Reflections from a Former Bookseller: Empowering Your Book with Quality Covers and Content
I worked in various roles at a national chain bookstore for five years. During the last few years I was the point of contact for local authors looking to hold signings or get their books on the shelf. I tried my best to be as accommodating as I could be and not judge the books by my own interests and taste, because I do sincerely believe that all stories deserve to be told (though sometimes you'll only tell the story to yourself or your close family and friends).
I also spent two years writing online reviews for self-published books, and that exposed me to a lot of content that had potential but missed the polish often found in professional work.
The stark reality of self-publishing is that it's a lot of hard work and if it isn't done right (read: executed almost flawlessly) your book may never find the audience it serves. As an avid reader myself, I know two things to be true:
Reading (or book selection) is first a visual experience. The cover is make-it or break-it. It has to tell a story that works in tandem with the title to hook the reader. If a cover doesn't give me at least a vibe of what the story will be or if it isn't presented well, I'm likely to move on to the next book.
Copy editing errors are a fact of writing, no matter how good you are. But failure to present polished writing to a reader sends the message that you didn't care that much about the work you've put out. And if you don't care, why should I?
Keeping in mind that my expertise comes from selling books, not designing or publishing them, let's walk through these two facets of book polishing that can either invite or repulse readers.
A Creative Cover: Reading as a Visual Experience
One thing I saw often working at the bookstore was self-published books with bad covers. Blurry images, confusing visual stories, or simply lacking in graphic design polish. I can't attest to the content inside the books (alas, I did not get paid to read), but if I'm completely honest, I didn't even want to read many of these books because the covers were a turn off. They looked cheap and unappealing. The quality that I could see outside didn't give me confidence in the quality I would find inside.
We say “don't judge a book by its cover,” and while this applies to a whole host of other things, the fact is that most of us do judge books by their covers. We can't help it.
“Book covers do sell books,” said H. William Ruback, an author and graphic designer, as well as bookseller.
When Ruback first began to write with serious intention, he found that having a visual goal for each project was helpful. Ruback's mental image of his book comprises everything from the cover image or graphic and font type to a description and author credit. These pieces work together to create a whole package that reaches out to greet readers, then draws them in with hints at what is to come.
Creating the perfect cover requires extensive research. You'll want to spend hours looking at covers and styles within your genre, Ruback said. Your cover needs to be original enough to stand out but not so original that readers don't associate it with your genre, he said. A few pitfalls to avoid are using readily available clip art (which may have been used by another author already), hand drawn art, lots of different font styles, and any font styles that don't quite fit your genre. One other note: proudly put your name on the cover.
“You wrote a book, damn it,” Ruback said. “Be proud, let them know who you are.”
In short, your cover is an extension of your story.
“It has to set the tone of what is to come,” Ruback said. “So don't rush it and don't opt out for the simplest end.”
With that in mind, let's look a little more at three particular problems.
Blurry Images
Sometimes simple is best when it comes to a cover. Depending on your graphic design/illustration skills or the budget you have to put toward a cover, you may want something simple that, in tandem with your title, makes it really clear what your book is about.
Without naming names, I know of a book on budgeting that has a very simple cover design: two hundred dollar bills shaped into a question mark. Along with the title, the cover tells the book's story well: you're going to learn about budgets. The problem this cover encounters is that the image is very grainy. It looks like maybe it was a small image stretched big to work with the size of the book.
Though this may not be a serious detractor for everyone, this book cover lacks a degree of professionalism and credibility; if I saw it at a store surrounded by other budgeting books, I'd pick another book that looked more credible.
This should be a fairly easy problem to avoid if you're designing your own cover. First, make sure the image you're selecting (after acquiring permission to use it, of course) isn't tiny. You can always shrink things, but making something tiny into something bigger generally looks awful. Once you've designed your cover, make sure it looks clear in various sizes—a thumbnail for online sales, printed out in the size of your cover, standing alone for marketing purposes. If it doesn't look great in all these formats, go back to the drawing board. You can't afford not to.
Confusing or Overwhelming Visual Stories
The cover of a book must tell a story. I will be honest and say, even big publishers get this wrong sometimes, focusing on colors and abstract patterns that don't give much insight into the story. At that point, it's up to the title alone to do the heavy lifting.
Another facet of this problem is overwhelming visual stories. Your book's cover should tease at the story inside, but it doesn't need to touch on or reveal everything. If you try to do that, you're likely to have both an overwhelming and a confusing cover.
One self-published book I have really nails the visual storytelling of the cover.
Wilderness The Gateway to the Soul by Scott Stillman gives you really all you need to know with the title and cover combo. It uses the author's own photo, which is also highly relevant to the book.
Photo Courtesy of Alisa O’Donnell
When you look at the cover image of Wilderness (or at least when I do) you get the sense that you're going to read about solo wilderness adventures and how it nourishes this man in his soul. And that's exactly what the book is. The image isn't as crisp as I would like when enlarged for the cover, but it isn't as pixelated as some I've seen. Overall, I think Stillman was able to bring it all together for his book.
Lacking Graphic Design Polish
This is perhaps the biggest pitfall self-published authors fall into, and it's understandable because not everyone has graphic design skills.
I've written quite a few manuscripts over the years, and one year during National Novel Writing Month I was working on a science fiction story. I also had some really cool photos I'd taken of the moon. So my teenage brain thought, I should design a cover for my book! Let's just say, if I ever come back to this manuscript I'll definitely be hiring someone to design a cover for me.
