You can’t judge a book by its cover

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All English speaking people know that this phrase is very true – people are more than what we can see on the outside.  More than once in my life I have had to change my opinion of someone when I got to know them better.  However, although we all know the truth of this statement it doesn’t stop us making snap judgements on people based on what they are wearing, where they are when we meet them, whether they have tattoos or crazy hairstyles.  First impressions are very strong.

When it comes to designing a book cover this is also true.  The cover won’t tell you if the book is well written, if the story is carefully constructed and edited, how much research has gone into writing it but it will tell you whether it is the book for you.  A good book cover should attract the reader’s attention and convey certain messages: what sort of story it is, what the reader can expect: romance, mystery, crime, murder, erotica, historical.  It should never mislead the reader or promise something that it is not.

Although it is perfectly possible to design your own book cover, it is often easier and more successful to buy the art work from a dedicated site such as SelfPubBookCovers.com.  That is what I did for my latest novel, a mystery story set in the Spanish resort of Marbella.

The book is now available as an ebook on Kindle, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble and in paperback from most on-line bookstores, including Amazon.


Author

Joan Fallon is a writer and novelist living in Spain.