Authors: Step Away from Images for Book Cover that You Are Emotionally Attached To …
Rarely is it the right choice. Rarely. Your book cover is not you, your friends, or your family. Book covers are for your book buyers. What grabs them? Gets their attention? Shouts out: pick me up?
What authors should do instead: Work with a cover designer who isn’t attached to your image. Yes, he or she should get your voice, your concept and what your book is about. Then, let them do their work. Design. The odds of “getting it right” at the first design are remote. There’s lots that go into the critical book cover design—colors, fonts, placement and yes, emotional hook—but not the author’s … it’s the book buyer’s.
Should you offer your preferred image to the designer? Sure, but the odds are it doesn’t belong on the cover … yet it could be used somewhere on the back or in the interior. Be open and work with a professional.
Judith Briles is a book publishing expert and coach. She empowers authors and is the Founder of AuthorU.org, a membership organization created for the serious author who wants to be seriously successful. She’s been writing about and conducting workshops on publishing since the ’80s. Judith is the author of 35 books including Author YOU: Creating and Building Your Author and Book Platforms (Foreword IndieFab Book of the Year), Snappy Sassy Salty: Wise Words for Authors and Writers and a speaker at publishing conferences. Book #35 was published in 2016: How to Avoid 101 Book Publishing Blunders, Bloopers & Boo-Boos. Get your copy now.
Each summer, she holds Judith Briles Book Publishing Unplugged, a three-day intensive limited to a small group of authors who want to be seriously successful. In 2017, the dates are June 22-24th. Her audio and workbook series, Creating Your Book and Author Platform is now available. Join Judith live on Thursdays at 6 p.m. EST for “AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing” on the Toginet Network at bit.ly/PublishingShow.
Follow @AuthorU and @MyBookShepherd on Twitter and do a “Like” at AuthorU, and join the Facebook group Book Publishing with The Book Shepherd. If you want to create a book that has no regrets, contact Judith at Judith@Briles.com.
Author U is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the author who wants to be seriously successful. Monthly education programs delivered face-to-face and online, The Author Resource ezine, BookCamps, and the annual Author U Extravaganza are tools designed for authors pre-, during and post-publishing of their books. Join AuthorU.org today.
If you are looking for FREE author and book coaching … call in to Judith’s Author Monday Mornings at NOON Eastern each Monday if you are an AuthorU.org GOLD member.