by Melinda VanLone

Last time here at Book Cover 101 we talked about how romance cover trends are changing in a huge way toward more illustrations instead of photography, but they aren’t the only covers that are shifting with the times.

Today let’s take a look at another huge genre category: Mystery/Thriller. While that’s really two genres I’m lumping them together because their covers play in the same sandbox, with slight variations. This includes psychological thrillers, spy thrillers, legal thrillers, police procedurals, private detective, and noir. Cozy mysteries have been and still are a little different from the rest, but I’ll cover them as well.

Trends in Mystery/Thriller Book Covers

Generally, the majority of mystery/thriller covers have always included darker tones, often with silhouetted figures rather than the faces you used to see on romances, except for cozy which almost always featured fun illustrations.

But these days, the tonal shift leans more toward an action movie poster vibe, rather than an ominous one.

For example, check out these bestsellers from a mere decade or two ago:

Notice the tones…black, or off-black, or angry red but not bright red. In particular, notice the fonts. The biggest change I see lately is in the typography.

These older covers have plain fonts, for the most part. A lot of them use Futura or Helvetica (Arial). They’re mostly just stuck on there, with the author name being huge and the rest…meh, an afterthought. The background image was very much an integral part of the message, especially on a cover like Silence of the Lambs (before they put the movie version on).

New Trends for Mystery/Thriller Covers

The trend now is a lot more in your face with the fonts. The background is basically there to serve up the title in a nice contrasty way. Silhouetted people are almost non-existent. For example, these “most read” covers of 2021-2022 according to Goodreads:

These covers would all make awesome action movie posters, which I think is the point of the current trend. One thing mystery/thriller covers have in common with romance these days is an aversion to real people/faces. At most, you get a view of someone’s back or a close-up of a body part.

I’m a huge fan of this trend because I think these covers are incredibly eye-catching. They make me want to click every time.

As with the current romance trend, though, I’m not sure they shout “mystery” or “thriller” anymore. I mean…unless murder is in the title, can you tell?

Trends in Cozy Mystery Book Covers

Cozy mysteries are shifting too, but it’s a lot more subtle. They still feature illustrations with a fun things-will-all-work-out-in-the-end vibe, but lately the artwork is less complex, and a bit brighter. For example, here are some bestsellers from a few years ago:

See the fun scenes and catchy titles? Today, it’s inching ever so slowly toward less complex artwork, with a little more emphasis on brighter colors. It’s a subtle change, though, and not one that makes a huge difference. All of these still shout about fun times with murder.

Overall, as with romance, mysteries and thrillers are shying away from showing faces in favor of graphics and typography. Again I think the reason behind this is that stock photography hasn’t kept up with the growing demand for quality photos of new and diverse models.

It’s a lot easier and cheaper to pay an artist to draw something, and a lot easier for said artists to put their creations up on stock sites, than it is to buy an expensive camera, pay a model, get releases, etc.

If you write mysteries or thrillers, and your sales have slowed, you might think about upping your cover game, especially with regard to the typography. Treat your title as the main artwork, and make it bigger and more eye-catching. Let the background image support the words, rather than the other way around.

Have you noticed any mystery/thriller cover trends changing that I’ve missed? Be sure to mention them in the comments! (I'm open for all cover questions.)

Next time, we’ll dive into Fantasy and Sci-Fi. Until then, thanks for reading!­­­

About Melinda

Melinda VanLone is a coffee addict, a cat lover, and avid writer of stories about rascally heroes and sassy heroines who live happily ever after in spite of themselves. She shares her house with her fur babies and the love of her life, Mr. Melinda, who spends most of his time at home huddled under blankets because the thermostat remains under her iron control. 

When she's not playing with her imaginary friends you can find her designing covers that sell, taking brisk walks around the neighborhood and failing to resist the pistachio muffins at the nearest local coffee shop. Head on over to melindavan.com to check out her latest writerly doings, or hop over to bookcovercorner.com to peak at her cover designs.

By Kris Maze

When sending out work to an editor or publisher, you will most often need a specific set of documents they will request. Query letter, check! First fifty pages, check! Synopsis, wait what? I don’t know why, but many of us balk at the thought of creating this tidy little summary of our book baby. We know our story, line by line, and know our characters intimately, so why is this difficult for many writers?

Fear not, dear writer. I’m going to list ten tips for a synopsis that can aid your journey to publication. Read on to craft an effective synopsis that can catch the attention of an agent and increase your chances of getting selected.

Ten Tips to Create a Powerful Synopsis

1. Know your Agent.

You have researched agents and what they represent. You have found out which books are the closest comparison titles and have identified the unique aspects of your book. Be sure to also know the specific way they prefer your synopsis.

Agents and publishers have guidelines for submitting work. It is very important to follow their instructions exactly. What they ask for may be as varied as the agents themselves. Here are some requirements I have encountered.

• They may have their own portal, where the writers must paste their cover letter, first pages, and synopsis in digital form onto their website.
• Some want a specific word count pasted right into the body of an email.
• Others want an attachment placed on a website like Submittable or Moshka
• Pay attention to the type of files they want. The most common I’ve seen is .docx, but we can turn many other files into these standard formats with a simple save.

