This is the first in a series of blogs we will be posting as we conduct a large study on eBook covers and their impact. We are undertaking this study to assist the eBook author in his decisions during the development of his eBooks. The goal is to help the eBook author improve the cover part of his eBook package.
The study will consist of reviews of current eBook covers and comments and opinions from readers and professionals in the industry. The completed study will be published as a FREE eBook to help the eBook author and promote the eBook Experience.
Study One
So what did the Study One show?
Study One concentrated on the eBook covers for the eBooks Amazon ranked as their top 100 Customer Favorites for 2010. We analyzed the Authors name, the Title of the Book and the appeal of the Cover (design and the merging of the three including their contrasts) of the 100 eBooks, trying to get some sort of sense of the importance of the cover to the buying process and to the overall eBook experience.
We tried to take into account that these were customer favorites and not necessarily the top selling eBooks for 2010. Also, we wanted to compare whether there was any correlation between the covers and who the authors or the publishers were.
The black and white covers were reviewed because the Kindle and the grayscale Nook allow direct purchases from the devices with no color enhancement. Therefore if the cover was going to be a part of the decision to buy, the prospective buyer should be able to read the title and the author’s name at the minimum.
Study Stats
Here are the basic stats from the study.
100 covers were reviewed which included:
45 from top ranked publishers
15 from top ranked authors
The covers were ranked into 4 categories: Good : Ave : Poor : Unreadable
A good ranking was awarded to a cover if the Author’s name and Title could be read in the thumbnail/cover and the image or background did not interfere with the legibility of the two.
Black and white covers and thumbnails reviewed
Authors name: 2 Unreadable : 11 Poor : 21 Ave : Balance rated Good
5 of the poor names from top publishers
1 of the Unreadable from a top publisher
Title of the book: 11 Poor : Balance rated Average or Good
5 of the poor titles from top publishers
Covers: 9 poor : Balance rated Average or Good
5 of the poor covers from top publishers
Color covers and thumbnails reviewed
Authors name: 18 Poor : Balance rated Average or Good
adding color with a bad font actually made things worse
6 of the poor names from top publishers
Title of the book: 10 Poor : Balance rated Average or Good
adding color with a bad font actually made things worse
5 of the poor titles from top publishers
Covers: 8 Poor : Balance rated Average or Good
4 of the poor covers from top publishers
Price: when we introduced price into the study
(used lowest 25 priced eBooks in the top 100 - range in price between .99 and 9.10)
Author name: 8 Poor : Balance rated Average or Good
1 of the poor names from a top publisher
Compared to color cover study above – 10 books with poor covers priced > 9.10
Title of the book: 1 Poor : Balance rated Average or Good
None of the poor titles from top publishers
Compared to color cover study above – 9 books with poor covers priced > 9.10
Covers: 2 Poor : Balance rated Average or Good
1 of the poor covers from a top publisher
Compared to color cover study above – 7 books with poor covers priced > 9.10
Top Authors: when we introduce the branded author to the study
Authors name: all average or above
Title of the book: 2 Poor (see Note *)
Covers: all average or above
Note: * Both poor cover titles are from one top author.
This bothered me so I went to a bookstore and looked at the hardback cover. The pictures on both books studied had great pictures which captured the mood of the author’s romance novels perfectly (problem seemed to be a light background). What I am saying is the books had beautiful images coming out of the hardback cover process but when the covers went digital, the effect was destroyed. The title and the background contrast became poor and part of the name and title were behind the Amazon logo.
As a side note, the author writes mystery novels under a different name and one of those eBooks was included in this study. It was rated one of the top covers in our study.
Takeaway 1
When you use the hardback cover to create the eBook thumbnail/cover, the subtitles and bylines don't work.
Takeaway 2
There is a big difference between grayscale covers and color covers especially at the thumbnail scale. So if you’re making your buying decision with a Kindle or black and white Nook, the thumbnail doesn’t help the decision.
Takeaway 3
Cover designers/project managers should take into consideration the expanded use of their covers in the sales cycle. A great cover in the bookstore maybe a complete flop on-line.
Takeaway 4
If price is an indicator of the value of the eBook (the more expensive, the more value), there was no pronounced correlation of the quality of the cover to the price. Although lower priced eBooks have a higher percentage of poor covers, I don’t believe the sample is big enough to draw any conclusion. High priced eBooks had poor covers also.
Takeaway 5
All top authors had good eBook covers.
Takeaway 6
Top publishers had some poor eBook covers.
Takeaway 7
One question that was raised. Should we try to develop separate covers for hardback and eBooks and get away from the one size fits all process we have now? Of course, the major assumption here is that the eBook’s cover is a part of the prospective customer’s decision making.
Takeaway 8
Color images will greatly improve the possibility of the cover affecting the buying decision.
Takeaway 9
Of course, the one thing missing from the study is the data on how many non-buying decisions were made because the prospective customer didn’t like the eBook cover.
Takeaway 10
When we went to the Amazon book sales page to view the covers enlarged, some of the covers were covered by the Amazon sales logo. Barnes and Noble has their sales logo below the sales cover which avoids the problem. In this study the Amazon logo covered either part of the title, part of the author's name or part of a second author's name 50% of the time. That's right. There were 50 cover problems out of a 100 covers studied.
Top List Source
Amazon Top 100 Customer Favorites for 2010
Future Parts of the Study
Expert opinions from leaders in the eBook publishing industry
Reference materials from leading authorities
Opinions and comments from eBook readers
There is more to come as the study accumulates information, data and comments and opinions. Check HBSystems Publication’s website on a regular basis to see the latest updated information from the study.
Also we will be publishing regular blogs to highlight findings and good comments.
If you have a comment or opinion, please comment here or email me at: jrm@hbspub.com. Good quality comments will be referenced in the study, along with credits for the comments and links.
Disclaimer
The study is based on the opinions of a few people and their review of eBook covers. We have tried to limit the scope of the Study One to the top 100 eBooks that Amazon customers favored. We are not professional cover designers and we are not looking at this from the best practices point of view. We are trying to look at this from the reader’s and consumer’s view point.
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