More Than Art: A Book Marketer’s Perspective on Cover Design
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The following content comes from a free FriesenPress training session broadcast live on February 11, 2026 (edited for length and clarity). Register here to join us live on our next broadcast!
Hello, and welcome to the More Than Art webinar with FriesenPress.
My name is Rebekah Caris, and I’m a Promotions Specialist and employee owner here at FriesenPress.
I’ve worked with hundreds of authors in my years with FriesenPress, and in my particular role, I create marketing plans, help establish author online platforms, create promotional tools, and coach authors on the best ways to promote their books.
Professional book designers are basically magicians in my book, and I’ve been really honoured to work with an incredible team of them. Cover design is crafted by the marketing and design teams together, and for authors who are traditionally published, book cover design may not be something that you have much involvement with apart from an initial interview.
For self-published authors, cover design is one of the many things to plan for in your book publishing journey. I would argue that next to getting the best editing of your book itself, cover design should be at the top of your list.
A Cover’s #1 Role is Marketing
Covers have come a long way since being hidebound or bejeweled protection for the pages.
In the current publishing landscape, a cover’s #1 role is Marketing.
Your cover is typically your first impression with a reader, and - consciously or usually not - your cover will be judged. Historically we have said a cover only has 3 seconds to do its job to catch their eye, but with TikTok and the way our online world is diving into short form video content, it’s much shorter 2 seconds, maybe less. And even if readers listened to you on a podcast talking about the book before seeing the cover, the moment they go to your website or look the book up, it has to rise to the occasion and meet reader expectations to solidly hook them in.
Your cover will also dictate the decisions in your:
Branding
How your website, social media, sales kit, and promotional material will be designed
In this webinar, I will provide you with key insights to consider for designing an effective cover, and leveraging your cover and its elements in your marketing campaign. If you’re planning on seeking the expertise of a professional book designer, this webinar will help prepare you to be on the same level with them and get the most out of their talents.
Identify Your Target Market and USPs
Cover design is a business decision, not an emotional one. Designing your cover, and doing anything else in the marketing of your book, can’t be based only on emotions or gut feelings. Part of this business decision is to identify your customers, AKA your target market. So, let’s dive into how you go about that.
Your target market is the specific group of people whose needs and preferences match your book’s content and purpose. You need to keep them in mind when designing your cover and marketing your book. One of the key takeaways I hope to leave you with in this section is the sheer importance of identifying your target market.
Before you begin the publishing process, you have to ensure that all of the decisions you’re making align with what your audience wants and what they’ll connect with.
Now, we define the target market of a book by demographics such as:
Age range
Gender
Location
Interests (like genre interests)
Education
Income level
Religious affiliation
Any other preferences you can identify
For example, children’s books have very specific age ranges based on reader ability and the styling of the book to match that age group.
A picture book will look very different and have a different age group than a “my first chapter book.”
Of course, your book will undoubtedly be enjoyed by many people out there, but it’s crucial to identify specific markers for your audience, so that everything you do, including cover design, is aligned toward those specific readers who will buy your book first.
In the long run, this will save you time, energy, money, and attract your true readers, who will buy the book and spread the buzz about it.
If it helps, take these demographics and make a character out of them. Give your reader a name, and keep this character in mind with everything you do, even writing your sequel.
Now, if you’re not sure how to figure out who your audience is, consider the categories you’ve chosen for your book, not just fiction or nonfiction, but deeper categories like dystopian, sci-fi, self-help, cozy romance, and so on.
Browse the bestsellers in your category on book retailer sites.
Look at the covers in your genre. Make a list of authors and books you see.
It’s also incredibly helpful to be reading books in your genre as well, and I really can’t stress that enough.
Having exposure to the genre and the target market makes you more effective and knowledgeable as you move forward with all aspects of your book.
As you’re looking at covers, make notes on similarities in design elements:
Colors
Typography
Character depiction
Other visual patterns
If you’re planning a series, check how other series make books look cohesive together on a shelf, while still appearing as individuals. Read book descriptions and review blurbs as well, because this will help you later in the publication process. After exploring covers, save images that feel similar to your story in a folder, or make a mood board using Canva or Pinterest.
