Yes, books *are* judged by their covers

The other day, a friend showed me a new book by a new author she knows. It was a proud moment for her, so I didn’t want to spoil it — but the cover was awful. I’m not sure whether it amazes me more that these publishing services (in this case, Author House) have the lack of shame to publish these covers or that the authors honestly can’t tell a bad cover from a good one.

Now, I’m not talking about stylistic, design subjectivity; this cover has a visibly blurry image of a handgun on the cover that was probably pulled from the Internet. Even if someone lacks the design savvy to see why the cover is bad overall, it escapes me that the average person wouldn’t see a badly blurry design element like this gun.

In addition, the back cover is nothing more than black text on a white background. BORING!! And on top of that, there were numerous typos just in the back description. Wow.

So, authors, pleeeeeease be ruthless critics of your book covers, especially when using a publishing service. The poor author above probably spent several hundred dollars, possibly a thousand, on his book. (Author House’s set-up fee starts at $598, according to 2009 Writer’s Digest directory of “self-publishing companies.”) If anything seems obviously wrong or questionable, don’t accept it as is. You have the right to a competent (if not great) book cover. If you don’t feel you have the knowledge to discern problems on your cover (before you approve it), then hire a book-cover designer for a consultation. This can be done for around $35-50, but it can save you hundreds of dollars you’d waste on a blatantly poor cover.

Your book’s cover is paramount to your book’s success. I won’t go so far as to say it’ll make or break your book, but it sets the tone for the reader and, more important, is the first impression a potentialreader has when considering buying your book. A cheap cover will convey (at least subconsciously) cheap content.

Write Once, Sell Often

As you’re developing your content, or are looking for ways to make money from what you’ve already written, keep in mind: “Write once, sell often.” This phrase (that I borrowed from publishing expert Paulette Ensign) is a reminder that we authors need to use and re-use our material as much as possible, the concept of “leveraging.”

Too many authors (and I have to fight from falling into this trap as well) become enamored with many different pursuits, writing on various and sundry, unrelated topics. Others write book after book, without getting the most out of each one. It’s a better strategy to maximize your income streams from each piece, however big or small, you write.

This means your manuscript could be made available  in the following formats: paperback, hardback, audio, e-book, video, booklet or mini-book, and a web book (interactive combination of book and website). Additionally, your manuscript can be chopped into pieces for articles, subscription email delivery, Twitter tips, Facebook updates, blog entries, and more. Now, you see why the phrase is “write once, sell often.”

Of course, not all of these avenues will be income-producing in themselves; however, they all will contribute to raising awareness of your body of work and generating virtual footsteps to the focal point of your work (most likely your website). And these footsteps ultimately lead indirectly to income.