A Little Texty

The imagery of your cover is important, it’s the main focus and what many readers look at first. But your text is just as important. Your font tells a story all its own and gives another dimension to the cover. No one wants a flowing script font on their horror cover or an eroded grunge font on their romance cover.

The typography (text) on your cover must be as appealing as your images. It isn’t necessary to add a dozen effects to your text. You don’t need fancy metallic fonts, bevels, or extrusions for the most part. That’s not to say you can’t get fancy, but be mindful that fancy texts can become difficult to read. Also, keep in mind the style and theme you’re going after.

In the image of the covers that I’ve added to this post, you can see a few different covers and how the text differs. Regulated is a dystopian novel and the eroded font and barcode reflect that. It’s a simple, single image cover. It’s a very basic color scheme as well. Cross Roader is a basic serif font and the images are grayscale. This cover was put together with two images, the top is the skyline of NY and the bottom is the skyline of Las Vegas. Lazarus One uses sci-fi font and the O in one has been replaced with a phoenix symbol to represent the government project, Pheonix Rise, in the book It’s a single image cover. The original image was black and white and the eyes were colored so they stand out.  

None of the text on these covers has a bunch of effects on them. The only one that has any effect on it is Lazarus One, it has a bevel. They aren’t super fancy, but they are eye-catching and they draw your eyes to the covers. They fit with the imagery and theme of the covers as well.

You must think about everything that makes up your cover so that it all fits together in a way that is pleasing to the eye and attracts readers. If your book is being published through a mainstream publishing house you may have little to no say in the final cover. If, however, you’ve decided to self-publish you have complete control over your final product, and in an industry that tends to look down on self-published works, you want to appear as professional as possible. If you don’t appear professional then readers will bypass your book for one with a prettier package that is more attractive to them. If you’re planning on hiring a cover designer then do your research, ask for examples or recommendations from other authors you know. If you’re planning on creating the cover yourself then invest in a good program, like Photoshop, and learn to use it before you begin attempting to put together a cover.

As with all things, do research and find the best options for you to create the cover for your works.