Today we’re discussing book cover design. The first of two (at least) episodes, this one’s about typeface/font choice for DIY cover design (and what to look for if someone else is doing it for you).
News from Nick:
- Nick has a BookBub ad, so we’ll talk about the results of that next week
- KDP (Amazon) has a new Dashboard look and feel, and it’s oh-so-nice!
- The Enigma Strain audiobook edition is in production, once again by Mike Vendetti (produced The Golden Crystal and The Depths) – at ACX.com
- The Atlantis Deception has 44 reviews! It hit the #9 spot in Kindle Worlds!
News from Kevin:
- Sterling and Stone Colony Summit – Indie author mastermind group
- Libbie Hawker’s Gotta Read It – How to write a great book pitch
- New covers and book descriptions for Sawyer Jackson and Citadel series
- New “Books” page on KevinTumlinson.com
- Audiobook Empires with David H Lawrence XVII
Most important features, in order, of a great cover:
- Scale: needs to be able to be read at a small size
- Title: needs to be readable, designed well
- Fonts/Typefaces:
- Start simple, get “fancier” only if needed
- Use dafont.com
- Pulpit Rock Church – check out the logo (lots of tracking on that Gil Sans!)
- The difference between Leading, Tracking, and Kerning (typesetting 101)
- Brands: Typefaces help make the cover noticeably part of “your brand,” examples are James Patterson’s, Tom Clancy’s, James Rollins’, Dan Brown’s books
- Use an artboard like Pinterest to see a lot of great covers at once, or use Scrivener
…and then we gave up for the week. Check us out next week for the follow-up to this episode!
And leave us a review on iTunes!
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