Book cover size
Book Cover Size

Book Cover Size

A well-designed book cover size is the key to becoming the bestselling author or attracting more customers. It leaves a lasting impression on bibliophiles.

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Why you need the right book cover sizes

A book cover isn’t just an external layer that it gets. It's the face of a book that reflects the context or the mood. In general, a book cover reveals the synopsis of the book in the most engaging way creating a gush of curiosity in the minds of the potential readers/buyers. As a cover represents the soul of a book and speaks volumes about a business if it’s intended for promotion, it needs to be of the right size. There are various standard book sizes that you can pick according to your needs to introduce the theme of your book to the readers or attract clients.

Standard book cover sizes

The standard book cover sizes are:

TYPE DIMENSION
General EBook 20.8 x 33.3 in
Kindle EBook 22.2 x 35.6 in
Kobo EBook 14.9 x 20.1 in
Wattpad EBook 7.1 x 11.1 in
Royal Folio Book 12.5 x 20 in
Royal Quatro Book 10 x 12.5 in
Royal Octavo Book 6.25 x 10 in
Royal Sixteenmo Book 5 x 6.25 in
Royal Thirty-Two Mo Book 3.13 x 5 in
Royal Sixty-Four Mo Book 2 x 5 in

Explore & Customize Book Cover Templates to Make Your Own

Book cover size best practices

What’s the theme of your book? If you’re designing it yourself or hiring a book cover designer, you need to clarify it in the first place. You can develop the concept all by yourself or ask your designer to do the same.

Before you start designing your cover, picking the right book cover size is essential. Not every book is the same. Refer to the book size and cover size guide to pick a cover and avoid mistakes.

One of the best ways to create a fantastic book cover is to highlight only a single component. It helps that element to dominate the whole design. Besides, it also helps in drawing viewers’ attention instantly. The element could be anything — a symbol, image, or letters.

Keeping every element on your book cover of the same size will be of no use. It's because none of them will be able to catch the attention of the readers. So, mind the scale and sizes of such elements. To draw attention instantly, you can highlight the title. The title is the crucial element of a book cover size.

A title in the bold letters, brighter and bigger, attracts the attention instantly.

Whether your book size is small or big, a cover proportionate to its size means success. The same goes for the typefaces you choose for your cover. The right typeface can make your cover, but the wrong one can break it in no time. Avoid cluttering by picking just one or two typefaces. Go for sans serif font family for visual relationship and harmony. Do not use any size below eight points.

If the cover design is meant for printing purposes, make sure its resolution is high. Therefore, if the design is saved in a smaller size, chances are it may not work well when scaling up the size. Authors who are planning to publish their ebook; they must first think the cover for printing purpose so that they may release the printed version in the future too.

Book cover mistakes to avoid

Some of the most common book cover mistakes that you should avoid are:

1

Miscommunicating genre

This might seem a subtle mistake, but it's a bigger one. If your book is an action thriller but its design interprets it as a psychological thriller, it may confuse the reader. The expectations of readers may get smashed, and they will run away from buying your book in the future.

2

Using too cliché design elements

Your book size and cover size are perfect, but if its design isn't up to the mark, it may end up looking like a boring design. You can add an exciting element to make it unique, but don't focus entirely on it.

3

No hierarchy among design elements

Every book cover design should feature a simple hierarchy of components. It's the underlying structure on which the success of your cover depends. Often authors end up creating a DIY cover that actually lacks hierarchy. Right from the author's name to the title, the primary visual, and supporting visual should match with one another.

4

Using too many fonts

Good typography consists of not more than two fonts that are contrasting with each other. A maximum of three fonts can be used. Anything more than that is a design mistake. Use the third font, either for a tagline or supporting text.

5

Adding too much text or too many elements

Too many elements or text can ruin the purpose of your book cover. It’s simply because too much text ends up confusing a reader. Also, it becomes difficult for them to understand the context of the book.

Where can you find the best book cover ideas and inspiration?

Branding logo maker

Some of the best book covers have been designed from graphics or ideas borrowed from various platforms. Designhill, Canva, Placeit, etc. are some of the most preferred platforms that book cover designers explore for better ideas and inspiration.

No worries if you don't want to take help from these platforms. You will always have creative freedom. You can upload your own image and custom-tailor it to create a striking book cover on any given point.

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book cover size

Final Thoughts

The purpose of a book cover is to catch the attention of the potential buyers, stir their curiosity, and then compel them to buy the book. A well-designed book cover not only includes these characteristics but also creates a lot of buzzes. A standard book cover size with cohesive visual elements is sure to entice the audience.

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