We’ve all heard the idiom, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Unfortunately, when it comes to selling books, these are not words to live by. After the hardest part is behind you (writing your book), you then must start thinking about designing your book cover. Whether you design it yourself or hire a professional to create your book cover, it’s important that a concept is readily established to guide the process.
Depending on book genre, your cover may have a pre-established aesthetic to follow. It’s helpful to look at books you own or go to the bookstore to examine different covers from your genre. This can give you an idea of what you like or dislike about cover design.
It’s exciting to see the different design routes taken to convey the contents of a book. Think about some of your favorite classics and their different covers. What stands out to you? Take Animal Farm by George Orwell, for example. While there have been many versions printed, most of the covers depict its allegorical figure, the pig, “Old Major.”
In many cases, book covers do not follow a design pattern to reflect its contents in a literal way, choosing instead to focus on typography, a single image, or color scheme. This approach can be an effective and evocative way to sell books by simply creating a feeling.
Regardless of genre, book covers are meant to entice the reader to want to know more. Whether you go for bold graphics with more design elements or minimalistic lines and text, your book cover should be eye-catching.
Once you have a book cover design concept in mind, then it’s time to execute it!
If you’re designing your book cover on your own, image quality is extremely important. A lot of graphics found online may be low-resolution. If you want the graphics to print clearly and look professional, the DPI (dots per inch) of your images should be at least 300 dpi!
No matter what design approach you take, you may want to think about ways to enhance your design with special cover options. 48 Hour Books offers the following:
Our Diamond 3D covers highlight a couple elements on your cover to make them pop. Diamond 3D itself is a raised coating that accentuates the printed colors underneath.
Diamond 3D Printing is available in three options:
Diamond 3D Clear is a clear, raised coating that is printed on top of your artwork to give it a high gloss, raised “3D” effect that you can see and feel. In the right light, it can even mimic foil.
Diamond 3D Foil is a raised metallic foil coating that can be used to highlight elements of your book cover (most often your book title) to really catch the eye. Our 3D Foil option is currently available in gold, silver, rose gold, red, blue, purple, green, and teal
Diamond 3D Smart Textures use the same technology as our Diamond 3D Clear coating. We’ll apply one of our available textures to your entire cover to imitate the feel of a non-paper cover (such as linen or leather). Our graphic designers will customize the background to make sure printed elements of your cover aren’t overshadowed and that all your text is still legible.
(Diamond 3D Foil in Red)
48 Hour Books offers premium covers for an heirloom-quality book. You may opt for our special cover options if you are printing books such as yearbooks, family history books, coffee table books, history books, or any book that you want to have a long-lasting, high-end feel. Our cloth and leather cover options are available in Advantage Leatherette, Pearl Linen Cloth, and Taratan II Leather.
(Pearl Linen Cloth in Indigo Blue with Gold Foil Stamping)
we use a hot foil pressing process to bond metallic foil to your cover. Our hot foil stamping is available for hardcover books made of cloth or leather. Foil stamping is available in silver, gold, red metallic, blue metallic, whit gloss, and black gloss.
If you are printing a cloth or leather cover, you can also add Diamond 3D, but if you do not want your text to be raised, then traditional foil stamping is the option for you. You can also pair cloth and leather hardcover with a dust jacket.
A dust jacket can be added to any hardcover book. We can even print on both sides of the jacket! Dust jackets are great for special editions, coffee table books, historical books, or any book you wish to have added durability. For the finish, you can choose between Gloss Laminate or Silk (matte) Laminate. If you need help designing your jacket, we have free book templates to help you!
(Double-sided Dust Jacket)
Customize your book even more with inside cover printing and printed end sheets. Add text or a design to the inside cover of your book for paperback book printing. You can also add color and design to the end sheets of your hardcover book for further design customization for special editions.
(Printed End Sheets)
Our edge printing machine is one-of-a-kind and prints color and design directly on your book’s cut edges. Edge printing is different from typical sprayed edges, as there is no paint involved. Printed edges are perfect for special edition books, romance books, fantasy, or any book you want to customize.
Now more than ever it’s important to put time and thought into the execution of your book cover. In a competitive market, it’s necessary to stand out and create an identity through not only your words, but the quality of your product. An enticing book cover can be the best marketing tool you have to sell your books.
Interested in learning more about our book printing services? Partner with us to self-publish your next book.
If you want to know how to publish a book, our website is a great resource. Know exactly what to expect after you place your order by reviewing our detailed pre-press and production schedules, shipping schedules, FAQs and more. Through our blog, learn the ins and outs of publishing, including terms you should know and tips on marketing, design and other important publishing topics.
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