Inside Scoop

[6] Book Covers

Where do you get inspired for book covers?

Vicky_Nfs: Randomly

For me creating a book cover happens either quickly or takes forever. Sometimes I have a picture in my head of what I want the cover to look like and then it’s only a matter of finding the right pictures. That’s another process that can take a while with the whole copyright matter of pictures online. Lately I’ve spent some time looking for sites with public domain photos which makes it a bit easier now to find pictures I can use freely without conditions.

However, most of the times I get a sudden picture in my head of what I want the cover to look like and then I’ll scribble it down, or even attempt a quick drawing, so I won’t forget it.

But, none of the above is on topic – again. To answer the question on where exactly I get inspired, I’d say randomly and/or everywhere, but nowhere in particular. I know that probably doesn’t make sense, but it’s the truth. Usually I’ll be thinking of what would make a good book cover and how I could give it some meaning, related to the story of course. This isn’t really the hardest part, because after all, you could link just any picture to a story, if only you look long enough and allow yourself to think outside the box.

To say it short, I’ll look for an object, word, name, hidden meaning and what not in the story and create the rest of the cover based on that.

Leigh19: My Head

In my head I already have a generalized idea of what I want my book cover to look like. It has to relate to the story and capture the reader’s attention at first glance. As shallow as this sounds on more than one occasion I picked up a book from the bookstore without reading the back of the book because I simply loved the cover. Through experience I found out just because a cover looks awesome doesn’t mean the story is. 

Sometimes if I see a picture  I’ll automatically fall in love with it and want to use it as a cover and sometimes I’ve made attempts of my own to make my book covers, based on the general idea of the story or based on one or more characters in the story.

Emmiie: Change

Aaron Renfree topless, enough said.

Haha, just kidding, well, not really…but still I should more than likely elaborate. My inspiration for book covers normally comes from the story itself, because I try to go off the general idea of it. So, if it’s a story about witches, I want the cover to be kind of magical. If it’s a story about vampires, a darker cover is preferred if not necessary. Pretty much, whatever the story is about, I feel the cover should give the reader a basic idea of what the story is about. I know the saying is, ‘never judge a book by its cover,’ but people so often do. So it’s also important to have something eye catching.

For Welcome to the Universe, it was the picture of Aaron Renfree that inspired me, because I just thought he was the perfect Zharov. The woods in the background made sense because that’s where they first meet, and (without saying too much) the glowing heart is important too. I normally start from a black background, and work from there. I know that some people say that black covers aren’t as noticeable, but really I couldn’t not have a darker cover…it just wouldn’t be me. All the books I own have darker covers, and I won’t buy anything that’s too bright. (I know, I’m picky, but I like everything to match, lol).

For The Not So Secret Life of Helena, I picked black and pink as the colour scheme because I think those colours look awesome together! And for book one, I chose a girl who is in chains because I feel that that relates to Helena’s lack of control. As for the second book, I think her with a gun shows a lot into the story, and her facing front on shows the control she is starting to find.

But of course if I ever self-publish, the covers would need to change.