We judge books by their covers

Choosing the wording for the book cover

We Judge Books By their Covers

I can't tell you how many books I have chosen to read, or slid back onto the shelves, after having read the book cover.

It's amazing to me how easy it is to actually judge a book by its cover.

We've been advised against it since we were wee tots.

And yet we do.

We judge books by their covers.

In your mind's eye, envision the cover for a romance novel. I'm sure at some point you've seen one of their covers. A half naked man, hair flowing wildly, swooping over a woman who is flopped over his arms.

Or a bodice ripper book, where the cover focuses mainly on a woman's cleavage, her ample bosoms heaving -- perhaps even a wee damp bit of sweat beading strategically.

Western covers usually evoke memories of the vastness of Montana, or a horse meandering along with the Grand Canyon somewhere nearby.

Murder Mysteries inevitably have pictures of knives, bright red blood oozing off the tip. Or pictures of a city skyline, making the reader think of the darker, seedier side of urban life.

Or perhaps the cover has something like a graphically designed bird that, although not immediately clear as to its meaning, will somehow evoke feelings of satisfaction once the reader makes the connection three quarters of the way through the novel.

Matt Damon's face inside a space helmet helped the movie version of the novel the Martian fly off the shelves. The book cover is an eye-grabbing orangy-red, immediately evoking feelings of Mars. To top things off, the book cover also has an astronaut sort of bouncing -- arms in front, feet off the ground -- as if the astronaut is struggling on the planet. Perfection.
Add in Matt Damon's face and you've got yourself another winner.

We judge books by their covers.

If one is lucky enough to have a zinger of a cover to entice the potential reader to pick up our book from amongst the gajillions out there on the shelves, or on the Amazon lists or the Goodreads recommended book lists, one then has to have a wowzer of a back cover paragraph. The clincher. The hook.

We judge books by their covers.

Right now, I am facing that mountain. Trying to write the hook, the clincher, the paragraph that will hopefully entice the reader to pick my book off the shelf and tuck it under their arm, taking it to the register and smiling, thinking of the lovely afternoon they will spend tucked into a blanket, reading my book. Or sitting on the back deck, sunglasses perched upon the bridge of their noses, sipping 'drinkies,' reading with delight as Jack Diamond discovers who the bad guy is.

I have an initial idea for my hook.

But perfecting it is my next task.

Wish me luck!

Next up: choosing the picture for the back cover.

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Diamonds for Diamond (the first book in the Jack Diamond Mystery series) can be bought by clicking on the picture or the link below.

You can buy my book in both e-book and paperback on Amazon here:  

Diamonds for Diamond by Kay Nimitz Smith



No One Noticed (the second book in the Jack Diamond Mystery series) will be available shortly!

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