With cover design, yes, it is important to stand out, but it is just as important to have a cover that appeals to readers in your genre and fits within the aesthetic those readers gravitate toward.
For instance, imagine an author writes a tactical book on treating depression with a target market of medical professionals, but they choose a cover aligned with the self-help or inspiration market. While that cover might look great, the upbeat design speaks to people seeking inspiration, not technical readers. Those readers may buy the book and then feel negatively affected by the science jargon, which could create bad reviews and word of mouth.
What would have been better is choosing a cover geared toward professionals and technical readers. So if you don’t know the books in your genre, now is the time to go to your local store or online and start learning.
Sure, they’re your competition in a sense, but fellow authors can become your greatest allies later on.
I also advise assembling a test group of readers you trust, who read within your genre. Writing itself is often a lonely vocation, but the rest of it doesn’t have to be. By connecting with others, you can workshop many portions of your project, like your title, your cover, and even establish a core launch team. Building community is a key aspect of marketing as well.
Unique Selling Points
Identifying your target market helps you fit in and not miss your true readers, but you also need to stand out. This is where you consider the elements that make your book unique in the market, your unique selling points, or USPs.
For example, Did you write a science fiction book? Is there something unique about the world or atmosphere? Maybe there's a new system of food generation in the future? For general fiction, Are there diverse qualities of your protagonist that you can integrate into a USP? For non-fiction? What new information are you sharing? Are you communicating the concepts in a fresh way? What is that way? And for memoirs, the USP is you? What are the unique things about you and your life that will help your book stand apart from others? Your USPS can also help identify key elements that will make your cover pop.
Consider what are three to four unique qualities from your book that differentiate it from others in its genre? Now that we've covered who you're going to be marketing your cover to and the importance of unique selling points, let's go through some examples of unique elements in relation to the book cover.
For a book in the prehistory genre, they would use similar elements like earthy colours, prehistoric and mostly realistic imagery and crisping, clear thoughts, but each would highlight something exciting and unique, whether its ancient civilizations, ancient language and communication or a focus on skeletons in biology.
And by doing this they're able to fit in with other books in their genre, but still definitely stand out from each other.
Designing the Front Cover
Your front cover is aiming to do a few things at once from a marketing perspective:
Communicate the emotional world/tone of the book.
Situate the content in relation to other books aka where does the book fit in
And Convey some message about the book, while standing out from the genre with its uniqueness
When we are designing a cover, it’s important to not just envision it as the size of your physical book’s trim size, but it is also important to consider how it looks in miniature form. Retail websites and other online listings will have smaller images of covers displayed.
Looking at front covers, we can break their design down into three main elements:
Hierarchy
Hierarchy determines the order in which the eye moves across your cover. Common elements include:
Imagery
Title
Author name
Review blurb
Placement and size determine priority. For established authors, the author name may take precedence. If you include a blurb, ensure it’s short and impactful. It should not overpower the design. If it doesn’t fit well on the front, use the back cover, flaps, or marketing materials instead.
If your book wins an award or receives strong recognition, you can add official stickers or badges provided by the awarding body.
Imagery
Imagery can range from things like Illustration, photo, vector work, or even iconography. Your front cover imagery should communicate the tone and emotion of your book, what it feels like to live in this story and hint at its unique elements.
Avoid at all costs throwing all of the plot points and characters in your book on the cover, and prioritize focus and clarity, keep it simple but eye catching.
Focus: your cover should have a specific focus, a key element (icon or figure or words, for example) that draw the eye, instead of too much happening at once
Clarity: The imagery should be clear about what it is, text should be clear, and even the symbolism that you might be utilizing should be clear to your readers when looking at it. It can certainly be clever, but you can’t leave them stumped and confused.
Still related to imagery, we briefly move on to the Rule of Thirds. With the rule of thirds, you break an image into a 9 square grid. The key focus elements are where the intersections are, but not everything is perfectly symmetrical. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but something I advise you to dig deeper into to help understand art composition and how our brains perceive beauty in art, which is what your cover is!
You want to consider how our eyes perceive not only information, but beauty. As I said earlier you only have seconds to capture readers visually, so you want to present a cover that eyes are drawn to.
I also advise you as you are making your cover to think especially carefully if you are creating a series, because it is essential to start the branding with your first book.
