5 Things You Need for a Great Book Cover (And 5 Things You Don't)

with guest Rogenna Brewer.


In 2013 I dusted off my interior design diploma to venture into the art of book cover design…

My budget going into self-publishing from traditional publishing was a big fat zero. But I’m a DIY kind of gal and learned cover design and formatting and then bartered for editing. I enjoyed making covers so much that stock sites soon became my #1 form of writing procrastination.

Once I discovered there was a market for premade book covers I put ten up for sale. Within a week I’d sold two and doubled my investment. Within a month I had my first custom client. Four years later custom cover work keeps me very busy. 

Thank you, Seekers, for inviting me to share some of the things I’ve learned along the way. But before I get into that checklist of 5 THINGS YOU NEED FOR A GREAT BOOK COVER (AND 5 THINGS YOU DON’T), let’s start with a visual of my very first book cover, it’s evolution and where it went wrong…

[Please forgive the pixelation in the first two images, as I no longer have the originals.]

In One Night in Reno, a single mom on the run is stranded in Reno when a Navy SEAL comes to her rescue. It’s a sweet short story with a marriage of convenience and no sex. If I were writing and publishing it today I’d rethink that title. And maybe I’ll do that in the future or change the story in some other way, but for now, it is what it is…

My vision for the cover was a stranded heroine by the side of the road (and if I could work in the kid and the puppy, even better).  But I couldn’t find a stock image to match my vision and I wasn’t able to manipulate images at the time. So I settled for the hitchhiker that became the first cover. 

The clunky border and my amateur attempt weren't even the worst of it. This cover actually sold well, but to readers looking for something a lot sexier. I didn’t take too many hits in the reviews, but one gentleman did call me out on the cover…

Cover #1 failed because the image and title didn’t fit the targeted genre. 

Back to the drawing board…

This time I included the couple, the kid, the pup and the city of Reno. The gentleman who called me out even changed his review to credit this new cover as a better representation of the story. But sales came to a screeching halt. Aside from the awkward title and mash-up of images, something else was lacking.

Cover #2 failed because a romance cover, no matter the subgenre, needs…well, a romantic image. 

That’s not to say headless couples won’t work, they absolutely do with the right body language.  So do those with heads and kids and puppies and landscapes and objects. But the image or combination of images has to evoke some sort of emotion that connects with the reader.

And for readers of military subgenres, the hero is that all-important emotional connection. Once again my cover stood out as different and not in a good way.  

By the time I got around to cover #3 I was working in Photoshop and had learned a thing or two about making book covers. But I still didn’t know enough and was trying too hard to make the text stand out in thumbnail.

Cover #3 (along with advertising) got sales moving again. It hit my target audience of military romance readers. But it didn’t quite fit my story and my personal fail here was the typography.

I was still trying to figure out my brand when I came up with the cover that’s been on One Night in Reno since 2014. In looking at it now I’d tweak a couple things, but I have no plans to change it anytime soon. The beach background might seem at odds with the title, but it works for the story. 

Cover #4 is the right romantic image because it gives clues to the story. This cover lets the reader know that it’s a romance, probably a sweet romance and a serious one at that.  

[Okay, I couldn’t resist making those needed tweaks. Here’s the before and after.]

Whether you make your own covers or hire a cover designer, there are 5 things you need to keep in mind so that you don’t have to go through the trial and error of getting it right…

Your cover has one job and that is to sell your book. In order to do that job, it needs to make an emotional impact in the blink of an eye.  

#1 – You need a great Image(s): 

You need to start with an image that reflects your story. But you don’t need that image (or images) to be a catch-all for the characters and setting or an exact scene from your book. 

There are limitations to using stock images, so unless you can afford a cover shoot you may have to settle for something slightly different that what you imagined. Trust your designer and keep an open mind when searching for images yourself. There are plenty of professional photographers contributing to stock sites where you can find affordable royalty free images that will be good enough for a great cover. Rely on your designer and photo manipulation to makeover an image so that it’s uniquely yours.

Tip: When using people on your cover look for characters that are engaged in their surroundings or looking at each other and not directly into the camera. 

#2 – You need to know your Genre: 

You need to know your genre conventions and stick to them. Except when you don’t. 

