The Power of a Book Cover

“You can’t tell a book by its cover.” But, we do – all the time. The cover is super-important and is the first contact with the book when you pick it up. Covers signal genre, but the good ones do more than that. They give face to a book’s personality. They create excitement and anticipation. A cover has the power to communicate the book’s genre, tone, and theme, as well as to pique the reader’s interest. A well-designed cover can also make a book stand out in a crowded marketplace, and can help to establish the author’s brand. A book’s cover and its content should be inextricably linked.

Here’s the reaction to the cover of MUTINY from my middle daughter (age 47) yesterday:

1. She picks up the book and looks at the cover, commenting, “I love the color” and “it looks really interesting.”
2. She reads the back cover and adds, “So, the outcome shocks everyone. I want to know more.”

So, she’s hooked. Meanwhile, my cover designer has changed the spine width to make it fit better. But this led to another issue – the title is too close to the margins. So, I need to wait for the revised cover before uploading it to Amazon for the final version. Once this is done I can order more copies for the book launch :-).

Despite this setback of a few days, the Kindle orders are coming in from readers keen to get a head-start on MUTINY.

Just another exciting day in the life of a self-published author.