Choosing Cover Art Colors

Choosing Cover Art - Part 1

If you are getting your book published by a traditional publisher, you might not have to think too hard about choosing your cover art. Your publisher may have a pre-selected format or may hire an artist to create this for you. If you are designing and printing your book yourself, creating effective cover art for both printed and electronic versions of your book is an important part of the publishing and marketing function.

If you choose to create your own cover art, you'll need to take the following elements into consideration:

1. Color theme

2. Images

3. Font

4. Layout

Often, the topic of your book will help you decide upon a color theme. If you are writing about weddings, white and pastels or silver are appropriate colors. If you are writing about love, red and gold are appropriate. If you are writing about sailing or space science, blues fit your theme, or green for gardening. Colors help your reader identify not only with your theme but with a specific mood, and help your book be seen on a store shelf.

If you aren't sure what color theme to use, check other books that relate to your theme. Do the covers seem to run with a common color theme, or are they all over the place? While choosing a color wildly different from the norm can help your book stand out visually, it may create a negative feeling on the part of the reader. For example, a bright orange book on stress relief may give a reader a headache more so than get them excited about feeling calm.

If you use multiple colors on your book, make sure they work together within the color palette. Part of the joy of owning new books is the aesthetic beauty of a perfectly cut book. You don't want to ruin that experience for your readers with an unappealing cover.

For more information on choosing your cover art, read part two of this article, coming soon!

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