Covers

Posted by Lynne Griffin

If you're a regular reader of our blog, then you know Amy and I are thrilled with the cover art for our novels. We are deeply grateful to Whitney Cookson (Random House) and Michael Storrings (St Martin's Press) for persevering until "the right" images graced our covers.

How do you know the image is right? Well to be perfectly honest, you don't. What you do know is that the cover should represent the genre of the novel, connect to the title of the book, captivate and encourage readers to pick the book up off the crowded bookshelf, and most important, evoke a reaction--all kinds of reactions will do.

That said, many people are involved in signing off on your cover design--your editor, sales staff, publisher, booksellers-- but the true test is the over time reaction from readers. Keep in mind, covers that work don't have to be pretty, though pretty sometimes works very well. So far so good for Tethered and Life Without Summer!

In keeping with Hannah's Fun and Games post yesterday, would you like to test your skills at judging a book by its cover? Click on over to the new website that tests your ability to rate covers and then find out how many stars they've received on Amazon. I admit it's not scientific, but it is a lot of fun to play.

Other great blog posts about book jackets include:
Jackets Required
Best Book Jackets of 2007
Hardback Paperback Covers

Feel free to post your questions in the comment section. I'll do my best to answer or direct you to the resources that might inform.