The Importance of the Cover in Selling a Book
As the wonderful artists at Siren do my covers, with a little bit of my thoughts sometimes influencing them, I hadn't really thought much about the importance of book covers until my husband's book which came out on Australia last week in in 32 otther countries in the next months. These countries have invested heavily in The Rosie Project and want as much as he for it to be successful...so the cover has become a topic of much discussion. While they ulitmatey make the final decision, they check with him first. Sometimes distributing companies also put in their thoughts.
Given the phenomenal success (sales wise) of 50 Shades of Grey AND that EL James was adamant about the cover being relatively neutral, this has had me thinking. I'm not a marketer nor artist, but I do want my books to sell!
Personally I think 50 Shades cover is a little misleading...it suggests a good deal more elegance and sophistication than the book delivers. BUT if it had a scantily clad woman and a bare chested man holding a whip on the cover...would it have sold all those millions? I so don't think so. Ebooks make the genre anonymous....but so did 50 Shades's covers.
The Rosie Project was (surprise surprise) going to have a rose on the cover in Aus. But this was abandonded for a more male friendly cover. One of the other countries is thinking of pink and roses and hearts... great if it were Chick Lit or a romance, but it's a love story, a romantic comedy, and told from a male point of view that men find funny. It's hard enough to get men to read fiction, let alone ask them to read something with roses. My son bought 50 Shades of Grey (hated it) but wouldn't be seen dead with a book that had a rose on the cover.
Of all my covers, the first, Embedded is my favorite- and my husbands. Interestingly, the only one without a bare chested male on the cover. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with a bare chested male, but....it is nice to leave something to the imagination.
I have my final of the WereDevils of Tasmania series cover ahead of me, and it will need to be like the other three (and I do look forward to see who they have playing my character!). But after that? I wonder if trying a man with clothes on, or the 50 Shades approach is worthwhile?
Given the phenomenal success (sales wise) of 50 Shades of Grey AND that EL James was adamant about the cover being relatively neutral, this has had me thinking. I'm not a marketer nor artist, but I do want my books to sell!
Personally I think 50 Shades cover is a little misleading...it suggests a good deal more elegance and sophistication than the book delivers. BUT if it had a scantily clad woman and a bare chested man holding a whip on the cover...would it have sold all those millions? I so don't think so. Ebooks make the genre anonymous....but so did 50 Shades's covers. The Rosie Project was (surprise surprise) going to have a rose on the cover in Aus. But this was abandonded for a more male friendly cover. One of the other countries is thinking of pink and roses and hearts... great if it were Chick Lit or a romance, but it's a love story, a romantic comedy, and told from a male point of view that men find funny. It's hard enough to get men to read fiction, let alone ask them to read something with roses. My son bought 50 Shades of Grey (hated it) but wouldn't be seen dead with a book that had a rose on the cover.
Of all my covers, the first, Embedded is my favorite- and my husbands. Interestingly, the only one without a bare chested male on the cover. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with a bare chested male, but....it is nice to leave something to the imagination.
I have my final of the WereDevils of Tasmania series cover ahead of me, and it will need to be like the other three (and I do look forward to see who they have playing my character!). But after that? I wonder if trying a man with clothes on, or the 50 Shades approach is worthwhile?
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