Write a Biography
Who needs fiction, when real events can be just as fascinating – if not more? Whether you have a life story worth telling, or it’s that of a friend, acquaintance, or even a historical figure, biographies remain popular for a reason: people love hearing about (and getting inspired by) each other. This biography layout gives you the design specifications we think work particularly well for biographies.
Template Ideas
Presidential
This exclusive template doesn’t cut any corners. It will make a regal impression, with the downside of being expensive to produce and ship.
Professional
A respectable, no-nonsense template. More portable than a hardcover, whilst the larger-than-average size still makes it an imposing presence on the shelf.
Efficient
A template designed to strike the perfect balance between portability and readability, whilst minimizing shipping costs and maximizing your profit margins.
Biography Cover Ideas
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a biography without the subject’s face on the cover. It just makes sense – interested readers can see exactly who the book is about without having to read anything, and people who aren’t looking for a biography might get interested if someone they recognize is on the cover.
So, the face of your subject is probably a good choice for your cover. While that does limit your options compared to other genres, you can still express the style of your biography by how your present your subject. Below, you’ll find some ideas that you can emulate or build on. You can recreate all of these covers using our cover designer.
The Bold One
A stark, black and white close-up is a classic biography look. It tends to give books a clean, professional, and impressive look when pulled off right.
The close-up portrait combined with the centered text and a title in a contrasting colour provides an “in your face” look. Make sure you use a high quality image with an intense facial expression to add that extra gravitas to your subject.
The Confident One
For a less dramatic cover, try finding a picture of your subject that’s a bit more zoomed out, and where they’re sitting, leaning or standing casually. Going for a colour photo is also sure to make a more nuanced first impression.
If you’re planning on placing your title off-centre, make sure that you balance the text on your cover with the images, like we’ve done in this example.
The Minimalist One
Maybe your biography subject isn’t readily recognisable, or perhaps you really want to avoid using their picture. Maybe, their words are far more familiar to the average person than their faces, or it’s not one person you’re writing about, but many?
In that case, you can always opt for a minimalist cover with the text as the focus. This can be done in many different ways, but keep in mind that you want a really captivating title.
You can also get helpful tips on formatting your manuscript and designing your cover on our blog!
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