Book Cover Design Concepts
I’m busy writing my 4-part How to Write a Travel Guide series, and needed a break from writing so headed over to Canva to design some working covers for my titles. These will be tweaked before I publish these e-books, but I really like having some visual to pin my plans on.
I used a photo I took from the window of a dodgy motel in Bodrum, Turkey. We needed a cheap overnight stay for a night out on the town, and ended up in a back street of central Bodrum in a place that cost us $15 for the night. The bed was hard and uncomfortable, and the next door neighbours were smoking like it was an Olympic Sport.
Using your own photos for your cover design are a great way to avoid copyright problems.
There were two saving graces for the room we stayed in; the shower was a power shower, and the view from the window was colourful with an eye-catching perspective. I picked up on 4 of the colours in the image, and created muted tone versions of each of them.
When planning a series, it’s optimal to plan multiple book covers in advance so that you can confirm that your design approach will carry across multiple books in the series.
I’ve already identified some changes I’d like to make to each of the covers. But that’s the great thing about starting your cover design when you’re writing your book, you have some thinking time to make tweaks as your cover concept evolves.
How to Write a Travel Guide Book 1: PLAN IT
How to Write a Travel Guide Book 1: PEN IT
How to Write a Travel Guide Book 1: PUBLISH IT
How to Write a Travel Guide Book 1: PROMOTE IT
I have four different working titles for the books in the series; Plan it, Write it, Produce it, Market it… but then during my cover design process I stumbled across the 4xP approach … and the editions became Plan it, Pen it, Produce it, Promote it.