Cover reveals are a fun way to engage readers and create excitement for a forthcoming book.

For a successful cover reveal, you’ll need:

1. Final Cover Design
2. Cover Reveal Idea
3. One Central Place to Host the Reveal
4. Promotion Plan
5. Time and Place to Engage Readers

Final Cover Design
Publishers often test multiple cover concepts months ahead of publication. Testing a cover is not the same as the marketing cover reveal. For your cover reveal, you want the final cover design that will appear on your published book.

The idea of a cover reveal is that you’re showing a design the public hasn’t seen yet, so timing is important. Authors and publishers need to coordinate the small window between final cover design and when the cover shows up in reseller databases and online stores.

Cover Reveal Idea
Put some thought into an idea that’s fun or meaningful for you and your readers. There are as many different ways to reveal a cover as there are books! For example, a cover reveal for a baby book could mimic an expectant parent’s baby-gender reveal party, with a cake and a live video of the reveal. A mystery book cover reveal could take place over days, with clues or a scavenger hunt. Or you can simply let readers know what day and time to come to your site to see the new cover. Make it as simple or creative as you like.

Central Place to Host
Select one place where the reveal will take place. An author website is a great choice. All social media buzz can link back to one post on your site.

Promotion Plan
Decide how you’ll let readers know about the cover reveal. Some authors start promoting the cover reveal a month ahead. A long lead-up works well if you have a large social media following on multiple channels. Posting throughout the month on all channels, with a link to your cover reveal page on your website, brings your followers together to one place for the reveal. Some authors choose to have a short pre-reveal promotion and generate engagement after the reveal, with links to preorder the book.

Engage Readers
No matter what you decide to do for your cover reveal, the most important reason you do one is to engage your readers! So make sure you take the time to respond to reader comments and talk with them about your book’s message.

Real-time Example
I thought it would be fun to write this blog post about cover reveals by actually doing one!

The second edition of my book Surviving Deployment will release this fall. So let’s reveal that cover!

Surviving Deployment Cover Reveal