Whoever imagined the quote you can’t judge a book by it’s cover couldn’t have lived in the twenty-first century. Book covers create intrigue and intrigue drives sales. But with media technology advancing so fast, I can’t keep up with it. New book cover designs keep getting better and better, and the competition to grab readers’ attention is fierce. In an ocean of new books, I need to stand out, which means my cover has to grab readers’ attention at a glance. But I also want my covers to unlock visual insight into my storyline, a teaser of what they can expect when they read the book. Wearing all the hats an author has to juggle is exhausting. Something had to give.
After my first three books, I’d had enough of traditional publishers.
I learned a lot from the team of professionals and enjoyed all they had to offer. But as great as the experience was, committing book rights to someone else limited my control over my on stories. The publisher’s designers created the covers with some limited input. If I didn’t like their choices or font, I couldn’t submit my own design. Even when I offered to pay for a new cover. That’s when I decided to self-pub.
But Self-Publishing Didn’t Come Easily.
Diving into deep water before I learned how to swim gave me a wake up call I hadn’t expected. I hired a cover designer, and I absolutely love her work, but I also had to market and distribute my books, which proved to be a full-time job. Like any job, the learning curve required education, trial and error, money, creativity, and time…time I needed to write more books, edit, proofread, build and maintain a website and blog, and so much more.
I hired a cover designer, and I absolutely love her work
I set my own prices, ran sales when I wanted them, made all the decisions, but the other necessary aspects required a lot research and hard work. I joined a lot of social media sites, met a lot of author friends and readers. Best of all, the profit for sales went in to my pocket. But I had to create ads for my books, and that took money out of my account. For a long time I was lucky to break even.
That said, I don’t regret taking the plunge into self-publishing. Having control over my hard work changed me. I work with my own cover designer until I love each and every cover. I’m a firm believer great covers entice and inspire readers to open books. And reviews inspire me to write more and to deliver what my readers want. We develop a kind of symbiotic relationship.
If you’re new to my work, I invite you to take a look at my Amazon Author page. I hope you are enticed to read my books by my covers. Check out the landing page of this website, too. My purpose is to draw you in by the way I display my books.
That’s why You Should Judge A Book By Its Cover
My readers know I write across genres, and they understand my stories include mystery, suspense, or thriller content, often with a time travel element, too. I mix those elements with romance, twists, and turns to display my writing style at its best. Infusing those ingredients into my covers plays an important part in my marketing. Covers lure readers to pick up books, or lose readers before they even discover the storyline.
Please judge my books by the covers, and tell me which of my book covers you like best? Help me visualize what you love and leave comments on my blog posts. I’m thrilled to hear from my readers, because YOU are my inspiration!!
I believe the quote dates from the nineteenth century. In any case, most of mine these days are ebooks as the bookshelves are packed and I am running out of floorspace for book mountains.
Yes. You’re right. Thanks so much, Barbara. Ha. I envisioned the mile-high book mountain, and I can totally identify.
Thank You for sharing this post!
Thanks so much for hanging in there, Sarah. I’m so glad you did! Welcome to my blog!