Look at Dune, an incredibly popular sci-fi book that in recent years has been adapted to film. These covers all feel like they belong together. They each have landscape elements that are from places within the books, they each have this visual of a traveller, all the fonts are the same but different colours. Making them cohesive but identifiable on their own.
Something else to keep in mind, is that what worked 5 or 10 years ago, isn’t necessarily going to be right for today’s readers in the genre. Certain elements become cliche in different genres, or have shifted to now meet the readers where they are as society’s attitude shifts. For example, we’ve seen this shift with the literary romance genre from the steamy photographic covers to more vector, illustrated covers where the characters’ are silhouettes or even cartoonish. This is why it is so important to do your market research and see what is currently trending.
Colours
Colours connect emotion and feeling within us. What do the blues of a mystery thriller cover convey to you? The element of murder and police procedural around it, the cold sense of loss and being lost in the cold mystery of it maybe. Or the reds and blacks of a thriller? The blood and fearful mystery in the darkness. The pastel pinks and greens of a utopian scifi novel? What does yellow on a self-help book say? Happiness? Colour theory is very important to learn about, not just for your cover, but marketing in general. We all respond to colours and specific readers of different genres gravitate to certain colours.
Even typographic covers utilize the shapes, textures, colours, and things purposely missing to communicate the emotional world of the book. On that note, it leads us to typography
Typography
Consider the type of font(s) for your book and what fits it best - a serif, sans serif, perhaps script - the thickness, capitalization, even the spacing you use between letters (‘tracking’) has an important effect - we see more space between letters as appealing with sci-fi and tech, but it all depends on your target market and genre.
It’s crucial that the elements on the cover are clear and appealing to click on. Look at these examples - see how the trend is very simple and clear, a lot of capitalization and sans serif fonts - this helps them stand out clearly at a small size online, especially as people scroll, such as on Instagram and TikTok.
Spine, Back Cover and Flaps
First we'll start with the spine, typically this includes the author's name, book title, logo and series number. You always want to ensure that this is easy to read. There are different ways you can orient the text and placement for each element, so definitely take a look at your local bookstore or even on your own bookshelf to see the different variations.
You also need to take into account what your title length is, your name length, and really how much space you're going to have to put things on the spine because you don't want everything crammed on there that would be illegible and not great for your readers.
And if you're making a series, definitely have the styling of your spine established on the first book and follow the trend that you set online.
There is so much discussion about the disappointment when buying the next book in this series that you're super excited about putting it on the shelf and then the deflation of seeing it next to the others and seeing that it doesn't match it is such a bummer for readers.
Next, we move on to the back cover, and its different elements. Let's start with the book description.
Back cover content is marketing and it's crucial that the blurb reads easily and resonates with the reader. Think more along the lines of a movie trailer rather than like a full plot synopsis. This is where your USPS and knowing your target market comes into play. Your book description should speak their language and pop with the unique elements of your book.
The book description should try and match the tone of the book as much as possible without telling the whole plot, the outcome or the twist. Definitely seek help from your editor to be sure every word is necessary and doing its job. It's 150 to 450 words total for the book and about the author, so it's definitely precious real estate.
It also should not make direct claims about how a reader will feel. Generalizing statements that prescribe a reader's response can definitely be off-putting.
On this note, be careful not to insult or slam other books in the process, like it shouldn't say something like, unlike other YA books that just focus on love, mine focuses on blah blah. People don't want to read that. That's a bit off-putting.
For children's book blurbs, these will typically be short, introducing the character, the conflict, and the learning outcomes. The learning outcomes help teachers and parents know what the messaging and learning points are for their children or those that they're teaching.
Now, on to the About the Author. Again, this should be professional and concise and to the tone of the book, it should be written in third person. Typically, it's usually good to include the city or area of the province that you live in, your career experience, other publications, and any awards or qualifications that are relevant to your book's content.
You can also include your inspiration or goal with the book if it's relevant to your type of book, like a self-help or a children's novel you're about the author will also be important to have on your website, though there you could expand on it or even change it to first person, and elements of your about the author may be used on your social media to do your bio, and it pulls key points, but it won't be in paragraph form like it will be on your actual book.
