Back in town. My grandfather’s surgery went well, considering it involved having his ribcage split open and other such tasty details. Thanks to all who sent notes of encouragement.
Sliding back into the blog this week with a few links on one of the most important things concerning a novel. The plot? The characters? The author’s marketing platform?
No. The book cover.
The book cover is one of the most important things? Yup. Know why? Because it’s the first thing that you’re going to see when you come across a book. If you’ve never heard of a story or author before, then the images and layout are going to be your first impression, no matter how good the plot is.
There are several blogs out there that list and review different book covers across all genres, and they are fascinating to look at. There is a whole psychology behind catching people’s attentions with that dust jacket. What elements fail? What succeeds? Is it too busy? Is the title font too small? And, if you actually pick it up and read it, does the cover communicate what the story is about accurately?
Here are two great blogs to keep track of:
and
And while you are browsing those, here’s a question for the authors who come across my blog: When you are writing a story, do you ever sit back and daydream about what kind of book cover it might have, should it get published? Does that ever affect a scene? Do you ever visualize what a character might look like, should they get illustrated, or have you ever picked out a particular artist or style and clung to the hope that they’re the ones that get picked to provide the cover for you?
Okay. That was more than one question. But have at it. I think many of us know the importance of a good cover…so what would yours be?
I see that smile.
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I agree, Elissa. It’s always easier to leave it up to the imagination. I find the biggest challenge with book covers is to try and figure out what character or scene the image represents. It’s fun to be reading through and finally hit that chapter where you mentally go, “Oh! So that’s what/who it depicts.”