Sci-fi book covers can become so iconic that people buy them as posters for their offices and homes. If you’re working on a sci-fi novel, your book cover design should aspire to that level.

Let’s see if this recent PickFu poll clears the bar. The author asked the question, “Based on the cover, which book would you rather buy?”

Option A shows a blue-black color scheme and an intriguing eye staring out at potential readers. In Option B, the color scheme is totally white and resembles an anatomy textbook. The covers also feature different titles (which we don’t generally recommend).

Can you guess which one won?

A good book title hints at what’s between the covers while also piquing reader interest. It can’t be too confusing, too long, too short, too cheesy or too pretentious.

A title is often one of the most difficult parts of your book to write. That’s why one author recently created a poll on PickFu to weigh two title ideas:

• Option A: D.O.G., Ph.D.: A Year of Conversations With One Very Smart Dog
• Option B: Conversations with Minnie: One Dog’s Perspective on Life

Can you guess which one won?

Even authors who’ve been writing and selling books for years can benefit from split-testing their book covers.

Take Trevol Swift, for example. Author of two previous books in the Justicar Jhee series, Swift took the third book to PickFu to find out which cover stood out best. Swift wisely tested with an audience of 50 fiction readers, stating that the book is a science fiction murder mystery.

Option A features a mysterious purple cover with a cityscape, water, and a moon (or two?).

In Option B, the cityscape changes. Swift does away with the enclosed feeling of the first cover but retains many of the same elements, including the super-cool type treatment of the author’s name and book title.

Can you guess which one won?

Have you ever run a poll on PickFu and received razor-close results? Even without a clear “winner,” it’s likely that once you take a closer look into the answers, you’ll find intriguing trends — just like one author recently did.

In this PickFu poll, author Michael Sean Comerford asked a general audience of 50 people, “Which book would you buy?”

For many authors, one of the most exciting parts of seeing their novels travel the road to publication is watching the creation of a book cover. In traditional publishing, the author rarely has any say in what the cover looks like. But that’s not true in self-publishing. And with PickFu, you can make sure the cover you choose for your book resonates with your target audience.

Take the case of a recent PickFu poll, in which an author tested covers for a time travel book aimed at tween girls. The poll asked a group of parents who are Christian and between the ages of 18 and 44 which fantasy book cover they prefer.

Option A shows the silhouettes of four girls striking a fierce pose.

Book titles make a huge difference in sales. Imagine if Where the Wild Things Are had kept its working title and concept, Where the Wild Horses Are.

Would it have been as compelling as an island of wild, unknown, monstrous things? I think not.

It’s amazing what a difference one word in a title can make. One PickFu author recently found this out while split testing two titles for a children’s early reader book.