Why I Love Wednesday #11

Alexis from Reflections of a Bookaholic started a Wednesday Meme called Why I Love Wednesday. Hop on over to Alexis' blog and join in the fun. 

The topic this Wednesday is...Book Cover

I have to say this was a hard one for me.  There are so many great book covers out there.  I love book covers that are unique, creative, interesting and arty.  

On the flip side there are the book covers out there that make you not want to buy the book must less read them.  I know there are people out there that say that "Never judge a book by it's cover!"  Really?  Never?  

To all my indie, self publishing aspiring authors out there here are a few tips for a book cover that could get your books sold.  

1.  Do you really need to have your name and title cover the whole book?  Most of the good book covers have one font size for the title and another font size for the authors name.  Both of them together make up only 1/3 to 1/2 the cover when there is NO art on the cover.
2.  Da font! Da font! Da font!  There are over a million fonts out there.  If not more!  But can you please pick a font I can read!  The slime font that makes the letters look like they are pouring down the page works for movie poster size only.  (1970's movie posters)

3.  Focus!  If you are using a photograph please make sure it is in focus.

4.  Too much stuff!  Why do you need to have a picture of a horse running, a man in the corner looking at the woman in the other corner along with a floating gun.  Too much!  Pick only one or two elements and stick to it.   

5.  Cover girl!  If the girl in the story is a dark haired short female with a pair of librarian glasses then who is the cover girl.  The girl on the cover with long blond hair and looks like the pin up version of a librarian not the city kind.

   

What are the things you likes and dislikes about a book covers?