Lastly, we have the flaps of your book, which is an option typically when creating your hard cover. These often include the About the Book, About the Author, a logo, and sometimes review blurbs. This can help give you more room on the back of your hard cover for additional reviews, if you'd like.
Using the Cover in your Marketing Campaign
Your cover has important opportunities in your marketing before even doing your book and cover announcement pre-publication, and these should be built into your marketing campaign early so you can effectively drum up excitement from the get-go.
Pre-Announcement
While your designer or you are crafting the cover, you can crowdsource feedback on the designs by having your test group or launch team gathered in a private Facebook group or other team app just for that group. This can be a great and easy way to share posts or polls to crowdsource feedback and approval of titles, subtitles and cover designs. Then, you can encourage them to share their excitement online about seeing the early material without sharing the material itself, thereby spreading the word and building up anticipation
You can share early concept art of the cover or small slices of it to start teasing your official book announcement.
Export individual pieces of the cover, certain elements like a character or shapes, your book title, series logo and author name as separate png files with transparent backgrounds so that in an image editor like Photoshop or Canva you can easily add them to custom images for headers for your social media profiles or different posts as decoration and brand cohesion. These are going to be the visual elements that you integrate into your overall author brand! So it is great to start practicing with them early and getting a feel for your style when using those assets
Pre-announcement is a great time to produce a book trailer video incorporating the book image elements and story to hook readers in, and you typically display the full cover on the final screen. This is a great tool to use to announce your book once you are ready for a cover reveal. The video can give the vibes and feel of your book, incorporating those cover elements and then end in the big reveal!
You can also use your branding (which is visually based on your cover) to create other marketing materials like media kits, author backgrounders, or even things like packets and handouts for speaking engagements if that fits with your plans for promotions. The key is using these cover elements like your fonts and graphics to make a connecting thread through everything you do as an author.
Once you are deeper in publication but not to the finish line just yet, you want to make sure that
Leading up to the publication date, you share posts with some of the review blurbs you’ve received with the book cover (perhaps a 3D image of it), and be sure to link the reviewer to increase engagement. If they are in your launch team, request that they share these with their followers, too!
Feature your cover on your social media headers, again building up that author brand
Ensure your website is built using the assets and vibes set by your cover. Even just getting a landing page going with some of the cover elements is a great place to start if you aren’t ready for the full website to be accessible yet.
Consider ALT TEXT on your website and meta data if available for the vision impaired and those with disabilities.
Have bookmarks, biz cards and other promotional materials with your website and social media on them, featuring your cover and cover elements like the fonts and cover background. This gives you a professional launching point that not only highlights your fantastic cover, but also provides a way for interested readers to follow back up.
And Have the high resolution file ready in a folder to send to interested media, booktokkers or others to use when agreeing to feature your book.
After Publication
Consider at the release of the book sharing about the concept of the cover and its different elements, something to engage your followers and get people eager to dive into your book and seek out more. People love the Behind the scenes or those hidden easter eggs that might have been included in the cover that casual online followers might have missed. You could even take them through different iterations of your cover to show where it started to what you went with in the end.
Do an unboxing video and tag your publisher and others in it. Take time to show off the cover that you worked so hard in and are finally seeing in person!
Ask that your readers share a photo of them with the book and mention your username in posts - or a specific hashtag you’re using - as this is a great way to build buzz and light up your readers!
You can also invest in Merch or swag to send to influential people in your market! Some FriesenPress authors like P.L. Stuart find that wearing elements of their cover or series branding like on his hat is not only a great conversation starter but an excellent way to get his target market to become familiar with his branding through repetition of seeing it.
If you decide to mail physical copies out, use packaging that ties in the same colours of your branding from the cover to stand out. If you can find packaging or decor that integrates pieces from your cover, even better! For example, if your book features a giraffe and you find some fun giraffe confetti? Add that in! It ties together with your branding and cover. Some authors will make stickers of a specific element or graphic from the cover and use that to seal the box or the wrapping paper around the book.
Overall, you can not only use the cover elements themselves in your marketing but share your experience and process of designing your book as a way to connect deeper with your audience.
Q/A Section
Q: If I already have a set brand, how do I communicate that to the cover designer? What do they need to know?
