Selling a book is easier when your cover adds perceived value.
Compare for yourself.
Before: This is a researched collection of essays and studies elucidating the social stigma about adoption in the United States, aimed at educated adults and policy makers. Instead, the first cover looks like a sci-fi novel.
After: For starters, let’s add a subtitle. Placed at the top, relating to the infant, you can read it’s most important words (in bold capitals) from across the room. A black-and-white photo with a strong light source increases drama. Red and black are used effectively to evoke alarm in this context. Combined with the infant, you instantly know this an expose of adoption’s “other side”.
Another Designer’s Cover
Foster Cover
