It cannot be stressed enough how important it is that your eBook cover looks professional. If it looks like it was just created with MS Paint or MS Word, your book sales will be significantly affected and your credibility may suffer. After all, who wants to buy something that obviously has not been invested in?

A well-designed eBook cover allows the reader to have a quick but emotional and visual glance into your writing. This glance will only take a few seconds, but it could be the only opportunity you have to convince your reader to find out more about your eBook and buy it. Yes, it is cliché, but it is true: a reader judges an eBook by its cover.

Keep in mind that people on the Internet are visual creatures. If your eBook cover is shoddy, people would think that its contents are shoddy, too. What a waste would it be to have the best content in the world, only to be bypassed because your cover did not speak to the readers.

When you buy eBooks yourself, either from Amazon or some other sources, do you click on a book cover image, or click on the title next to it? Chances are, you click on the pictures more than the text. It’s normal reaction, as our eyes are more drawn to images. Don’t you just pass right over blurry thumbnail images in an Amazon search?

This said, eBook covers done right are very important. But what can you do to make your eBook cover stand out from the rest of your competition?

There are five key elements to a killer eBook cover.

#1 Element: Killer Title Design

Your title should be concise, easy to read and clear. It is more important than the photos and colors that you use. When you reduce the book cover to a 1-inch-sized thumbnail, and the title ends up being fuzzy or blurred, you need to change the font or size.

Here are some things you can do to create a catchy eBook title:

  • Make the title color different than the background—if your background is dark blue, use light blue for the title. The right contrast—like an extremely dark color behind an off-white or white font—will make your title stand out.
  • Add effects like perspective or drop shadow—another way to make your title stand out is by adding an effect like drop shadow. Be careful, though, because when effects are improperly done, the title can look cheesy. If you don’t have any experience, or you doubt your creativity, it is best to leave this task to the pros.
  • Make the title big enough, with a bold font—again, this calls for a bit of creativity. Steer clear of “handwriting” fonts for the primary title, not unless the style is relevant to the subject matter. There’s nothing more annoying for a reader than a complex script font that’s difficult to read.

The key is to make sure that the title is crisp, readable, clear, especially in the thumbnail.

 #2 Element: Killer Photos and Art

Your eBook cover doesn’t always have to be complicated. Sometimes, plain and boring works, but it doesn’t hurt to give your cover a little bit more pizzazz, enough to grab the attention and pique the interest of your potential reader. Hiring a professional eBook cover designer can help you here because you can’t just throw in photos and illustrations just like that.

Here are some things to consider:

  • Make sure the artwork or photos you use are not less than 300dpi (dots per inch)
  • Do not rip off images from the web lest you be slapped with a copyright lawsuit. If you can’t buy photos or if you can’t ask for permission, then opt for royalty-free images that can be used for eBook covers.
  • Go for customized. Again, hiring a pro to do the entire eBook cover for you will save you a lot of headaches, time and money. Aside from that, you can customize your book cover images so that it is entirely unique. So it is best to hire a designer/eBook cover maker that will allow you to customize your eBook cover according to your goals and preferences.

#3 Element: Express Your Branding

When choosing titles, background, images, and fonts for your cover, always keep your brand in mind and make sure that the cover reflects your business or branding. You would want draw attention to your business as an authority in the field and as an expert.

When considering what kind of branding you would want to attach to your eBook, your answer to these questions would help:

  • What kind of fonts do you use on your website?
  • Do you have a logo that you can incorporate into the cover, something that is already visible in your website or products?
  • What kind of graphics do you have on your website?
  • What kind of imagery do you think you can repeat in all facets of your online business, such as in your social media graphics, eBook covers, and website graphics?

The key here is to use your existent branding items such as company colors or logos to further enhance the eBook cover and create a link for your readers to recognize that you are the authority in your field.

Final Thoughts

Research, research, research. Start by looking at what’s trending in your genre or niche. Then look for what appeals to you. Take down notes and list down the elements that turn you off or draw you in. When you search in Amazon or other bookstores, what are the things that catch your interest? Use this information when formulating your own eBook cover.

Once you know what works best for you, you can translate this into the design that you want, or you can articulate your preferences to the professional eBook cover designer you hire.