Don’t let a formatting mistake lead to a rejection before an agent reads your work. Find out what they want and take the time to make it easy for them to read. This also gives a perspective editor a feel for how it would be to work with you. Let them understand you are willing to follow their rules.

Jane Friedman has a thorough post on how to write a synopsis and which pitfalls to avoid. It begins with why a synopsis is so important to agents.

2. Have a few formats ready.

When you are submitting your work to various agents, have a couple of variations ready in advance. Create a synopsis that can be altered easily to your needs and save yourself some time and stress.

• a short length one (500 words)
• a medium one (750–1000 words)
• and some agents may request a more detailed, longer one (1500-2000).

This still is a tight amount of words, so the key is to edit and trim away all the excess. Be sure your synopsis is between 2 to 5 standard formatted pages when you prepare to submit your work.

3. Point of View.

Several editors have said to use a third person point of view in your synopsis. Even if you write in first person. The synopsis is a taste of your story, but the focus is on the story itself. Stick to the standard so your potential agent can focus on your character, key events, and fabulous story.

4. Edit. Edit. Edit.

Be brutal. Editors are getting a very trim version of your entire book, save the elegant elocution and clever turns of the dialogue for your first pages. Avoid filling your precious few synopsis words with too much world building or background. Your ability to state clearly what happens in your book will attract a publisher if it fits their needs. 

5. Less is more, but don’t leave anything out.

Impossible, right? Agent Carly Watters offers this advice for crafting a synopsis in this post as a “play-by-play” of your story. She continues to describe a simple synopsis as including:

• Premise
• rising action of conflict
• climax
• character growth
• resolution

Watters shares the importance of not leaving out major turns in the plot and to reveal the ending.

“Yes, please tell us the ending! This is a common misconception. A synopsis isn't a query letter, and it isn't your back cover copy. Tell us how things resolve. Being able to resolve your manuscript is a big writerly skill and we want to see you can do it well.”

6. Tone It Down.

The tone of your synopsis should be plain and business-like. Save the fun and snarky for your manuscript. Reedsy offers a blog post filled with synopsis examples and tips that helps a writer whittle down their work to an easy-to-read summary of your book.

7. Vocabulary For World Building.

There is very little room for description, so build your world around the events with specific vocabulary. Find the words that best demonstrate your world and characterizations in your story and make them count. For example, when describing how a critical injury occurs to a main character, saying the weapon was a revolver, shotgun, light saber, or AK47 makes setting the time and place of your story easier.

8. Hook Your Reader.

Your synopsis must be to the point, but it shouldn’t be boring. Crafting a compelling synopsis that hints at your writing style will help agents know how you handle words. They want to know that you can write a focused piece describing your work and maintain your voice, too. Keep it quick and interesting and your synopsis may be the key to selling your book.

9. Fix Your Novel.

Do any parts of your synopsis seem flat? Repetitive? Now is the time to fix those plot holes and make alterations. It is amazing how rendering down a story can reveal tiny flaws (or big ones!) You want to send in only your best, so make the changes before you hit send.

10. Smile! You wrote a book!

And celebrate your hard work. It all comes down to chance and cosmic timing sometimes, but writing a solid synopsis can help keep the odds in your favor. When in doubt, go back to number one in this list and follow the agent’s instructions. Happy submitting and enjoy the process of submitting your work. You are building a reputation and taking steps to put your work into the world. It’s a big deal, and it is worth celebrating.

Tell us a story about your worst synopsis nightmare. Or share a tip about how to create a perfect synopsis. We'd love to hear it.

About Kris

Kris Maze works in education, teaching Spanish through stories. She writes for various publications including Practical Advice for Teachers of Heritage Learners of Spanish and award-winning blog Writers in the Storm where she is also a host. Maze published a YA dystopian novel by a small press in the summer of 2020. Lately, she has been entering and placing in writing competitions, such as NYC Midnight’s Short Story and Micro fiction contests. You can find her Sci-fi, dystopian, YA series, this summer and keep up with her author events at her website.

Here is a sneak peek of a scary short story collection coming out on her sister site KrissyKnoxx.com. Also available this summer in various formats.

by Lisa Norman

Let’s face it: the internet is full of killer robots out to make your life as difficult as possible. Scammers and crooks are constantly looking for ways to trick you into giving them money. And let’s not even talk about the nation-state-level hackers.

This is a digitally dangerous time.

I’ve had several clients come to me in a panic because some criminal had hacked their social media accounts. They were desperate to know what to do.

Here’s the twist: none of their accounts had been hacked.

They’d been cloned.

What is cloning?

I gave an example of this when I talked about trolls in a previous post.

Cloning attacks are based on social engineering. If you are a friend or a follower of a specific account, you are more likely to do something that person asks you to do.

As authors, we are on social media in order to influence people and encourage people to buy our books or services. We’re building up our reputations as reliable sources of information. For example, if we say a book is good and that people should go out and read it, hopefully people will!

But what if you learn a new trick with NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) or cryptocurrency? Everyone’s a little confused by those these days. If you step up and say that you know how these things work and you’ve made a ton of money, people are likely to be interested. They’ve learned to trust you. They’re likely to follow your advice. But what if the “you” isn’t you?

