The Wonderful World Of Covers
As a writer and a reader I think covers are near and dear to us all. It's the face of our story, the photograph of our child. Covers may not be the deciding factor in whether a reader buys a book or not, but it adds weight. If an individual likes a cover, he/she is more apt to pick up the book to find out what it's about. If the author is big enough, the cover is a nice bennie but its her/his name that's going to make the sale. And that's what every author strives for. Unfortunately, we are not all at that point.
There's always a balancing scale when it comes to trad versus indie, but where covers are concerned the balance definitely tips in favor of indie. The author has complete control of his/her cover and can pick out the perfect portrait of his/her child. I've had publishing houses whose artists gave me exactly what I wanted and I couldn't have done better on my own. I've also been on the other end of the spectrum, where my cover ideas and CAF (cover art form) were completely ignored and the final cover signed, sealed and delivered without any input from me. Have you ever had that happen? You look at a cover and wonder where's my story and the only option is to suck it up and deal with it.
I'm also superstitious about colors. I like a little red or purple in a cover. I think either color helps make the cover pop. There's also a color that I think washes out and leaves a generic feel, but since I am superstitious I'm not going to mention what it is, other than to say it's in some of my covers. Grin.
What about you? Do you have particular cover colors you like or dislike? Have you had a cover you didn't like and you felt it adversely affected your sales?
What do you think? How important are covers?
Interested in joining IWSG? Here's the link: http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html
There's always a balancing scale when it comes to trad versus indie, but where covers are concerned the balance definitely tips in favor of indie. The author has complete control of his/her cover and can pick out the perfect portrait of his/her child. I've had publishing houses whose artists gave me exactly what I wanted and I couldn't have done better on my own. I've also been on the other end of the spectrum, where my cover ideas and CAF (cover art form) were completely ignored and the final cover signed, sealed and delivered without any input from me. Have you ever had that happen? You look at a cover and wonder where's my story and the only option is to suck it up and deal with it.
I'm also superstitious about colors. I like a little red or purple in a cover. I think either color helps make the cover pop. There's also a color that I think washes out and leaves a generic feel, but since I am superstitious I'm not going to mention what it is, other than to say it's in some of my covers. Grin.
What about you? Do you have particular cover colors you like or dislike? Have you had a cover you didn't like and you felt it adversely affected your sales?
What do you think? How important are covers?
Interested in joining IWSG? Here's the link: http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html
