The Color of... - Tips for Authors
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What’s in a color? What does it evoke? What are the associations? We all have our favorites. I absolutely loved my giant box of Crayolas. Oh, the options.
When my first short story was published, I decided to update my website. I matched my backgrounds, fonts, and graphics to the anthology cover that was in black, red, and white. It highlighted the book, and the colors were eye-catching. A few years later when my first novel came out, I was talking to a publicist about my marketing materials, and she remarked that my website was too dark for my writing style. She reminded me that I write humous cozy mysteries, and that I should use pastels instead of colors that remind readers of noir or slasher stories.
Here are some ideas of ways color that can help you with your marketing materials and writing.
Google images of a color wheel. There are hundreds out there. When you select a color, this diagram shows you what compliments it. Colors directly across from your selection go well together. This helps when you’re selecting colors for headlines, subheadlines, and backgrounds.
There are lots of articles and studies out there about the meaning of color and how color is used. These can also be helpful in your writing if you’re trying to show instead of tell the reader something about your character/scene. This one in Smashing magazine has a lot of good information. This site has some great memes that summarize each color.
If you have input into your cover designs, make sure the color choices match the theme of your book. The use of dark or light should match the tone of your work.
All of your social media sites should have the same “look and feel.” The pictures and graphics should have the same color scheme. Readers need to be able to identify you and your site.
Words about colors (or lack of color) are key to your writing, too. This post from Writers Write has a good list of words to describe color.
