A well-designed book cover will not only help define your book, but help sell your book. Are you wondering just how important it is to have a great design on the cover of your book? Now more than ever the front cover of a book needs to be striking and enticing to look at. And it needs to draw the reader in enough to at least pick it up. With the fast-paced lifestyle most consumers lead, the cover of a book needs to grab someone immediately. You basically have one shot. When someone walks into a Barnes & Noble, for example, they are hit with an endless supply of books. While browsing the shelves of thousands of books, the reader’s eyes are going to stop every now and then on a book because it’s well-designed – because something made them want to stop and look more closely at it. This might be due to color, type, overall design, imagery and/or the arrangement of all these things. it should make the reader want to stop and take notice….that’s part of the intent of design. The human eye scans color and shapes before it reads words. Chances are your eyes are going to go to something other than type (the title of the book) first. They’re going to notice the juxtaposition of elements, a catchy photograph, an arresting image, or even an unusual color. Then after that, they’ll read the title. You get one shot to do that. Remember, you’re competing with all of the other books in your section. You have to ask yourself, “How can I set my book cover apart from all of the others?” If the potential reader skips right past your book, you’ve lost your opportunity. Good design has always been important but it is especially important now. A good design should marry all of the components involved in a book to peak the interest of the reader. The design should appeal to the market the book is written for and should not only be visually appealing but also have reasons for making you want to pick it up, even if subtle. Color, typeface, type treatment, images, white space, etc., should work together to create and convey a feeling of what the book is about. We’re talking problems and solutions here. The problem is to entice the reader enough to notice and pick up the book. The solution? A good design. it should take all of the information and put it together to be more than just aesthetically pleasing. The cover should convey a feeling or an emotion of what the book is about. The design needs to work. Having an attractive cover does nothing unless it also invites the reader to open the book, look inside, and ultimately decide to buy it. Everything about the design has a purpose. Color evokes certain feelings and emotions, as do images. All of these elements need to work together to appeal to the target market. If may seem simple but you wouldn’t use the color red and a photo of a man on a book written to appeal to women and the importance of rest, for example. Good design should not be offensive, it should compel the reader to dig deeper, to look further and to see what the book has to offer. Your book needs to cut through the clutter. Your book cover needs to look different from the rest. Especially in the spiritual and religious section of books. Think of your book not just as a stand alone book, but as a book that’s in a sea of thousands and thousands. You can’t have tunnel vision and only concentrate on your book because it’s competing with so many others. That’s why the front cover is extremely important. A good cover can make even a bad book look enticing. But a great cover can make a good book even better. It would be shame for you, as an author, to spend months and years of researching and writing a book, only to have the cover fall short and not sell any books. Don’t find yourself at the end of your project trying to get things done quickly and cheaply, just trying to get your book on the shelves. Take the time, spend the money, and get a great cover design because ultimately, it will help sell your book.