Why are book covers so important? Well, the pat answer to that question is because it is the first thing a potential reader of your book sees. And we must not underestimate that answer.
As humans, we are prone to weighing and judging initially by our vision. Unless a person is visually impaired or in tune with what I call the ether levels of life, like aura, vibes or the cloud of intelligent non-matter that I find precedes most people when they enter your awareness, most people analyze and compute visual data first. In the case of things or a book, well, the initial judgment of your writing will be attained by what is on the cover of your book.
A reader will either get a positive or negative response, both have there merits being that the book has caught the readers attention. The last thing you want is a bland, indifferent cover that does not stimulate interest. Anything you can place on your cover to capture a reader’s eye and hold them, gives your book the opportunity to create curiosity about what is beneath your provocative cover. You may have written the best novel ever, but if the cover does not grab the viewer, you have lost a potential reader.
The reader will immediately compare the visual data from your cover with like data that is already in their intelligence system. Their analysis will generally be computed in statement or question form… This looks like that television show I saw. Is this book about Rome? Why is that guy bleeding? Is this book about a doctor? Or the simple… Wow, that guy/girl is hot… what’s their story? So, while the first job of your cover is to provoke interest in the book, to stop the viewer and make them question what is inside its pages…the second is to provide major clues as to what the book is about.
I’m going to go a bit further and talk about something else that is related to the cover issue and just as important, especially to those who publish their book in e-book form. You should place a blurb about your book within its initial five or six pages.
In this age of new authors and e-reading this is extremely important. E-readers and self-publishing have created a Renaissance in the writing, reading and publishing industries. Readers with a Kindle, iPad, Nook or other e-reader devices have access to thousands of e-books and many opportunities to get free reads. Once a reader starts collecting e-books, their e-shelves can hold tons of titles. These titles are seen as covers, so, we again see the important of a stimulating cover; it has to stand out among the many on the e-reader device.
If by chance the reader selects your book to read next, the first thing they are going to do is try to remember what the book is about. They may have attained your book three weeks ago and have added twenty-five more books to their device since then. By placing a blurb in the initial pages of your book, you make it easier for the reader to refresh their memory of the book’s contents and increase the chance that they will read your book.
I myself have well over four hundred books on my Kindle and I don’t remember what each book is about. I organize my books by topic, I may have fifty under paranormal, one hundred under romance, etc. but if there is no blurb I have no sense of anticipation. I may read the first few lines of the story, but if the initial passage doesn’t grab me, I generally move on to another title.
The typical owner of an e-reader device has hundreds of books and not a lot of time; also people tend to select what they will read next by their mood. Upon finding no blurb within the books pages, they may again search the cover image looking for a clue, something that will spark their memory about why they originally picked up the book, but if that doesn’t work, they will choose another title.
So in this way, not only is the cover of your book important, but an inside blurb is imperative. Readers have so many choices, it is up to you, the writer or publisher to grab and keep their attention or you shall lose them to someone who has taken the time to make the reader’s choice a joy and not a job.
Guest post by Alex Akira
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Genre – M/M Romance
Rating – R
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