Images and visual vocabulary are some of the most important means of communication. As an author, you are used to creating images in your reader’s heads. But when it comes to advertising, oftentimes words are not enough. On Social Media platforms like Facebook and Instagram images play a big role, especially Instagram is made for visual content only. But even on other types of media, people see images first, so you need something appealing so a user doesn’t scroll past your picture.
What is your goal?
First of all, you should think about what your goal is and what message you want to bring across. Do you want to generate likes, or encourage comments? Or do you simply want to inform, inspire, or maybe even provoke? Choose an image that fits your plans and add some text (on or below the image). Keep in mind not to use too much text on the picture itself, especially if you want to use your post as a sponsored post on Facebook, or otherwise, your promotion will be less successful. Here you can find a tool to check if your image is useful for a Facebook ad.
The Perfect Image
What is the perfect picture? Some would say that there is no perfect picture and that might be true. But there are indeed a few things to consider, to make your picture close to perfect.
- #filter vs. #nofilter: Most images you see online are edited, at least with a filter. When you take your picture with good lighting, you sometimes can skip the editing part. But most of the time it is useful to tweak the saturation, brightness, and saturation a little. Further below you can find programs and apps with wich you can easily edit your photos.
- Use a subtitle for your image, which might help to generate more comments
- Do you know the hashtag #instagramvsreality? The digital world is supersaturated with smooth and perfectly staged photos, which can be boring in the long-run! Show your rough edges, real life moments, surprises, or even conflicts and trouble. That way you are more approachable for your readers.
- Bright pictures with less saturated and cooler colors are supposed to generate more likes. But of course, it is hard to predict if that applies to everybody. In the end, you have to experiment with what your followers like.
Emotional Pictures
Emotional Images are a great way to be successful, especially on Social Media. If you are an author of fiction, romance novels, thrillers, etc. in particular, you pretty much always stir up emotions. But even in the non-fiction sector, you can achieve that with hard facts. Use the persuasive language of pictures to underline your message.
The Right Motif
You should basically use creative photos to stand out and therefore achieve better results. You can do that with the following motifs:
- Descriptive images: A great picture of your book or a graphic
- Close-ups/detailed views: Does your book have special characteristic? Show it!
- Emotional pictures: Create emotions, feelings, and associations.
- People: Show yourself, your team or your fans. Your readers are probably curious and would like to get to know you better
- Logo: Do you or your publisher have an own logo? Or do you regularly use certain symbols? That way you make it easier for your fans to recognize your books and brand.
Your Book in 3D
Feiyr offers you a unique tool, which you can use to generate a pretty image of your own book in 3D. All you need is the digital cover file of your book and you are ready to go! Log into your Feiyr account, choose a scene you like, a suitable background or background color and we will send you your individual image afterward. But you do not only get the image (like shown below), but also a cropped image of your book with no background. So if you want to display your book on your homepage for example with no background to fit your style, you can do that as well. Here you can find some examples:
Where Can I Find Images?
There are many different websites where you can buy images or download them for free. It is best if you inform yourself on the particular platform what license conditions apply, what the costs are and how/if you need to mention the creator.
You can buy fee-based images here:
You can download pictures for free (please always follow the terms of condition) here:
Online Programs to Edit Your Pictures (For Free)
Handy Smartphone Apps for Image Editing
- VSCO
- Snapseed
- ProCreate Pocket
- PhotoshopFix
- Boomerang