Rebekah: Making a mood board or finding examples that fit your vibe is extremely helpful. You can leave lots of notes, and if you get a chance to have a one-on-one with your designer, that’s a great time to collaborate. The more concrete visual examples you can provide, like your website, a couple of books you like or dislike, and clear ideas about the style you want, the easier it is to translate your vision.
If your brand is more established, a style guide can be very useful for designers. At FriesenPress, we have a style guide that helps with things like logo use and other brand elements. Think about what’s non-negotiable for your brand and communicate that clearly. The key is to give your designer enough visual reference so your ideas aren’t just abstract, this makes it 100% easier for them to understand your vision.
Q: What do you do if the USP of your book is a major twist that you don’t want to spoil via the cover or blurb?
Rebekah: That’s definitely challenging. It depends on how key the twist is to your book. If you can allude to things without giving it away, that’s ideal. Try to focus on secondary USPs, three or four other things that make your book unique. There’s probably one big USP, but lean into the others for marketing purposes.
You can also chat with your network to see what stood out to them in your book. Their feedback can help you identify other USPs that don’t give the twist away. Some covers even manage to incorporate a twist subtly, so that readers see it differently once they’ve discovered it. It’s tricky, but a really fun challenge if done well.
Q: I’ve published two children’s books in a series with two different illustrators. The third book will go back to the first illustrator. How do I maintain consistency?
Rebekah: That’s definitely a challenge. A good first step is to have a conversation with the illustrator or whoever your point of contact is. Explain your concerns, show them the previous books, and ask if they can tweak or blend the styles so the series feels cohesive. Illustrators have their own styles, but most will be open to finding ways to align the look.
Typography can also help unify the series. Even if illustrations differ slightly, fonts, layout, and other visual cues can create a sense of continuity. Not every element has to match perfectly, lean into the parts that can stay consistent across books to give your series a recognizable identity.
Q: How necessary are reviews or blurbs if you’re a first-time self-published author?
Rebekah: It really depends on your genre. In nonfiction, they’re often more important because they establish credibility, you want people to know your information is accurate and that you’re a knowledgeable speaker or authority in your field.
In general, review blurbs are less critical for the cover itself, though they’re always valuable in marketing. Readers do like to see what others think of your book, especially someone they follow, but if you don’t have blurbs ready, it’s okay. You can build them up later in your marketing efforts. If you can add a reviewer, great, if not, focus on other elements of your cover and your marketing strategy.
Q: How do you feel about an author photo on the back cover?
Rebekah: Author photos on the back cover are very common. It’s mostly a matter of preference and available space. A professional-looking photo is enough, you don’t necessarily need a paid shoot. It’s a good way for readers to connect with you.
I’d also add that in today’s world, where AI-generated content is everywhere, seeing a real human author can be a differentiator. A photo makes your book feel authentic and personal, which helps readers connect with you and your work. I’m a fan of including the photo if it fits your cover design and brand.
Q: If we’ve never written a book or studied writing, should we mention that?
Rebekah: Absolutely, if it aligns with your brand. Readers like to relate to authors on a personal level. Being a first-time author can even be one of your unique selling points.
If your brand is more professional, you may want to phrase it carefully, but for many authors, a little self-deprecating humor works well. Read other first-time authors’ blurbs for inspiration. You can make it funny, relatable, or honest, just ensure it fits the tone of your book and brand.
Q: For a nonfiction book about adult survivors in foster care, should the cover feature childhood photos or more artistic imagery?
Rebekah: It depends on your title and how you want the story to be received. A photographic cover can be striking, but it may feel too personal or intrusive. Illustrations or symbolic imagery are often a gentler way to handle serious topics while still being visually engaging.
Once you’ve settled on your title, test a few cover options. Look at comparable books on platforms like Indigo or Barnes & Noble to see what works in your genre and theme. The cover should feel appropriate, respectful, and still marketable.
Q: Since most books are shelved sideways, how important is the spine and how can it stand out?
Rebekah: Spines are definitely secondary. They should be cohesive with the rest of your cover design, not radically different. Don’t cram too much information, the goal is to make it look polished and integrated.
Look at other books in your genre for inspiration. Spines are a nice visual touch, but your front cover will always take priority. If your design flows from front cover to spine to back cover, it creates a professional, cohesive feel.
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