March 25, 2006
Book Cover Art: Getting the Right Message to Your Reader
The cover art is rather pretty and peaceful looking, isn’t it? At first glance, I thought this was a literary novel, or perhaps a romance set in the grassy dunes of a beach somewhere. Check out the Amazon Book Description this book. You’ll find that the publisher really screwed up on this one.
This is a horror/suspense novel, and a good one, I might add. But if I had found this in the bookstore instead of online, where the synopsis is very close to the book cover image, I would have mistaken it for a literary piece.
Surprisingly, the author’s book received four positive reviews. He might have received a lot more if the cover art had relayed the correct message. This was one of the biggest complaints authors had when using the POD route to publish their books when the industry was brand new.
Here is an example of book cover art that was done correctly. The picture on the cover speaks to me of beauty and isolation. This is a literary work about a deceased older couple, whose murdered remains are undiscovered for several days in the dunes of a beach.
This cover fits because because of the locale of the story. As a result, Being Dead received a whopping 106 reviews.
The cover art of your book is the first thing your prospective readers see, whether they see it on Amazon.com or their local brick-and-mortar store. It must convey the right message by giving a clue as to what your story is about. Get this wrong, and you will lose readers that may have otherwise enjoyed your book.
I read and enjoyed Jim Crace’s ‘Being Dead’ but not with the cover shown above. I don’t think I’d have bought it if it had. Remove the graphics and the scene fits the book perfectly but whoever chose the completely unrelated type-face needs to go back to Art College.