Let’s Talk Covers.

What’s between the covers?

You can’t judge a book by its cover. So says conventional wisdom. Hmm. I’m not entirely certain of that because the way I see it, readers judge a book by it’s cover all the time. Let’s face it, right or wrong, we judge pretty much everything by its appearance.

It’s best not to make assumptions. For example, yesterday I took a break from work and headed over to the local Starbucks to catch up on edits. A guy, who for all intents and purposes, appeared homeless - judging by his dress, the unkempt state of his hair and beard, and his smell, sat at a table next to mine. He carried with him a black case and a plastic grocery bag. After setting down the black case, he pulled a bag of potato chips out of the grocery bag, popped them open and began to crunch away. I assumed he wasn’t there to buy coffee, rather, he just wanted a warm place to hole up out of the rain. A few minutes later, he turned to me -

“Would you mind plugging this in for me?” he asked as he handed me the cord to his laptop. I plugged it in. “Thanks,” he said.

Over the next hour, we chatted. Who was he? A former investment banker who had lost his job, that’s who he was. He was bright, articulate, and beneath the filthy exterior, a nice man. I bought him a cup of coffee and another patron recognized him and bought him a pastry.

See?

So here’s what I think. My first impression was right and wrong. I was right in that the man was indeed homeless, but if I’d had the time to make any further assumptions, I would have been dead wrong about him. He had a whole lot more going on between his covers than I assumed.

Books are the same. I recently bought and read a book with a fabulous cover - sucker that I am - and found that I had wasted my money. But why did I buy the book? Because the cover caught my eye. Once again, my impression that the book would be great because the cover said so, was wrong.

I’m feeling lucky these days - Resplendence has given me a magnificent cover for Daughters of Persephone and I’m impatient to see the covers for my other books coming with them, not to mention my covers from Siren and Cobblestone. I hope my readers find that what’s between the covers will be every bit as good as what’s on the cover.

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