FIRST IMPRESSIONS: COVERS
IN THIS CHAPTER ✧ the significance of your first impression on a reader before they've even read the first page, talking about cover aesthetics and what you probably want out of a good cover, recommendations for graphic artists here on Wattpad, and more.
FEATURED IN THIS CHAPTER ✧ goodhYOUman , The_Avengers_Devil , tonyxstarks , CannibalisticNecro , evangingtherealm , -stfurose , audreyslark .

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What is the very first thing someone sees when they pick up a book or they click on your title?

A cover.

The cover of your book, published or printed, is the very first thing that will either attract or repulse your potential audience pool. Think about it for a second. We tell ourselves to never judge a book by its cover (because the content is unknown, you have 'no way' of telling if you'll like it or not) but subconsciously we are always making judgments and presumptions about anything and everything. It's not something we can help.

Humans are naturally attracted to beauty and things that are pleasing to look at such as symmetry, complimentary colors, handsome men and beautiful women, flowing fonts / fonts that match the tone of the story, atmospheric locations (overview of a city like NYC or even Dubai, forests, nature, etc) and sometimes objects which can catch our attention like a crown or sword.

Covers tell us, subconsciously, what the book is going to be about. And the quality of your covers is something that will always be judged.

If your cover is grainy, unclear, too dark to see, ANYTHING that looks, well, bad — chances are I can tell exactly what your writing style, fluency, and understanding of grammar / spelling / punctuation is. At least on Wattpad, I mean. If I see a cover that looks like it was made with heavy filters, an undoctored image of some actor or actress, a font that doesn't fit there, or a horrible color scheme, then I can probably guess you give about that much care to your writing as you do with your covers.

What I mean to say is — if you don't care enough to get a decent cover for your book, then you don't care about the quality of your work either.

Your writing will be riddled with mistakes, grammar / punctuation errors, and blatantly bad content. I don't mean any of this in a rude way and I'm not targeting this at anyone in particular, I'm just stating what I've come to realize about a certain group of writers on Wattpad. I'm also tired of seeing works like those (the ones with bad writing and cliché or ugly covers) getting all the recognition on Wattpad when we have amazing, talented, wonderful writers like goodhYOUman , evangingtherealm , The_Avengers_Devil , audreyslark , and -stfurose just waiting for love and stardom.

Honestly.

It pisses me off when good writers aren't the talk of the town.

But that's enough about ranting over what your cover quality tells me. You probably want to see examples and have more commentary over what makes a cover good.

LET'S TALK AESTHETICS:
What does "aesthetic" mean? Google says, "Concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty." And Google's right. We never doubt Google.

Let's look at images Google deems to be "aesthetic."

(Images found on Google.)

They're both of plants in nature — roses. Roses symbolize love, passion, hope. They're edited to look like an old photo or something more distorted like the second image. The "glitch" filter is one I've seen often and I don't know what it is about it but the effect is actually really aesthetic. It's pleasing to look at.

Now let's see what happens when I search "aesthetic covers."

It looks good, doesn't it? I personally like that cover, it's certainly unique. I like that the tiger is symmetric and in the middle of the cover (this is a playlist cover I think), and I also think the font fits and the font tells me so much about the contents of the music — makes me think it's serious and perhaps somber. Red and black look good together so that's a yes from me. Whoever made the cover, well done. Good job.

Let's see what pops up when I search "aesthetic book covers Wattpad."

I think this is a good cover.

It certainly fits the Wattpad standard aesthetic: a soft color scheme (white and light pink), the featured model matches the color of the background but still stands out, pink flowers are featured with a healthy splash of green, and close-ups of the model's eye and lips tell us more about the story along with the title. Oh and the font! It looks good, it fits the tone of the cover.

The author's username is cleverly hidden so it doesn't take attention away from the model, the graphic artist's name is out of the way but still visible. It looks wonderful, doesn't it?

This cover shows me that the author likes their work enough that they bothered to go through the time and struggle of getting a good graphic designer willing to make a cover for their story. They care enough to get it done. I can appreciate that struggle and patience therefore, if I came across this story, I would definitely click on it to read more in the description. I'd be interested. See how that works?

Good covers can please potential readers and lure them into reading your description / first page. They'll be much more likely to be drawn in. And THAT is where good summaries come into play. I'll talk about those in another chapter if you want me to because, I get it, writing summaries is hard.

GRAPHIC ARTIST SUGGESTIONS:
So Wattpad is a big place and finding graphic artists who are both still active and talented is actually really hard. Add on top of that that lots of graphic shops are closed because of the overwhelming amount of requests, or the fact that lots of graphic artists quit because of the crap they get from people / the lack of respect and credit they deserve, etc etc. and you'll realize that it's actually nigh impossible to get someone to make a cover unless you've got some sort of connection or friendship going on.

That's not always the case but it certainly seems like it.

Some graphic artists just stop but are still active and make graphics for their friends, which I think is actually wonderful. Like, I don't have anybody lining up to make me covers (nor have I ever been gifted one out of the blue without some string attached) but it seems nice. I wish I had friends who cared about my Wattpad, lmao.

Noteworthy graphic designers I've seen on Wattpad are CannibalisticNecro , goodhYOUman (who has since retired her shop, correct?), tonyxstarks , and probably more but I can't think of them right now, I'm tired, okay?

If you can manage to find someone who is good, dedicated, and an amazing person, then you've found a rare breed.

I love when I can compliment people because, yes, being a rare breed is certainly a compliment in this case. I love it. I love that I can adore people for what they do and how they handle their business because it's amazing to see in this Wattpad community. Y'all got talent, let me just say.

If there's any good designers you know of, drop their usernames here! I love meeting new people too so lets get some recognition going on up in here.

Alrighty, I'm tired of ranting about covers and first impressions. Thanks for reading, guys! If you have any suggestions for what I should talk about next, just leave me a comment and I'll definitely make sure it gets in my queue. Until next time, enjoy yourselves.

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PUBLISHED ✧ November 28, 2019.
(Happy Thanksgiving!)