Creating A Book Cover That Sells

This is a webinar offered by Get published summit. The presentation was given by Matt Stone. Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.

Q: what are the three things need for a great nonfiction book cover?

You need to be on trend, compare to see what large publish showing a trend. Make sure your book is in trend and modern with big publishers. Text now do a lot of word rather than pictures
Have nice, organize text that does the work. The title is ore import in nonfiction than fiction. Have it front and center. Very visible text.
Research the niche it down and not a broad category. You want your book to look like the bestsellers.

Types of cover:

Study what works.
Memore: historic, light color palettes, old pictures that are grainy,
Spiritual: colors are much brighter see a lot of blues and light green
Healthy: clean palette.
Fantasy: 47 % of 500 books has symbols , castles, landscapes. 31% p gyp[ 500 have a male characters. 14% have a female character.
Different books have their own calling card and unique look.
What makes self-help books look like self-help.
Authors may put their picture on book, to make you look like an important person like a high-quality photo. Done by a professional photographer. Picture cannot be a selfie.
Try never to put on a nonfiction cover who is not the author.

Q; three things for a great fiction over?

Each genre has their traits like similar fonts.
Tiller covers are darker. Certain fonts. Silhouette of a person look out into the landscape. Yellow font is becoming more popular.
Make sure your book has a clear identity.
Fantasy: and romance have distinct looks.
The more obvious you can be the less mistake of knowing the general.
In fiction, many people read in one genera.
SF: put in thing that are cliché planets, spaceships and laser beams.

Q: Use of stock imagery?

Stock photos are more heavily used in fiction.
In fiction, let the image do the work.
In nonfiction, your text does the work.
95 stock images sell better and look better.
Children’s books Site 1000storybooks.com. The title takes about a third on the tile. Concentrate on the image and illustration. a complex scene on the cover does not provide a clear space for the title. Need a clear background for titles. The other two thirds of the cover should be focus on illustration. Don’t try to squeeze too much info. The cover should be simplified wad avoid a cluttered background. The interior illustrations can be more details. You want the same illustrator to do a picture book cover and interior.

Q: What are the three mistakes authors do when they try to do their own covers?

Many designers know how to design but they lack the knowledge to fit a specific book to a specific reader. Need knowledge of the genera. You need technical skills and be familiar with your genera.
You should outsource to those who have the proper knowledge.
(mg) make sure you have the different format for different medial)
Make sure you let your designer who is the best seller in your genre
K-lytics does reports showing the different book covers. Has a compilation of different book covers.

Q: final advice?