Picture this: you’re browsing your local bookstore, letting your eyes drift over the many titles. Suddenly, it appears — a book with a cover so enticing, you simply have to take it home.
Something like this has probably happened to you at some point… but have you ever wondered why? What elements go into a cover design that’s truly irresistible?
And as an author, how can you harness those elements to make your own cover a success?
Well, wonder no more: in this post, I’ll provide five handy tips to help you design a stellar cover of your own! I’ll also examine a few captivating contemporary covers that have applied these principles to gain success in 2025. Let’s get into it!
1. Experiment with genre expectations
A book’s cover should, first and foremost, signal its genre. Horror is full of disturbing imagery and foreboding color schemes, while cozy fantasy covers tend to be whimsical and inviting. And thrillers? Those cover designers love their photographic realism.
There’s nothing wrong with leaning into these tropes — quite the opposite! You should work with cover design trends so that passerby can identify your book’s genre at a glance. Stray too far from these conventions and you risk alienating your audience.
So try to build on the strengths of popular trends, and innovate just enough that your book stands out from the crowd, but not so much that potential readers won’t recognize the genre.
Take romance, for example. 2024 saw the release of Funny Story by Emily Henry, One Star Romance by Laura Hankin, and The Rule Book by Sarah Adams — see the similarities?
Each of these covers follows the same vector-based art style popularized by Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game back in 2016. They all also feature their main romantic pair front and center, so their genre is obvious to any errant viewer. With that in mind, let’s examine Lyla Sage’s Swift and Saddled to “illustrate” how you can iterate within your genre:
Romantic couple as the focal point? Check. Thick lines with a distinct color palette? Check. Compelling illustrations that are almost “cartoon-like”? Also check. Swift and Saddled might follow the typical design trends you’d expect from a romance, but the old-school, comic book-inspired art style gives it a unique visual flair that sets it apart.
2. Center your title with eye-catching typography
The retro aesthetic isn’t the only thing that jumps out about the Swift and Saddled cover — notice the old Western-style font used in the title? Some of the most lauded covers of the past few years feature bold, eye-catching typography that sticks with viewers. (Indeed, it can also be useful to use “signature” typography in your book’s promotional materials.)
The saloon-style lettering of Swift and Saddled only scratches the surface of what bold, typography-centered covers can achieve. Open Throat by Henry Hoke is another excellent example of this: the lettering is hand-drawn to resemble razor-sharp teeth, then distorted to fit inside the open mouth of a roaring wildcat. This creates a striking focal point which, when paired with the shocking neon pink background, is practically guaranteed to grab readers.
Meanwhile, Salman Rushdie’s Knife keeps things minimalist with an elegant serif font on a matte cream background. The star of the show here is the blade-like line in place of the “I”, as if a knife is literally slicing the title in half. The result is some dangerously clever interplay between the text and imagery — alluding to the serious subject matter that readers can expect within.
Speaking of which…
3. Use imagery to indicate thematic depth
Knife is not the only recent book to use symbolism in its visual design. Some of the most memorable cover designs from recent years have added intrigue by incorporating visual elements reflecting the story’s themes and central conflict. This idea is on full display on the cover of Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo:
Here, the viewer gets a top-down view of a chess board adorned with five distinct game pieces. The larger board, along with the players on either side of it, is hidden from view — implying that the reader is not fully privy to whatever game is (presumably) taking place in this story. Each piece also casts its own shadow, indicating that this isn’t just a simple game between two players, but a tangled web involving multiple parties — each with their own agenda.
Your cover design doesn’t need to go into quite as much depth as Intermezzo’s, but including a few alluring, narrative-foreshadowing details will take your cover from good to great.
4. Design with mobile in mind
Of course, great cover design isn’t just about creating eye-catching artwork — it’s also about making sure the cover “works” at different sizes. Bookstores aren’t the only place that potential readers are finding your novel (if even there) — more often than not, they’re discovering it through social media, online retailers, or recommendation apps.
A cover that looks perfect in a full-page print display might lose its impact once scaled down and compressed for viewing on a tiny screen. So keep digital displays in mind throughout the design process! This doesn’t just mean phones and tablets, either — from Kobo to Kindle, digital reading is all the rage these days, and many popular devices only display in black and white.
Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead is mostly monochrome to begin with, so this cover looks outstanding no matter the filter. You needn’t take the Demon Copperhead approach and largely discard color, but it is a possibility to keep in mind throughout the design process.
If you want your cover to translate well to grayscale, avoid using too many similar mid-tones, subtle color gradients, or small, detailed illustrations with minimal contrast.
5. Test, test, test!
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder — so to ensure broad appeal, you should get many beholders’ eyes on your cover before you finalize it. Remember, the cover is an essential part of your book’s marketing process, so it pays to be thorough!
To ensure your design captures the core appeal of your story, try asking a team of beta readers for their thoughts. What tone and genre do they think it evokes? Does it feel like anything is missing? Don’t be disheartened if their feedback doesn’t align with your expectations — it’s all part of the process.
Lastly, if you’re not confident in your visual design skills and this article has you feeling overwhelmed, consider hiring a professional designer for your cover instead. It may cost you a pretty penny upfront, but it’s an investment in your future book’s success: the stronger your cover, the more likely it is to drive sales.
Whether you choose to DIY your cover or bring a professional aboard, remember that this is your book — don’t feel pressured to conform to what’s popular in 2025. Who knows? Maybe your idea will shake up the formula, inspiring a fresh new wave in cover design. The only way to find out is to get designing.
Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a platform that connects authors with the best publishing resources and industry professionals to help them publish their books. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories.
