REMINDER: Deadline for BAIPA Book Cover Contest Is November 26

(We posted this last week, but only a few of you have submitted covers, so this is a rerun. You have 11 days before the deadline.)

The deadline for our annual book cover contest is November 26. At our December 7 meeting, the presentation will feature a panel on book cover design featuring David Kudler, John Byrne Barry, and Suzanne Fyhrie Parrott — register here — followed by a live critique of several BAIPA authors’ book covers. Then after the presentation, we’ll vote on the best book covers. 

We are soliciting book covers for two purposes: (1) for the brave among you, to be discussed and critiqued by the panel and participants, and (2) for the contest. When you submit for the contest, in the form below, you will have the option of clicking yes if you are open to the live critique. We will have time for two or three critiques.

You can submit a finished cover or a work in progress that you’re seeking feedback on.

Instructions:

1. The contest is open to any book authored by a current BAIPA member, whether you worked with a designer on the cover or you designed it yourself. Any year of publication is fine. (Even if it’s not published yet.) You can submit a cover you’ve submitted before, unless you won. Only one entry per author.
2. Deadline is November 26, and you must be a current BAIPA member prior to that date as well. If you are not yet a member, you can join here.
3. Include your contact information and your genre. Upload a cover that’s at least 1000 pixels wide.
   
   
4. If you are coming in person, please bring a copy of your book (or your cover) and we will display it. We will also put the covers onto slides that we’ll display at the meeting before we vote. Everyone present will get three votes.
5. We will group the books into categories, so there will be multiple winners. Last year, we grouped them into: (a) nonfiction, (b) memoir, (c) mystery & thriller, (d) children’s, and (e) general fiction, historical fiction, and poetry. This year’s categories will be determined by the volume of submissions in each category.

Winners get a free workshop in 2025. 

The 3 Promises a Cover Makes

Before you submit your cover, here’s an excerpt of David’s presentation from last year, which he calls the “The 3 Promises a Cover Makes” — genre, tone, and subject matter. These promises will be among the criteria that your cover will be judged — by BAIPA members at the December meeting as well as potential readers at a bookstore or online retailer.

Genre

First is genre. At a glance, you should be able to tell what the genre of the book is, without having to think very hard. 

In the image below, there’s no mistaking James Patterson’s genre. It not only looks like a thriller with its fiery red and black color scheme, it says thriller in big bold letters.

All Systems Red is not as blatant, but the image of the character in the space suit/armor signals science fiction pretty clearly. 

And a sexy and/or scantilly clad man (or woman) is widely recognized signal of a romance.

Covers can also telegraph subgenres, like Death on a Winter’s Day, which is a cozy mystery, with its fireplace and fur-bedecked woman and her lap dog. As opposed to a hard-boiled detective mystery, which is more likely to include a gun or menacing man shrouded in darkness. 

Tone

Tone is trickier, but also something a potential reader should be able to grasp in a quick moment. Is your book scary? Funny? Dark and violent?

Though tone can overlap with genre, books in the same genre can have wildly different tones.

For example, below are three books about clowns.

The first is a serious academic treatise. Not funny at all. The second is a romantic comedy. The third, by Stephen King, may feature a clown, but it’s horror, not comedy.

The main thing to remember here is the tone of the cover needs to reflect the tone of the book.

Subject Matter

What the book is about also overlaps with genre and tone, and can be challenging to depict, but important in attracting readers. You need not be literal about the subject — you don’t need, for example, to show a scene from the book —  but you do want to communicate what the book is about.

The Danielle Steel book is not just a romance, but a kissing book. About these two paramours under the umbrella. The Law & the Heart is a space/robot book. The Goldfinch is a literary mystery.

We look forward to seeing you and your book covers on December 7.