Showing genre capturing and looking like a pro Cover advice

Genre and Capturing those readers

Intro

This will be a post on showing genre and looking like a pro. I'd just like to suggest a few things that will help present your books in a more professional manner. We're all in this to make money and that means spending money. With the amount of authors and new books that are out there we are going to have to do our best to make a big splash in the Amazon pond. Here is some tips that will get you on the road to doing just that.

Ebook size One thing that stands out to readers is when your eBook is not the proper size, or isn't the same size as your other novels. When they go to your Author Central page and all of your books line up side by side they need to be the same size. This will have nothing to do with the size of your paperbacks. We're just talking about e books.

Series Branding

Series seems to be the key to getting a lot of sales, so I'll address a few things I've noticed. We don't always set out to write a series and many books reflect this problem. Books don't look anything alike. They don't have the same fonts, same theme, or a logo that ties them all together. If writing a series the author needs to try to connect the books in every way possible. One of these things is to go back and add book one, and a series title if you did not the first time around. Also, using a series logo is a very important way to connect the books. Something that let's people see the book is in a Series.

Fonts and placement

I used the image above to show the good and the bad. all of my logo's in this image are in a line and look great. But you can see I got my name off on the last image. This makes the book stand out and it causes the whole series to look a bit off. But I am using the same fonts, the same theme of two couples and the same type of images. The people take up the biggest part of the cover and none of the couples are looking at each this shows the reader this will more than likely have some romance but is not a pure romance novel. Also using an image of a woman or a man is a good way to draw in readers. The expression on a models face can make or break if a person will buy your book.

Pure Romance If your book is pure romance, boy meets girl, gets girl looses girl, etc. I highly suggest a couple on the cover. Use the amount of romance that you have to guide what the couple is doing. If it's what I call pure romance then show the couple kissing, or about to kiss. If your novel is not all about Romance then have the couple standing beside each other or back to back. Use the couple to help readers see what your book is about and how much romance is inside.

My California trilogy are all pure romance, in the Surprise Engagement there is some issues with the couple more so than most so I showed a tension on the cover. Still the couples are close and it shows romance.

Experience

I love talking about covers and have learned a lot since 2009 when is started making my own. You'll notice my Street Justice Covers reflect that the books have some romance but it's not all about romance. I also was

sure to get a handsome man with a gun to try and show this has some suspense in Charlie's Angel.

Wrap up

These are just some quick tips of what I see Authors doing that is not going to help their sales. Your books present you, if they are all kinds of different sizes, or the covers don't match in a series, if your fonts are not all the same. If there is not a series Logo or theme, readers will notice.

Money well spent

I always tell authors, what you spend on your cover shows. If you just toss words on a one image cover, readers will notice and sometimes they could even think it's non fiction and go right on by - not even stopping to see your book is fiction.

Genre

Genre can and should show on your cover. Your cover is the first and most lasting impression on readers. You only have seconds to get their attention so your cover needs to be the best, it can be. You need to spend a good amount of time thinking and planning what will be on your cover. If you want couples, on your cover, pick the couple first and then write the story around them. This will save you HOURS of time.

Cover Artist

Also please consider saving up for an artist and an editor. Yes it will take you more time, but in the long run it will be well worth it. You don't have to

spend 500 dollars on an artist. There are a lot of great pre-made covers out there, and a lot of artist willing to work at reasonable rates.

Everyone is not an artist, please know your limitations. If you played with crayons and painted from the time you were a kid you might be able to make your own cover, but if not it will show and it will hurt sales.

Thanks for your time

Thanks for listening and I hope this helps you in some way to look more like a pro and gain you more sales and more readers, that will stay with you for years. I do cover design, but that's not why I do these blogs. I do them because we all want our books to sale, we all want to make money, and sadly if you don't have a great cover that will stop a reader in their tracks you're wasting valuable time.

Blessings, Samantha Fury

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Samantha Fury is the author of  the Street Justice Series.  
She's makes paperbacks and e-books for Indie Authors.
She operates several Indie Groups. Editing Services, Cover
Artist, Helpful Indie Facebook Groups.