Create a brilliant cover for a humorous memoir about overcoming infertility

Influence Publishing

We’re an independent publisher currently seeking a strong cover design for a book written by author Julie Selby entitled “Infertility Insanity: When sheer hope (and Google) are the only options you have left”. The book offers is a memoir detailing the author’s own struggle to get pregnant. She approaches the topic with honesty and humour, giving the reader some hope, some laughs, and a sense that they are not alone is this journey (and that sometimes it all works out!). By blending humour and a touch of sarcasm with insights and information on specific treatments, this book takes a hybrid storytelling / informational approach to the topic.

The target audience is primarily women (and/or couples) in their mid 30s who are dealing with infertility. Some may be career women, some not, some highly educated and some not. Income levels vary. Psychologically these people are likely stressed and anxious, are looking for the “ cure” and a way to get a baby. They often feel isolated and that nobody understands their situations. Ultimately they are looking for something to try that works, or just to relate to somebody that has been through the same thing

The author is a senior advertising and marketing exec so is looking for a well-designed book cover that she would be proud to be associated with—in a sense this is a calling card for her.

A book cover that smartly and creatively reflects the title of the book and its content without falling into cliche or stereotype. We’re looking for something fresh. The ideal cover will capture the concept through a relatively simple design, making effective use of white space, typography, and associative images, illustrations or graphics to convey a theme that works in tandem with the title to communicate to the reader, at a glance, what this book is about. In short, the cover must be clean, simple, and easily understood.

It is alright to incorporate humour, but please keep the readership in mind — humour used cannot be belittling, dismissive or insensitive in any way.

The book cover is 5.5” x 8.5” in size. It is okay to use photos, illustrations or graphics, though our sense is this cover may lend itself best to illustrations or graphics. Modern / edgy display fonts and creative typography are preferred over standard fonts.

The text to be used, again, is:

Title: Infertility Insanity
Subtitle: When sheer hope (and Google) are the only options you have left
Author: Julie Selby

AVOID CLICHES

We would like to avoid cliches and overused imagery for books in this category. To that end, please avoid defaulting to:

- eggs (human, chicken or otherwise)
- sperm
- storks
- crazed women
- martini glasses
- pregnancy tests

These would require an incredibly creative, intelligent treatment to stand out in the market. There are no limitations on colour scheme, but please avoid simply defaulting to blue and pink. These are overused as well. If these colours are incorporated, there must be a clear (and effective) reason for doing so.

POSSIBLE INSPIRATIONS

To give you a better sense of the book’s content, this is a list of some of the treatments (standard and alternative) that the author tried herself and mentions in the book.

- IVF (the main medical treatment used)
- Chinese acupuncture and medicine
- Reiki (including past life regression)
- Art therapy
- Vision boards
- Fertility yoga
- Meditation
- Supplements
- Speaking to dead people (psychics)
- Massage
- Immune testing
- Couples counselling

We toyed with the idea of styling the cover as a turn-of-the-century apothecary label (see attached examples), but to make this work the designer would still need to come up with a simple, conceptual image to tie it in. Designers do not have to work with this concept, it’s just a possible inspiration.

OUR KEY CONSIDERATIONS

Above all the cover must: work with the title, be original, and stand out from the crowd. Our preference will be for covers that achieve this in line with the guidelines we’ve set out above.

The attached examples – "One Good Egg", "Why Mummy Drinks", "Middle G" and "The Art of Sleeping Alone" have been chosen to reflect the simplicity and modern feel we are looking for.