Book cover color?

[telophase]

Because it seems that all knowledge is contained in fandom my friendslist: I remember from some time ago that David Cherry once had to repaint a book cover from green to blue because he was told that green covers didn't sell as well. So I've always had it in my head that this is the case - is this true, if it was true then, is it still true now? Does anyone out there know? Bueller? Bueller?

I've poked around Google a bit but can't come up with any keywords that get me results that give info on what elements of a book cover design make a book sell and what don't - I just end up with a bunch of self-publishing sites and graphic art studios that want me to pay them a bunch of money to design a book cover.

Chalk this up to one of those things that occur to me at random and then I start obsessing over for no reason.

Comments

[telophase.livejournal.com]

In terms of manga, I note that Fruits Basket has a fairly simple cover: each one features one character, full body, sitting down. It might be interesting to sit down with the year's top-selling and worst-selling manga titles and just look at the covers to see what can be seen. *makes note of that as a possible future essay topic*

[zarq.livejournal.com]

Interesting! :) If I had time, I'd love to obsess over an essay like that.

BTW, publishers also advise new authors not to publish their books with white covers because they scuff and show dirt too easily. (My copy of Blink is only a month old and it already looks awful.) Yellow covers tend to fade, and ones with strictly low-contrast patterns (herringbone?) might give off a moire pattern in photography or on (tv) camera.

From a publicity standpoint, the cover also needs to look crisp and clear when printed in black and white: most book review sections do not print covers in color. For that matter, local bookstores don't print their book-signing flyers in color, either. :)

Oh, and if you're selling via Amazon, you might consider how the cover looks as an LJ icon. Amazon's book thumbnails are even smaller than that. Is the title still legible at that size?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

It's not me, it's someone else. I'll have to point them over here for the questions. XD

I'd never thought about the B&W thing. That makes a lot of sense.

[zarq.livejournal.com]

:-D Ah.


*nod* The b&w thing is a major annoyance. Some color photos actually develop a moire pattern when they're converted to grayscale.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yup. :) It's a creator who's debating different versions of a cover, but it's under friendslock, so I'm respecting wishes for anonymity. :) But it's interesting and useful information to have, at any rate, so I'm glad I posted it. :)