What Comes First - The Cover or The eBook?

by Ovi Dogar

One of biggest trend these days is related to ebooks. Because of their viral nature, ebooks are a great way to increase traffic to a site and that's why everyone has to write at least one.

There are millions of ebooks online and everyday there are at more then one hundred new ebooks that hit the stands of the online library. Some of them are free, other not. But they are all full of fresh information or they will be forgotten.

As a reader, it's tough to decide which one to read and which not. That's why most surfers do pretty much the same thing they do in a real library.

Remember the last time you were in a real library or bookstore? If you are like me, you will more than likely base your decision of reading or buying a book on the first stimulus that catch your eye. And that one stimulus is the COVER.

And that's the way everyone decides to read or buy a book: THEY LOOK AT THE COVER AND MAKE THEIR DECISION BASED ON IT!

So, what must accomplish a great cover?

First, it has to be an eye-catching cover so the visitor will pick up your ebook instead of the ebook of your competitors.

Second, even if the cover piqued your visitor's attention it also have to be interesting enough to make him actually read your ebook.

How can you make a cover to stand out in a sea of covers?

Well, this is not an easy task if you have no design experience? Why? Because, even if your cover is different then all the other ones, it may be different in a wrong way.

You have to consider the general nuance of color for the cover, the main and the secondary font.

Here are a few general tips for you:

1. The colors tell a lot about the general subject of the ebook so you must use them accordingly
2. Use a combination between red, blue, black and white
3. Yellow it's OK used sparingly in combination with black because it generates the strongest contrast
4. Always use a strong font for the main title - Impact its fine if the title is longer and Arial Black for shorter ones.
5. If your ebook is on a lighter subject you can toy around with different fonts but never use more than three different fonts for the same cover
6. The cover should contain:
   • the main title
   • one teaser phrase or a good subtitle
   • the author name and eventually the URL of the ebook (avoid using http:// and subdirectories) usually a simple domain name will do just fine.

And finally one more tip: always KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. Do not forget that the cover will be a small image and if you fill it with lot of info, it will be unreadable.