Your cover needs to let readers know where it belongs and what it’s about. Don’t worry that it looks like other books in your genre. It’s better to fit in than to stand out. You’d know the difference between a science fiction cover and a romance cover, right? Well, within those two genres there are multiple subgenres and reader expectations. 

Study the covers within your genre. Check out the subcategory bestseller lists on Amazon and notice the similarities between covers within a category. You want to copy that look. But take note of the ones that stand out. It’s usually an exceptional cover or an exceptional story.

Know when to stand out. 

Right now on amazon’s military bestseller list, for example, 14 of the Top 20 covers are bare-chested men. The rest are sexy couples and one bare-chested hero with a baby. The hero / baby cover gets kudos for being “the same, but different.” But they all still follow the norm set by reader expectations. 

If you want your books to sell it’s risky to go against what the reader wants, but there are times when you might want to do just that. I deliberately went against convention in branding my SEAL It With A Kiss trilogy in order to target a more general contemporary bestseller audience. 

#3 – You need a great Title:

You need a great title or you don’t.  

A great title is all you need to sell a plain book cover. The problem is most of us will never come up with a title that exceptional. So we need a great cover to tell the story that the title doesn’t. The typography needs to work with the image, not against it. A kaleidoscope of colors and tricks and crazy fonts won’t make a title more readable. Subtle spacing and shading is all that’s needed to do that job. Look at the books on your shelf and on the more traditional bestseller lists. 

Keeping typography simple is key. 


It’s great when a title is readable in thumbnail, but it doesn’t have to be, and shouldn’t be at the expense of the cover image. There are clickable text links that are readable with the thumbnail. It’s better to have a cover that attracts the eye and gets enlarged with a click than one that’s overwhelmed by text. 

Tip: Use keywords to create your title, subtitle, series title and taglines.

I used to hate it when my publisher would ditch my clever, well thought out titles to use a generic version of…

The SEAL’s [fill in the blank]

Until I realized their keyword loaded titling approach was kind of perfect. It tells the reader exactly what the book is about…a Navy SEAL, and what military genre reader doesn’t love a good Navy SEAL story. 

So figure out the keywords for your subcategory and don’t be afraid to use them in the title and repeat them in the subtitle/series title and tagline.

When are looking for a specific type of book or an author or a title they use the search engine. And when it comes to search engines keywords are king.

#4 – You need your covers to work for your Brand. 

You need your covers to work for you and your brand. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel with every book cover.

You don’t have to be a household name to be a brand. As an author, your books are your product and your name is your brand. You want to keep your brand consistent even if your name isn’t recognizable yet–especially if it’s not recognizable.

Start with a good titling font for your name and use it across your social media headers, your web banner and on your book covers. Some authors even design their own logo or have a logo designed for them.

Branding, on the other hand, takes on the much broader scope of promotion with a distinctive design in mind. For me, with my military background and Navy SEAL heroes, that means nautical and ocean blue themes. 

Take a moment to think about your branding. Are you being consistent? And if you haven’t branded yourself yet, what themes come to mind that will tie it all together?

Your covers should be a recognizable part of your brand. You can do that by having at least one or two consistent design elements, like the font, size and/or placement of your name, carry over through all your covers. Each series can have its own look/feel and still encompass your overall brand. 

Tip: In traditional publishing, if your name appeared above and/or bigger than the title you knew you’d arrived. 

Brand-Name authors don’t need great covers to sell their books. But they deserve great covers and so do the rest of us. 

#5 – You need a great Designer. 

You need a great designer or you don’t, it’s up to you.  Just don’t settle for less than the best cover for your book. 

[Some covers from my portfolio that you might recognize.]

Covers by Rogenna

Thanks again for inviting me. I’ll be here all day to answer any questions you may have about cover design. But let's go back to branding for a moment… 

How are you branding yourself as an author?  

If you're a reader, what's your favorite type of cover?

Leave a comment today for an opportunity to win a $10.00 Amazon gift card so you can buy MORE books. Winner announced in the Seekerville Weekend Edition!

Rogenna Brewer is a Navy Vet who got her start as a romance novelist writing long letters to her deployed husband. She's a bestselling author of contemporary fiction featuring strong military characters and is a member of RWAs prestigious Honor Roll.