Image Courtesy of Alisa O’Donnell
This beauty of mine is a prime example of a cover lacking graphic design polish. At first glance, it's not awful. It has some potential. At least on the computer, the image is crisp and clear. The font style, title, and image work together to tell a little story: it's set in outer space and our characters will be traveling/adventuring and ending up at the edge of something.
But you can tell from looking at it that it isn't professional. You can tell it's just words slapped on a photo.
Visual artists have a magical way of making the cover art and the words interact together in a way that looks simple but requires a lot of skill. That's why good cover design isn't cheap (but it's absolutely worth it). It's important to be honest with yourself when it comes to designing a cover. You may not have the full array of skills that would take your cover from OK to great, but your cover is how people meet your story, so it's important that you make a good impression.
Quality Content: Copy Editing and Proofreading
Creating quality content comprises many facets of writing, from story and plot, to point of view and tense of the story, to character and world building. But for the purposes of this article, we're operating under the assumption that you've worked with the right people and feedback to develop your story into quality content. The final step is the polishing, making sure it's as error-free as possible.
It's important to remember that even big publishing houses and well-known authors let a few mistakes get through from time to time. They are paying humans to do the work, and humans aren't infallible (neither are computers, in case you're wondering. Just ask everyone who ends up with auto-correct steering them wrong between “defiantly” and “definitely”).
That said, when you've refined your story as much as you can and you're ready to go to the next stage, you absolutely can't skip over a round of copy editing and/or proofreading.
Here's a quick definition between the two: copy editing happens first, when an editor reviews your work for errors in spelling, grammar, and structure. Proofreading happens after; it's the final round of editing right before printing or publication to make sure no one missed anything.
Some of you are undoubtedly thinking, “I'm good with language and grammar, I don't need someone to check me for errors.” Maybe you have a degree in some word-related field, like I do. Or maybe you're just obsessed with perfect grammar. I get it, really.
But here's the thing: when you're spending so much time working on your story, reviewing and rewriting things, your brain begins to skip over imperfections because it knows what you mean to say. This is not particularly useful when you're trying to create a quality, professional book.
So what do you do? Here are three options you can consider:
Hire an Editor
Hiring someone who is trained and has experience editing the written word is the best option for your book. This person has experience, they are knowledgeable in grammar and language, and they pay close attention to detail.
Hiring someone to do your edits isn't exactly cheap, but it's a worthwhile investment. Ballpark estimates for basic copy editing range between $1,000 and $3,000 for a manuscript ranging from 70,000 words to around 170,000, though the length and genre will play a large role in pricing. For a children's picture book, basic copy editing can start at $175 for a 32-page book (generally between 500 and 1,000 words).
Before you write it off due to the price tag, remember that you will generally get what you pay for. If you pay only a couple hundred dollars for your full-length novel, you can't be sure your editor is going line by line, word by word, through your book. They may read it fast, catch the big stuff, but still leave errors behind. Nothing ruins a book like jarring, obvious errors. When I encounter a book that is riddled with basic spelling and grammar errors, it is impossible for me to sink into the story.
Do a Skill Swap
Some self-published authors or early stage authors like to do skill swaps with other writers and artists as a way to support one another and get the services they need for their books. This is a solid option, but please make sure you have a well-honed skill to trade. Remember those times in school where you had to peer review projects and you put in your best effort while the person peer reviewing you came back with, “looks good?” Yeah, don't be that person.
A skill swap will be a place where your Language Arts degree will come in handy. You have the knowledge, you just need another pair of eyes on your work. And you can provide the same quality service to someone else.
You may find that you're able to swap skills beyond copy editing. You could trade for help with a pitch or query, for marketing and publicity help, or even help with your cover design if you find a talented visual artist who needs the skills you possess.
Do it Yourself
This isn't the best option because, as stated, your brain will skim over errors because it knows what you meant to say. But, in some situations you may be unable to get another set of eyes on your work. So if you're doing it yourself, here are a couple tips to do it better.
Change the format you're reading in. If you write on the computer, print out your manuscript and do your edits on a physical copy.
Go through it multiple times, looking at the piece as a whole, looking at paragraphs and sentences, and looking at each individual word. You're looking for coherency, consistency, and misused words, as well as obvious spelling and grammar errors.
Read it out loud. When you read your manuscript out loud, your brain has less ability to auto-correct for you. You'll catch more errors this way and get a chance to see how your pacing and flow sounds.
If you don't love language arts, don't even consider DiY editing. It may end up coming back to bite you because you don't have the knowledge and/or commitment to go through your work with a fine-tooth comb. And that's OK, you don't need to be ashamed of that. There's nothing wrong with paying someone to help you with edits. You're investing in your book and contributing to the economy. Good job!
Graphic by Alisa O’Donnell
The Wrap Up
Launching your first book can be overwhelming. You've got so many pieces to refine and you may wonder how it's possible to get it all perfect (spoiler: it's not). And while many of us perfectionists will agonize over this, the truth is that many authors publish several books before achieving any fame or recognition. So while you don't want to skimp or give less than your best, you also don't need to agonize over what errors or imperfections you may find later. One perk of self-publishing is that it's fairly easy to make corrections after publication by uploading the corrected file to your printer/publisher.
And one final note: sometimes the most empowering thing you can do for yourself and your goal is to ask for help. Whether it's hiring an editor or graphic designer, or hiring an Empower Creative Agency, LLC project manager to help you navigate the process, the strategies you need to empower your success are nothing to be ashamed of, even if they are different than the strategies someone else uses.
And at the end of the day, you'll learn and grow as you go. Do your best, be proud of what you've accomplished, and learn from each experience.
Your story wants to be told. The first step in telling it is believing that you can—and that you should.
