5 Book Cover Design Tips

You’ve spent months, even years, crafting every word of your 100,000 word manuscript. And the results of this labor of love? A few hundred pages of characters development, plot twists, and hours of entertainment for your reader.

And how long do you have to sell your book to that reader? A second or two—if you’re lucky. A brief glance as he or she glides along a bookshelf or clicks through web pages. That’s it. Sell it fast, or don’t sell it at all. And what sells that book? As much as we don’t like to admit it, it’s the cover. That sheet of paper, that single piece of artwork, that sits on top of those hundreds of pages.

When we talk about how to self publish a book, we tend to focus on the words, sentences, and story—and rightly so! But all of that work can be quickly undone by having an ineffective book cover. With that in mind, the AuthorHouse Self-Publishing Company would like to present five book cover design tips that will help grab a reader’s attention. So without further delay, we present…

AuthorHouse’s Top Five Tips for Book Covers:

• First, spend some time in the bookstore looking at the covers of other books in your genre . Which ones grab your attention? Which ones make you want to know more? Why? At the same time, examine books that don’t interest you. What are they lacking?


• If you intend to sell your book in a physical form (not just an e-book), remember that it will likely not be displayed cover-out. Check the spine to make sure it’s easily readable from a few feet away .


• Don’t forget, many readers will encounter your book online. Make sure your cover is still visible and effective when it’s shrunk down to a thumbnail-sized image!


• Have a focus that fits your book’s genre and mood. Generally, one or two simple elements are better than trying to tell your entire story on the cover. And make sure those elements are appropriate for your book’s tone.


• Solicit the opinions of others. Show your cover to friends whose opinions you trust, and listen to their criticism. If you start hearing the same complaint multiple times, maybe it’s something you should consider changing.

There’s nothing easy about publishing a book , but AuthorHouse hopes these tips will help make your writing journey a successful one!

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• How to be a Successful Self-Publishing Author? (authorhousepublishing.wordpress.com)


• Types of eBook Formats at AuthorHouse (authorhousepublishing.wordpress.com)

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5 Facts about Copyrights

How do you copyright your book? Do you have to register for a copyright? What’s a “poor man’s copyright?” Authors tend to have many questions and misconceptions about copyrights, and understandably so; after all, most of us are writers, not lawyers.

With this in mind, we’d like to present five tips and facts about copyrights.

1. Talk to a lawyer that specializes in copyright law. This is the most important tip. If you ever require the best possible advice, talk to a lawyer that specializes in copyright law. No amount of web searching is a substitute for this.


2. You’re protected by copyright law whether you register or not. As soon as you put your story into a form that’s visible with or without a device (a handwritten manuscript or a saved file on a computer, for example), it’s protected by copyright law. On the other hand…


3. Your book can be copyrighted; your idea can’t. Your idea isn’t protected until it’s put into a visible form. If you tell your idea to a “friend” who writes a story based on it, that person is protected—not you.


4. Make sure to fix the date your book was copyrighted. This is why registering your story (with the Library of Congress, for example) is important, even though you’re already protected. If you’re ever plagiarized, proving that your story was first is vital.


5. What about mailing the book to yourself and not opening it? This technique of using the post office’s stamp to prove a copyright date (also known as a “poor man’s copyright”) actually has no basis in U.S. law. Could it hurt? No. Will it help? Probably not.

We hope this has answered some of your questions about copyrights! Remember, consult a lawyer for the best, most up-to-date advice.

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