The importance of book covers – Part one
People always say that you can’t judge a book by its cover but while it’s true that the content may be great even if the cover is bad, the chances of anyone discovering that diminish if the cover is substandard. The cover can make all the difference between success and failure. There are of course a lot of books to complete with in a bookstore although these are only in your section if someone is looking for children’s books, fantasy, mysteries, horror, self help, and so on. And yet on Amazon you’re competing with every other book that was ever published, more or less.
Most books are on the shelf with the spine out, so let’s assume that your book is presented that way and doesn’t have the benefit of the cover showing to the customer. The title is what draws people in so let’s assume that you have a good one that’s going to attract attention. The next thing that people look at is the cover. If it’s sufficiently interesting, the next thing the potential customer will do is check out the back cover and see what the book is about. If the back cover is sufficiently gripping, they’ll then turn to the first page. If you’ve done a good job with that, you’ll have the reader hooked and you’ll have made a sale. However, none of this is going to happen without a good cover.
Covers sometimes show a scene from the book or just depict a character or two. They could even feature multiple things from the book, such as a dragon, knight, castle, mountain, and a battle scene. Even if these things don’t appear together at any point in the story, they’re still part of the plot. Their inclusion on the cover gives the prospective reader a good impression of what the book is about and its genre and will help them to make a decision regarding reading it. You still only get one chance to make a good first impression. You may have written the greatest book in history but if the cover is a disaster, no one will ever know.
I agree completely. I’m so glad to be working with a publisher that gives me input on my covers. That hasn’t always been the case, but I hope it happens again!
I agree. You can’t underestimate the value of a well produced cover. A good illustrator can be hard to find, but worth every penny