Review: Don't let the cover fool you
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 3, 2012
Ok, first of all I have to admit I was a little skeptical about this book based on my humble opinion that this book's cover looks a little cheesy.  If you're going to talk about creating a great cover I feel like the book itself would have a little more "sleek" looking cover.If you felt the same way, don't worry.  The advice inside is extremely solid.  I say that as someone who's both hired graphic designers for my book covers and designed them myself.I'm assuming if this book has interested you, you already know the importance of an eye-catching and appealing cover, so I won't go on to address how important a great looking book cover is for authors to have.Kristen talks about how to design an eye catching cover, the mistakes to avoid (like getting in trouble for using copyrighted photos and what to do instead), and then goes on to show a few sample covers relating to each topic.She also talks about the steps to hiring a graphic designer to ensure you get something you're happy with.Some things I would like to have seen would be a few more visual examples.  For instance what stock photos look like in isolation vs. how they were added to a book cover.  It would be nice if there were some links to photo editing tutorials and maybe even some "template" style covers that are easy to copy for "do it yourself" people like me.While she does name a few good fonts to use and effects to use, having a small list of say the top 10 best looking (or most common) fonts would also be cool.I'm speaking in terms of what I would personally have found to be helpful, but for the price of the book I suppose that could be too much to ask.Overall, I found this to be a pretty nice guide that can spark some new creative cover ideas you may not have thought of.