Can Archway Publishing give me any guidance about covers?

Archway Publishing's top-notch designers are happy to work with you and help you achieve the cover of your dreams. Depending on your package you may have the Standard Cover Design or the Elite Cover Design service. Both will give you design choices, but the elite cover will give you more options and access to more stock images. For those authors that contribute their own material to the cover design, they must have permission for any copyrighted material.

The best place to start when it comes to thinking about your book cover is a bookstore or a library. Make note of what catches your eye on other book covers. Think about elements such as colors, themes, fonts and other characteristics your target audience would be attracted to. While you are at the bookstore or library keep your genre in mind as well. Your cover design should not stray too far from other books in your genre, but you still want it to stand out enough to draw attention to your book. The cover of your book should reflect characters from your story or themes that unfold throughout the book. Give readers a sneak peek at what they can expect from your book, but don’t cram too much onto the cover of the book; it should be balanced and simple, not busy and distracting.

Color is also important to remember when designing your cover. Warm colors, such as red, orange and yellow tend to stimulate the senses while cool colors, such as blue, green and purple cause feelings of relaxation and calmness. The intensity of your colors can also be used to convey specific ideas and/or themes.

When designing your front cover you shouldn't forget about your back cover either. The front cover is meant to inspire people to pick up your book while the back cover will tell them what they can expect from the book. Most people spend twice as long reviewing the back cover than they do looking at the front cover, so the back cover is critical for book sales. You shouldn’t tell the whole story on the back, but provide enough details to give the reader an idea of what your book is about and make them interested in reading more.