Nominations have been coming in for Maven Publishing’s first annual Business Book Covers contest, and we’d love to see more before the end of the month! If there’s a business book out there that has a cover that stands out to you, tell us about it. We’ll be taking nominations through October 31, 2016, and then calling for a vote during the month of November.
The author and cover designer of the winning book will receive special accolades from us, and the person who nominates the winning book will receive a free Maven book of their choice. We feel strongly about the importance of cover design for business books—we have seen covers make or break the success of books. We can’t wait to honor authors and designers who are doing all the right things with their business book covers and really making them stand out!
Use our contact form here to submit a nomination.
What’s an Example of a Great Cover?
We’ve been writing about this topic a lot lately, so we encourage you to take a look at our other articles and at our blog for all of the examples we’ve pointed to so far. Here is another book with a great, eye-catching cover that includes many of the elements we’ve been talking about:
Buy Buttons: The Fast-Track Strategy to Make Extra Money and Start a Business in Your Spare Time by Nick Loper (2016)
What I Like About It:
This cover immediately caught my eye because of the large green icon in the middle. That icon is recognizable to anyone who has shopped online (which is most people), and with the title, Buy Buttons, it is perfectly fitting.
A white background isn’t always the best choice because it can be difficult to see at thumbnail size, but this cover is an exception to that guideline. The title typeface is bold enough and large enough that it is legible, even when it is sitting in a sea of other thumbnail images of business book covers. With that green button on there, it draws the eye in even more.
Another aspect of this book cover worth noting is the fact that it is simple. The title, subtitle, author name, and one single icon are all that are included. It is common for business owners to want to include too many elements on their book covers—lots of text and/or multiple complex images. It’s important to remember that a beautiful piece of art does not always make a great book cover. Book covers need to be immediately digestible to a customer who is scrolling through options quickly.
The title of this book is interesting. I wasn’t quite sure what it meant until I read the subtitle. At first glance, I thought it might be a book about making your website customer-friendly, and making payment simple and obvious. After reading the subtitle and the book description, I realized it’s more about finding your niche and finding the customers for that niche.
I think it’s just fine that I didn’t immediately understand the title. It was provocative enough that it made me want to click through to the description of the book and see more. “On-the-nose” titles can be helpful for certain reasons, but pithy, less-obvious ones can be advantageous, too, as long as the subtitle and book description are more direct.
What Do You Think Makes a Great Cover?
If you’re a small business owner, I’m guessing you enjoy learning and researching your field (or general business tips). You’ve probably done a search for books about your industry before. What causes you to stop your search and look deeper at a book? What helps you decide which one to buy? If you’re like me, you’re busy and have to make your decisions quickly, so I encourage you to think about how a great book cover influences your choices.
If you ever plan to go a step further and write a book for your business, understanding the basics of book covers will be helpful!
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