Soft Greens of Spring Are Here Serenity Garden

Picking a Book Cover

April 30, 2010
By Deborah Norville

You can’t judge a book by its cover, but a book does have to have a cover.  For me, that means an insanely long fantasy-filled day with the photographer.  Check out this book cover photo shoot with the incredibly talented photographer Timothy Sanders-White.

Writinga book is MUCH easier than getting the thing published. PICKING THE COVER is one of the hardest parts.  Remember how hard it was to pick your "Senior Photo" a hundred years ago in High School? This is worse. MUCH worse!                      

Before you can pick a cover photo, you've got to get a picture made and I was lucky to work with truly the best team in the business for the photo session. It's a pain in the neck to get a picture made, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and do publicity photos for Inside Edition at the same time. Thomas Nelson Publishers got their cover photo.  I felt like I was trying out for America's Next Top Model!                            

We ended up with more than 1,000 pictures to choose from!  And that was after they took out the obvious rejects like closed eyes and dorky expressions!  YIKES!

When Choosing a Book Cover You MUST Remember:

  • The picture is supposed to "pop"
  • The cover should convey a sense of what's inside the book
  • The cover should "draw" people to pick the book up
  • The copy should share enough to "intrigue" but not give it all away
  • MOST IMPORTANT: The Author should NOT look FAT!
 

Here are six contenders for the cover for Thank You Power – and the one we finally all agreed on!