For a book with the potential to be a super bestseller: a good cover can make a book that could originally sell 30,000 copies sell 300,000 copies. And a bad cover can make the book that originally hoped to sell 300,000 copies, but the sales volume stop at 30,000 copies. But many publishers think that the book has sold 30,000 copies, which means it is a huge success. In fact, a huge failure has been achieved. There are not many books with super best-selling potential, and many of them are ruined.
For an ordinary book, a good cover can give the book a chance to be reprinted once or even twice, while a bad cover will cause the book to collapse before selling out the first printing.
Whether a publishing house can make money depends on whether it can maximize the sales of a very small number of books with super best-selling potential (this is the key to success or failure, and the publishing house does not operate a few times a year) The chance of a super best-seller, and there is a huge difference between 30,000 and 300,000), and whether the vast majority of ordinary books can make a profit or a small profit (the profit or loss of these books is only a matter of millimeters, it all depends The finishing touch).
Therefore, the importance of the cover cannot be overemphasized.
Regardless of other advance publicity factors, when readers buy books in a bookstore and face dozens or hundreds of books on the display stand, the three factors that determine whether to buy a book are——
First, the cover;
Second, the title of the book;
Third, the table of contents.
Human beings are visual animals. When readers scan dozens or hundreds of books on the display stand, the first thing they capture are those covers that can "jump out" from the surrounding covers. Then walk over and see what the book is called, whether it is helpful, and whether it is something he is interested in. If so, he will open the book and look at the catalog to understand what is specifically written in the book. of. For books with no or weak catalogs such as novels, read a short paragraph at the beginning to see if the text can impress him and decide whether to buy it.
To attract readers to pay attention to it and to go over and open it involuntarily. This is the function of the cover. If this step cannot be completed, all the work and hopes placed on this book by the publisher and planning editor will be in vain. There are some key points to designing a good cover.
There are six key points that must be considered in cover design:
1. The specific content of the book
What is actually written in this book. In addition to the author of the book, the planner and editor of the book has the deepest understanding of the content of the book. After all, he is responsible for the entire process of the book. As a planning editor, you must be very clear about the key points and core values ??of the book's content. The key points and core values ??of a book are the cornerstones of refining the book's slogan. At the same time, only by clarifying this point can other questions be answered. Answer.
Many book covers have no apparent connection with the title (and content) of the book. The degree of unfamiliarity between the two is like the relationship between you and the person in front of you at the supermarket checkout. They are completely unfamiliar. If you accidentally get in line together, you will part ways soon.
2. The spirit and feeling of the book
The spirit and feeling of the book refers to the feeling that the reader has when reading a book. This feeling may be humorous, easy to understand, lively and cute, liberating the brain, sincere and simple, long-lasting aftertaste, surging heart, suddenly enlightened, tearful, solemn and tragic, etc. The spirit and feel of the book play a very important role in refining the cover design and slogan. In many cases, keeping the cover design and blurb consistent with the spirit and feel of the book is the right choice. But in individual cases, it can change.
3. The slogan of the book
The slogan of the book is extremely important. If the process of naming a book and designing a cover is compared to the creation of a song, then conceiving the title is like writing lyrics, the entire cover design is equivalent to composing music, and the book's slogan is the climax of the song. The lyrics (book title) must be in line with the content and emotion to be expressed by the song (book), and the composition (cover design) must perfectly match the lyrics (book title), so that the feelings of the lyrics can be fully conveyed through hearing (visual) Highlight it.
Just like whether a song can be sung, it depends on whether there is a melody (often the climax) in the song that is particularly beautiful, has a strong sense of popularity, and can be easily remembered and hummed.
In the same way, regardless of other factors, whether a book can leave a deep impression on people is a very important factor in whether the title is brilliant and whether the slogan is shocking and impactful. For many songs, the lyrics sung repeatedly at the climax are the song titles themselves, which is the most perfect. But in the case of books, sometimes it is not suitable to do this. In this case, the slogan needs to play the role of the second title of the book. If the slogan consists of multiple sentences, there must be a top sentence and a top sentence. With a photographic memory, this sentence is enough to sum up the entire book.
A good slogan must be able to move the whole book in one sentence.
Some books don’t have a blurb. Unless the author of the book is so famous that even dogs know it (put a photo of the author directly on the cover to emphasize this), otherwise you are just giving up one of the best An opportunity to promote yourself, explain yourself, and impress your readers.
4. Who is the book for?
Figure out the characteristics of the people who read this book. They have relatively similar preferences and aesthetics. Of course, there are huge differences between children and adults. Adults will be completely stupid after watching Teletubbies, but babies appreciate it very much and watch it with gusto. The aesthetic values ??of men and women are also very different. Design criminals, literary criminals, and siege lions all have different aesthetic values. There are intersections, but there are also differences.
The cover conforms to the aesthetic habits and expectations of the reading public, which is a greater choice to avoid making big mistakes. But there are also disadvantages. Because there are too many similar books on the display table, and the vast majority of designs are flat, it is difficult for designs of the same genre to stand out from the many similar ones. If you want to stand out from the surrounding books, you must adopt a design that exceeds the expectations of the reading public. But at the end of the day, people expect surprises, not surprises. So think carefully. There are two kinds of results: either it is refreshing and a great success, creating and leading a new aesthetic trend; or it is shocking and scornful, and it falls into obscurity in seconds.
Innovation means risk, but following the trend will eventually lead to a dead end.
5. How do you want readers to feel when they read this book?
How do readers feel when they read this book, and how do you want readers to feel when they face this book? It can be different. For example, the content of some professional and technical books is difficult. If the cover design faithfully reflects this, it will give people the impression that the content inside is very professional and unreasonable. It is better for non-professionals to stay away rather than approach. If so, it will only increase the reader's psychological fear when facing this book. They will start to tremble as soon as they see the cover. They will be timid psychologically, and it will be even more difficult to understand. In this case, making the cover design more humane, or even cartoonish and humorous, to deceive the readers a little and let them start reading in a somewhat underestimating attitude will actually make the readers psychologically unburdened. , give full play to your ingenuity and read this book that you might not be able to handle originally.
6. The visual status of books when they are laid flat on the display table
Sometimes, when you look at the cover of a book alone, you think it is eye-catching and awesome. But when this book was put on the display stand and thrown among dozens or hundreds of books, not only did it not look eye-catching, it even seemed to be deliberately hiding itself, becoming a green leaf that set off other books, while itself was deeply hidden. Hidden merit and fame. The covers of some books are inconspicuous when viewed alone, but when thrown on the display stand, they are found to be simply strange flowers. Other books seem to exist just to set off their uniqueness. When I visit a bookstore, I sometimes glance at a certain display stand to see which book catches my attention first, and then I wonder how its design achieves this, and I often get a lesson.
Many times, to judge whether a book's cover is eye-catching, you can't just look at it on its own, you have to imagine what it will look like when it is placed on a display stand.