Writers just want to write, but there are many important things to consider before you publish your new book. One of those is your book cover.
A book should not be judged by its cover. Yet, as an avid reader since childhood, I’ve unconsciously associated the quality of a story with its cover. I know I’ve bought books based on how the cover looks. If it looks great, I automatically assume the story will be great too. Of course, whether that’s true is another matter entirely.
An excellent book cover will attract eyes to your book. Keep in mind that there are other factors like book description, that could also affect how readers perceive your book. However, if you want people to take your book seriously, you must get a professional cover. Having made some covers by myself for some self published stories, I know it isn’t a good idea to make your own covers, unless you’re a professional designer who knows what he’s doing.
But whether you design your book cover by yourself, or a professional designer helped, you must come up with your book cover concept, and that’s a daunting task. For the cover to work, you need to have something that not only captures the spirit of the books in the same genre, but is also unique in its own right. Imagine being the same and different simultaneously. Difficult, right?
Well, when I approached my cover designer, she asked me about my story, and I told her that my story was about a young man who committed a crime and was of redemption. After some back and forth, she asked me to get her images of the best five books in the same genre, which I did.
Two days later, she emailed me the first sample, which I liked. I felt it needed to be tweaked, which she graciously did. After that, I sent it to a few close friends. They said it was okay, so I saved it on my laptop.
Fast forward a few months later, when I was sure of the publication date of Juju Man, 1 January, 2025, I sent the same cover for critique to a helpful Facebook cover critique group. It’s a very engaged group, and members go all out to give their opinions of your cover and blurb. The only thing is that they don’t pull punches when they offer critique, so get more layers of skin before you put up your cover for feedback. I guess that was why I didn’t send my cover to them initially. But when I finally did, I was happy that even the most critical members liked it.
The few complaints were about the need to make the fonts bigger and to alter some elements of the images to ensure it doesn’t offend Christians. So, I realized that I should have sent the cover for a wider critique than I did. This would have enabled me to get the opinion of a larger number of people. Also, my designer would have used the feedback to finalize the cover. Unfortunately, my terms with her had expired.
One thing I know is that, before the book is ready for launch on New Year day, I plan to pay extra so the designer can implement the excellent feedback that I’ve received. Then I will be thrilled with my cover.
Whatever be the case, I’ve learned my lesson: get solid critique on your book cover before you complete it. That should go a long way in making it the best it can be, while keeping true to your story.