March 26, 2025
How important is your book back cover? You know how important the front cover of your book is. The book back cover is equally indispensable. Think about the way a potential reader looks at a book they’re thinking about. They’re attracted by the cover and the title, but they want to know more. The reader turns to the book back cover to get an idea of what the book is about, what its mood is, and what kind of reading experience they’ll have.
If they read the entire back cover, they’re sold. They’ve decided that this is a book they want to read. Some readers may glance at the first few inside pages or the reference list of a nonfiction book, but at this point, they’re going to buy or borrow the book. Working together, the front and back covers have sold the book. Here are some tips for creating a book back cover that will do the same for you.
Every book back cover includes these critical elements.
Once you’ve done the challenging work of choosing the right title, make sure it stands out with a good cover design. Following are the elements of all book back covers.
The headline is a small line of text that reveals something about the book that isn’t obvious in the title. In a fiction book, it should intrigue the reader by setting the mood or offering a tantalizing plot. In a nonfiction book, it should establish the book’s authority as a source.
For instance, a horror novel might say, “A small country village, a strange visitor, and a confrontation between good and evil.” A nonfiction guide to the British royal family might state, “The definitive guide from the editors of Majesty magazine.” If the book is part of a series, the headline should state that: “Number 3 in the Kitty Cat Detective Agency series.”
One example—from the book Jaws by Peter Benchley—is the simple, scary line, “Don’t go in the water.” From reading that, you may not know that the book is about a shark, but you know it’s going to be a scary read.
Every book back cover should have an author bio. If you have education or life experiences that make you qualified to write on the book’s subject, include that in your bio. To market a nonfiction book, you must be an expert in the subject if you want readers to take you seriously. For a fiction book, you don’t need to establish your credibility—let the book do that.
Don’t include every detail of your childhood, schooling, and work life. Introduce yourself, say where you live, and list any awards you’ve won. Use your best photograph. If you need help to create an appealing author photo, consult a professional photographer.
If you’re lucky enough to have reviews of your book, put an excerpt from each on the book back cover. You can make it part of your blurb, or you can set it off as a separate graphic element.
Reviews make readers feel like the book has a stamp of approval from other readers or critics. What if the review was overall negative but said one positive thing about your book, like, “Well-written, but boring?” Choose that one positive word or phrase (“well-written”), and use it.
The book blurb is one of the most important parts of your overall book marketing and your book back cover. It’s the main thing that will convince people to pick up the book and buy or borrow it. Successful authors know that a well-written blurb is the ticket to book sales, so it’s essential to get it right.
What is a blurb? It’s like a movie preview, but it previews your book. You want to let people know what genre the book is, who the characters are, and what the basic plot is. You want to give out enough information to intrigue and attract your book reader without giving away too much.
The best part about creating the perfect blurb is that you can use it to promote your book everywhere, not just on the book back cover.
Professional publishing houses spend time and money crafting a book back cover and blurbs. That’s because they know that these two things can get a book from the “maybe” into the “definite” pile.
When reading the examples below, see how they draw you in with the promise of fascinating characters, interesting situations, and a question or conflict that only the book can resolve.
The first example is from a nonfiction book about the infamous Sarah Lawrence College cult:
An “extraordinary” (Nylon) firsthand account of the creation of a modern cult and the costs paid by its young victims: a group of college roommates
“Intense . . . [a tale] of hard-won survival, and creating a life after the unimaginable.”—Salon
In September 2010, at the beginning of the academic year at Sarah Lawrence College, a sophomore named Talia Ray asked her roommates if her father could stay with them for a while. No one objected. Her father, Larry Ray, was just released from prison, having spent three years behind bars after a conviction during a bitter custody dispute.
Larry Ray arrived at the dorm, a communal house called Slonim Woods 9 and stayed for the whole year. Over the course of innumerable counseling sessions and “family meetings,” the intense and forceful Ray convinced his daughter’s friends that he alone could help them “achieve clarity.”
Eventually, Ray and the students moved into a small Manhattan apartment, beginning years of manipulation and abuse, as Ray tightened his control over his young charges through blackmail, extortion, and ritualized humiliation. After a decade of secrecy, Larry Ray was finally indicted on charges of extortion, sex trafficking, forced labor, and money laundering.
Daniel Barban Levin was one of the original residents of Slonim Woods 9. Beginning the moment Daniel set foot on Sarah Lawrence’s idyllic campus and spanning the two years he spent in the grip of a megalomaniac, this brave, lyrical, and redemptive memoir reveals how a group of friends was led from college to a cult without the world even noticing.
–Slonim Woods 9: A Memoir by Daniel Barban Levin
Here’s an example from a book by celebrated novelist Richard Bausch:
Will Butterfield can’t believe it. His 75-year-old mother Holly is drunk and threatening to jump off the roof. Again.
Holly and Fiona, another elderly relative, won’t stop tormenting Will and his wife Elizabeth with their bizarre (though often amusing) antics. Between Will’s worries about his bookstore, The Heart’s Ease, and Elizabeth’s troublesome high school students, dealing with “the crazies” has become just too much.
But then something unexpected happens – Henry Ward, a neighborhood handyman, meets the two old women, and he, his daughter Alison, and his grandchildren are drawn into the Butterfields’ lives in surprising ways. Both a comedy and a love story – a first for Bausch – Thanksgiving Night is about the real meaning of family, and one clan that has many reasons to be thankful.
-Richard Bausch, Thanksgiving Night: A Novel
Remember to include publishing information:
A book back cover can make or break your book’s success. With a great design, a well-written blurb, and a catchy tagline, they can make your book irresistible to a potential book buyer. Professional printing will make them look their best, so when it’s time to print, talk to Publishing Xpress.
© 2025 Publishing Xpress. All Rights Reserved.
