For a quick assessment of an indie trade book’s (either published or publication-ready) cover treatment
Use this “prompt” checklist as a quick check that everything’s as it should be in a trade paperback’s exterior, whether fiction or nonfiction. The book may be published or in galleys.
Note that this is not a teaching checklist. It assumes familiarity with a number of these aspects, rather than spelling out what is standard in each case.
YA and MG work may follow different conventions.
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When assessing a book’s cover, you’re looking at the overall design (that is, the composition, artwork, text placement) and reader appeal. As a baseline, the cover ought not to violate commonly held publishing standards — unless it clearly does so consciously, creatively, and to good effect.
Front cover.
Does the front cover include what’s to be expected? (Typically, title, any subtitle, author name, sometimes a testimonial, sometimes a tag line.) Is anything missing? Misplaced?
Is the information pleasingly balanced and weighted? (That is, with enough airy space, not too much, not too little. Neither swimming nor cramped.) Does the typeface work? Is the information integrated into the design?
How is the design? Does the cover capture the mood and tone of the book? Does it promise what the book then delivers? Is it appropriate to the genre? Is it sharp and professional?
Is the cover inviting? Does it strike out in any new directions, do anything fresh and insightful? Is it inspired?
Back cover.
Are the three most important content elements — the book description, one or more testimonials, an author bio — present? Is there an ISBN, a standardized bar code, and a human-readable price?
Does the typeface work?
Placement
Are all of these elements appropriately placed? Typically, book description toward the top, followed by testimonials about in the middle, followed by author bio at the bottom. The ISBN, bar code, and price in the lower right-hand corner. If there’s a tagline, it should appear above the description.
Alternatively . . .
If there is no book description, does it appear instead (where there are flaps) on the front flap?
If there is not even one testimonial (though this is rare), is there one on the front cover instead? Are there pages inside, at the front of the book, for the testimonials?
If there is no bio, does it appear instead on the back flap (where there are flaps) or at the back of the book, on the inside?
Substance
Is the book description a true description? (Not a statement of intent, not something else.) Is it original? (Not, for example, text repeated from the preface, introduction, or opening chapter.) Does it reflect the book’s contents? For fiction, the description should give the reader a sense of the story that will unfold, along with the tone or mood. It should be engaging, inviting, and compelling.
Are the reviewers authoritative individuals or organizations, with well-recognized industry cachet? Are they the appropriate authorities to weigh in on this book, given its genre and possibly also theme?
Is the author bio clean, crisp, sharp, and inviting?
If there is a tagline, is it sharp and incisive? Does it accurately tease the content?
Do any other included elements make sense? Is the whole of the back cover coherent and well-composed? Is it delightful?
Spine.
Does the spine include the author’s name, the book title, and the publisher’s name or logo?
Flaps.
Hardbacks with jackets have front and back flaps. Some paperbacks include French flaps. If flaps appear, are they done well? Is there a book description on the front flap, author bio on the back? If some other arrangement of info, does it make sense? Is it effective? Or does it come off as just some nonstandard treatment?
Does the design follow of a piece with the whole?
The hardback itself, apart from the jacket.
A hardback will present the front and back cover info and design on a dust jacket, with the book itself generally being a solid neutral color or two-toned, with contrast.
Does the book include the appropriate info on its spine?
Does it include the ISBN, bar code, and price on the back cover?