We’d assume that customers who prefer e-readers don’t care as much about the cover because most e-readers still only support black-and-white colors. The second reason is that you barely see the book cover. Sure, it sits in your virtual library, but that’s it. The entire time you’re reading the book – any book – you won’t see the cover.
So let’s focus on the second kind—those who prefer paperbacks. Naturally, there must be a split among them. Some care about the cover; some don’t. Just like some people care about what they wear, while others just grab whatever is at the top of their wardrobe.
So let’s narrow down our focus again:
Among those who care about the cover, we’d separate them into different groups.
Some readers buy a book instantly because they either fall in love with the cover or because they feel like the style of the cover gives them an idea of what to expect from the content. Let’s take a second to remind ourselves of the initial question:
Do you feel like all the books in a series should be a similar shade, or would that make the books too difficult to tell apart?
We believe that for those who simply fall in love with your Book Cover Design, keeping a similar shade isn’t as important. Sure, the color may have played a role in their initial reaction – it’s part of the first impression – but with millions of new books appearing on shelves each year, every color has been seen by now. So, we’d argue that the style of your cover matters most.
For example, if you have a flower on the cover, that’s the key element to maintain (though at least use a different image of the same flower, if not a different flower altogether). The same goes for the font – keeper. The position of the title, subtitle, and author’s name – keeper. These things are easier to recognize than the exact shade of the color.
But then there are the collectors
Yep, we’ve all been children once in our lives. And some things we just can’t let go of. For some, it’s being a collector. If you fall into this category, keeping a similar shade can be a major selling point—even if the reader wasn’t 100% happy with previous books in the series. They may feel more joy looking at a perfectly coordinated bookshelf in their living room than actually reading the novel itself.
Sounds crazy? Maybe. But never forget: a well-designed cover can be considered a piece of art. Plus, getting praise for a beautiful book cover can be very rewarding too.
Never underestimate this with your Book Cover Design
Lastly, we’d recommend choosing the shade wisely to help tell a story. Yes, that’s right – let the shades rise and fall like notes on a piano. Not into that? Alright, then use the shades as an Easter egg to hint at the season the book takes place in. For example: “Ah, another warm spring story – exactly what I need after a long winter.”
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The Business Point of View
From a business standpoint, this is fairly easy to answer.
First:
Keeping similar shades undeniably brings a certain level of brand recognition to the table. Does it make it hard to tell the books apart? No, not necessarily. With a different title and a distinct eye-catching element on the cover, most people should be able to differentiate them. If not, they can always check the release date – or, most importantly, read the synopsis on the back.
If they still aren’t sure whether they’ve already read your book, they aren’t necessarily lost as potential customers. If you’re lucky, they use an app that tracks the books they’ve read. And if even that doesn’t apply, who knows – maybe they’ll take a picture of your cover and check back with their own library at home.
Second:
If you’ve got a great cover that’s selling your book like hotcakes, keep the other books in the series as close in design as possible. If that’s not the case, but you’re still confident in your content, you may want to consider a makeover.
All in all, there’s definitely room for overthinking here in regards of Book Cover Design. But undeniably, a cover is your most important selling point. If that doesn’t work, many potential readers won’t even bother finding out what your book is about.
Don’t forget, though – if your content doesn’t live up to what the cover promises, readers probably won’t buy another book in the series.
That’s it for today – stay tuned for the next one!
