STEP 4 | What really matters are the 'cover' and the 'title'

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Hello ☺️
We are starting Kindle again today 🤭✨️

When reading books related to Kindle publishing,
'The most important thing is the cover!!'
is written everywhere.

At first, honestly,
'Is it that important?' I thought 🤭

But the more I researched,
and the more Kindle books I read,
I realized that the cover is indeed truly important.

Today,
I would like to firmly grasp
why the 'cover' and 'title' are important ☺️✨✨

#Maki's Kindle Challenge vol.19

Kindle Publishing: Making a picture book with Canva

STEP 5: The reason why the cover is important

My picture book, as a non-celebrity

Is the 'cover' the most important thing in picture book publishing?
No, no, you'd want to say it's the content, right 🥹

But for my picture book, as a non-celebrity,

probably
if it isn't chosen by its cover,
the content will never be read in a lifetime.

It's a bit harsh, but I think this is the reality.

In the world of Kindle,

On Kindle, books are lined up in a list.

All that is displayed is
a tiny, tiny cover image and the title.

The contents are not visible.

Unless you are a famous author,
people won't choose you based on your name.

That is precisely why
the initial criteria for judgment are
only the 'cover' and 'title'.

This is an undeniable fact.

I myself also choose by the 'cover'

In fact, I also

sometimes search for 'what kind of picture books are there?'

Since I am subscribed to Kindle Unlimited,
eligible picture books are free to read.

But I don't read all of them.

The ones I open are

・Those whose covers caught my interest.
・Those whose titles attracted me.
・Those whose illustrations attracted me.

That's all.

In other words, I am
unconsciously on the side of 'choosing by the cover'.

Which means

I think the same thing will happen
when I become the one publishing.

If you don't spark interest with your cover,
people won't even look at the sample.

The cover is also what creates opportunities.

No matter how much heart you put into the story you created,
no matter how wonderful the illustrations are,

If it isn't clicked,
it will never be read.

But conversely,
if you can get them to stop and look at the cover,
even a beginner has a chance‼️

That is why,
the first thing you should pour all your effort into is the 'cover'.

The cover is not just the face of the book,
but the 'entrance' to meeting your readers.

Since it is the first step to being read,
I realized why so many people emphasize that 'the cover is important' and go to such lengths to tell us so☺️✨

3 things you must do for your cover

1. Who is this book for??

Do you remember?
It is the same as STEP 0☺️☺️

In order to be found by the people you want to reach,
you must first convey 'who it is for'.

Color usage,
the atmosphere of the illustrations,
and font selection

You need to make an effort to convey
the 'people you want to reach' through your cover.

▷Reference article

2. Convey the worldview

The second thing I told you in STEP 0 was,
'how you want the reader to feel when they finish reading'.

On the cover, before opening the book,

・Is it a gentle story?
・Is it full of energy?
・Is it a bit bittersweet?

I hope the "atmosphere" of the story comes across.

I would be happy if people think
"I want to enter this world"
even before they open it. ☺️✨

③ Create a "want to read" feeling with the title

Knowing that the cover should be easy to understand,
when I lined up the picture books I liked,
I found a common point.


The title text is overwhelmingly easy to read.

Since everyone has their own preferences
for the picture books they like,
this is just my case.


Picture books where the title is hard to read,

for example,
・The title is displayed in small text
・It is buried in the background
・The font is too stylized and hard to read

I didn't choose such picture books.

Because it's a picture book,
I want to be careful about the placement of the
illustration + title.

In order to have the people I want to reach pick up the picture book,

give shape to your thoughts on the cover.

It's difficult to express it on just one sheet of paper, but
I want to express it as much as I can. ☺️✨

When you all take on the challenge
of a Kindle picture book,
please pour all your effort into the "cover"! 😆

If you have time,
to learn your own tendencies,
I think it's a good idea to open the Kindle page
and just look at the covers of many books. ☺️

I admire books with wonderful covers. 🤭🤭

▷ Milieho-san's
article on taking on the challenge of Kindle publishing through self-study
and renewing the cover!

You will understand how important the "cover" is,
so please take a look!

▷ Click here for the article on starting the Kindle challenge

▷ Click here for the magazine