As I flirt more and more with the idea of self-publishing at least one novella in my Lonhra Sequence fantasy arc, I’m paying more attention to cover designs and fonts. All stuff I learned to use one way in commercial art, but the applications for print and e-book publication are slightly different.
Once I had a link to a really good article on Ooomf.com about the psychology of fonts, or at least how many readers perceive them. It’s gone as of 9/28/2017.
The basics: don’t pick a font for text blocks that already has a negative connotation (such as one commonly used in banking, out of date businesses, or government entities such as the IRS). Make sure your fonts pass simple tests for legibility. Learn how to design a page for maximum positive associations for a reader.
Yeah, I know. Back to that ‘perception is more important than reality’ issue I hate so much. But in this case, a little applied psychology can only help an author’s efforts.