And here’s where the problem comes in. No one has to hack your account. They can copy your pictures and look at your public follower list. They can create a fake account, claiming to be you, and then they reach out to your fans and followers with a story about how your old account was hacked and this is your new account. Once they get a few people to become their friends, the damage can spread like ripples, the way everything spreads on the internet.

Before long, the scammer has your followers, and they can now encourage them to embrace a crypto scheme. Your followers lose money, and your reputation is damaged.

How can we prevent cloning?

We can’t!

All we can do is react to it promptly and use the tools available to us to make it as hard as possible for them to clone our accounts.

One important step that you may take on some platforms is to have your account verified. You’ll notice a check mark next to some accounts on various platforms. These are accounts that have gone through an additional screening process to let the platform know they’re the real individual. By necessity, social media platforms don't make it easy to become verified. Sometimes they involve taking a picture with your driver’s license or other ID and submitting it through a secure form. Some even involve getting something in the mail.

Different platforms have different procedures. Once your followers on a platform begin to grow, consider becoming verified.

What to do if you think you’ve been hacked?

A friend messages you that someone has hacked your account.

Take a deep breath.

How you respond to that first moment of panic is critical. Remember: all is not as it seems on the internet.

Your friend may not even BE your friend. It could be someone masquerading as your friend in order to get you to click a dangerous link.

Do not click on any links in emails or messages. Also, don’t do a search and click on the first link that comes up! Scammers, vile con artists and thieves that they are, absolutely can and do pay for ads to get their scam advice to the top result on search engines. If you need to search for advice, pay close attention to the URL you are visiting.

This is the moment that will determine how much damage is done. You must react quickly, and you must not panic. You must stay calm and focused, checking every link before you go anywhere.

Ask your friend directly (by phone, email, or in person) for details about the message. Where did it come from (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)?

Go directly to the platform (Facebook, TikTok, etc.) and look for the evidence your friend gave that you’d been hacked.

If your friend says, “I got a message on Facebook from you that didn’t sound like you,” look at the history of your recently sent messages. If you can’t find a record of your account sending that message, you haven’t been hacked, you’ve been cloned.

What if your history shows that the message was sent from your account, but it wasn’t you who sent it? Then someone else has been using your account: you’ve been hacked.

I’ve been hacked!

Now, you’re sure.

1. Change your password immediately.
2. Log out of everywhere the account is logged in. The platform will have tools to do this. Yes, it’ll be a pain. You’ll have to get back in. So will the hacker, and it’ll be harder for them than for you.
3. Set your password to something even you won’t be able to remember. Never reuse passwords.
4. Figure out how far the damage went and do what you can to repair it. Start with checking your bank accounts and then proceed to checking on your reputation. This is the hardest step.
5. Monitor your accounts to make sure the hacker doesn’t try again.

I’ve been cloned!

Cloning requires a different response.

1. Do a search on the platform for users with your name. Some names are common, but a clone will use your current avatar or possibly an older one.
2. Identify the clone.
3. Report the clone using the platform’s tools.
4. Have your friend report the clone.
5. Look at the friends that are on the clone’s account. Hey, they know who your friends are by checking your account. Check theirs! If you see that any of your friends have fallen prey to the clone, let them know what is going on and encourage them to report the clone. Be careful. Make sure they report the clone and not you.
6. If you haven’t already, get your account verified. Note: some platforms won’t deal with clones unless they are attacking a verified account.

Summary

Our profession makes us public figures. We need to protect our reputation in any way we can. You can’t prevent cloning; you can only respond well to it.

If you think someone has been hacked, take a moment to check before scaring them. If you discover a clone, report the clone to the social media platform if you can, then let your friend know what you experienced. Remember: it isn’t your friend’s fault if they were cloned. They need to know what is going on, but you don’t want them to feel blamed or threatened.

The most important step is the one that feels less instinctive: that moment of breathing.

Social engineering attacks thrive when you react based on gut instinct. They’ll trick you into even more danger, and if they can, they’ll steal your identity, your money, and your friends. They are greedy, and they are ruthless.

Take a minute and breathe.

Then react calmly and carefully.

Have you been cloned? Have you seen someone else get cloned? What do you think the goal of the attack was?

About Lisa

Lisa Norman's passion has been writing since she could hold a pencil. While that is a cliché, she is unique in that her first novel was written on gum wrappers. As a young woman, she learned to program and discovered she has a talent for helping people and computers learn to work together and play nice. When she's not playing with her daughter, writing, or designing for the web, she can be found wandering the local beaches.

Lisa writes as Deleyna Marr and is the owner of Deleyna's Dynamic Designs, a web development company focused on helping writers, and Heart Ally Books, an indie publishing firm. She teaches for Lawson Writer's Academy.

Interested in learning more from Lisa? See her teaching schedule below.

Classes:

• May: Digital Organization Skills for Authors
• June: Crazy Easy Awesome-Author Websites
• July: Crazy Easy Social Media for Authors

Credits:

Lead Image by B_A from Pixabay