There is a possibility I shall be able to upload this. Since the virus, everyone is online and my internet is useless for no more than messaging.   
      A friend has written a book. Like so many who are in lock down, she is putting her time to productive use! So in keeping with this, I decided to record the things I have learned from all the mistakes I have made with my first book cover. lol The mistakes I make now, are intentional! lol!
     First of all, if you like to play with programs and have one, there are so many tempting cool things you can do with fonts! You can bevel and emboss, glow and outline. Well, as much fun as it is, DON'T DO IT! Look at other book covers! Sadly, there are standards and although they can appear very bland with their fonts, there are reasons for it too numerous to get into! Everything from readability to copyrights!
    Oh yes, there are copyrights on fonts too! You can buy fonts outright however I also know some are open to commercial use and some are acceptable within the program you are using. Each font is different and needs to be researched! If in doubt, just buy it but make sure it is compatible with the print formatting program you are using such as InDesign with Adobe or Affinity Publisher which was voted number one by Apple if that means anything...I digress, get to that in a moment!
     So, there are two types of fonts: serif and san serif.

As you can see, both have their place. Generally San Serif is used in books and was developed so that the letters are planted on a white background and have bases and tops for each letter to help make it easier to read in a line while serif is more of a easier to read on images and posters sort of deal. Of course, with the advent of computer, fonts such as Georgia have been developed to be more universal for on screen or on paper. 
     Generally speaking you want to limit your text types. As many as there is to choose from, this can be difficult but do it! When it comes to the flight plan in your publishing program life will be so much easier! Not to mention, the eye is not processing all over the place!
     Also, make sure your font is easy on the eye. As fun as it is for all sorts of crazy and interesting fonts with all sorts of creative properties, you want the text to be readable! Many of these fonts were designed for posters and graphics, and not a book cover!
     Look at other book covers and see what they are doing! Look also at them as tiny little thumb nails. That is how they will be cruised on Amazon and so on so might as well make them readable when they are small. This alone has changed how book covers are looking! When in doubt, do what everyone else is doing unless you have a reason.
    Be careful that the images in your cover are not "loaded". By this I mean, do not have other associations! Words and images can often very quickly generate other ideas in someone's head! So be sure of what it is you are implying and presenting matches both the font and the images.
   Think about composition. It is important and make sure you leave the eye places to rest! Nothing worse than a cover so busy your mind goes, screw it, and moves on!
    Colours have associations also, so you can use this to your advantage, and keep in mind yellow is NOT a good font colour.For some reason in graphic design words it is said to not process very well by the eye.
    Make sure you are aware of bleed and other printing issues and keep your fonts within acceptable guidelines for the cover layout. You can download templates now so that makes it is so much easier!
      For Indie publishers, think about whether you want to create register a publishing name. It will cost you if you want to, however by having a registered business (mine is Cavall House Publishing), you can create a logo and have it on the spine...this way, you can sort of trick the could-be reader into thinking it is through a publisher. Many are snobs about self publishers and won't look at a book if it isn't by a publisher.
     The irony is, there are many fly by night small publishers out there and trust me, they are awful! They have no clue about layout or margins and frankly, you likely can do a little research by looking at a few of your favourite books and do a better job yourself. All they do is take the profit. As for regular publishers, without an agent, many will not look at you unless you have a mailing list and following, and frankly, if you have that, why bother with them? Ingram Sparks is both a printer and distributor and that is where most of them go anyhow! If you do have an agent (since many will not take a look at your manuscript without an agent and will not allow simultaneous submissions. I had a manuscript I have decided to do myself tied up for over 9 months while they deliberated! That is nuts. In the end they didn't go with it because in that time, they changed what the criteria was they were posting! Never again! I have heard too many horror stories about a small press publishing someone's book, and not being able to get a second printing even though there was a demand because the publisher was too small and had moved on yet they held the rights to the book! 
     If you do decide to get a publishing name, it is no big deal and in Canada, this means you can get free ISBN numbers and register it with the publishing house name. In the USA, you pay but it isn't much! I would HIGHLY recommend NOT using the ISBN provided by the ones printing your book. It is basically putting it in their name, not yours! Also, some will say put a price in the ISBN Bar code, some will say no. In these uncertain and unstable times in the economy, you can always go back and change it but I just wouldn't bother putting it on.
    And, remember Indie publishers, all pages are seen as colour (if you are doing it all with images), while with regular publishing companies they can set up each page as to whether it is colour or not. So, if you want to fake it and look like a real publisher, have a colour logo on the spine and a black and white one inside on the text page. And the more you can associate with yourself the better! By this I mean, you want the name to be associated with you or your private publishing name, not someone else. That bar code is set up so that it can be read and understood and has a ton of information in just one scan if you pay attention and fill in all the meta data when uploading for print. 
    Which reminds me, a little tip, when formatting the book if it is only text make sure you convert to grey scale or it will be costed out as colour even though it is black and white!
     So, lastly, one thing. If you know the rules and want to risk breaking them, then go for it. For instance the children's picture book I am working on now, is NOT your average children's book. After working for years with both gifted readers and children/teens with reading issues, I set out to create a cover that is not age specific! I wanted it to be a mature enough to be carried by a teenager without being tormented and not be so childish a gifted reader would be turned off. The topic and info is relevant and factual and will tickle the fancy of many young minds, or even older minds if they want.
      This is not quite the new one: