5 things to think about when designing a crime novel jacket
What makes a crime novel a crime novel? Other, that is, than the manuscript itself.
One thing that helps to distinguish a crime novel as a crime novel is the book’s jacket. Walk into any bookshop and you can usually quickly spot where the crime section is (and not just because there are generally big signs saying ‘crime’). There is a distinct feel to the look of many crime novels and the way they are marketed.
With this in mind, here are some of the things you should think about when designing a crime novel jacket.
Style – and readability – of the font
It isn’t hard to think of the kind of fonts that are generally used on crime novels: bold, block text, slightly ghostly yet often-still-quite-chunky script and so on. It’s rare to find a crime novel with a flowing, romantic font on the front cover – that’s not to say you should never do it, of course, but it pays to think about the things that identify your novel for what it is. You don’t want readers to pass over your crime novel because you’ve chosen a font that makes it look more like a historical romance, for instance.
Use of images and colour
There’s also something to be said for the images that you use. There are plenty of types of images that can help to identify your book as a crime novel, but we also need to be careful about going too far the other way. Book covers shouldn’t be too graphic, for example. It’s also common to find relatively dark or muted colour schemes used on crime novel jackets, which is something else to consider when designing your own.
Choice of tagline
Ah, the tagline. This bit isn’t really mandatory, but an intriguing sentence or question to hook a reader’s attention can work well. If you’re going to use one, make sure it stands out but doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the text. The back cover is usually a good place for taglines; it allows them to be positioned prominently without getting in the way of your striking front cover.
‘Author of’
Writing a series of crime novels or had success with a previous standalone novel? Include an ‘author of’ bit somewhere on the jacket. As in ‘author of the DI X and DS Y novels’ or ‘author of the bestselling Z’.
Carefully selected quotes
If you’ve been lucky enough to get a great quote from a respected writer, particularly if they work within your own genre, put it on the jacket. This can be especially useful if you’re not currently that well known; a recommendation on a book jacket might not win thousands of readers, but if it persuades even a few to give your book a try, it will be worth it.
