Judging a Book...by Betsy Ashton

It is not true that readers don't judge a book by its cover. We do. Sometimes we buy a book because the cover is intriguing, exciting, mysterious. I have often bought a book because I liked the front cover and the back blurb. And as a writer, I know how hard it is to write the blurb to attract readers and not mislead them.

So, we are about to go to school on my psychological suspense novel, Eyes Without a Face.  I worked with a boutique publisher who has a cast of professionals on speed dial. I'm one of his editors, so I work with some of his authors to polish manuscripts.

I selected one of his cover designers to help give Eyes a spooky look and feel. We came up with this. I think we achieved spooky. The dark brown color wash added a hint of danger without being overt. We chose the hoodie because the killer often wears one when she kills. We went with yellow on brown in keeping with that color palette. So far, so good.

We needed a face in the hoodie. After adding a host of different images using PhotoShop, we came up with nothing that worked. Last summer, my DIL, who is a photographer, suggested we take a pic of her husband, black out the face, and drop in a set of creepy female eyes we'd found in open source photo galleries.

We thought we had a winner. The book came out to solid reviews. All but one. That one focused on the cover. The reader would have given me 5 stars had the cover been different. About the same time, I did a series of book signings and talks. I sent out 100 postcards with the eyes themselves on the front. Sales were good but not great.

Three events in a row taught me that the cover was wildly misleading. Not only did the cover not reinforce the salient fact that the main character, who is also the first person narrator, is a bloody female. Pun intended. She's a serial killer. She tells the story her way. She's unreliable. She lies. And the cover lies as well.

People asked what the book was about. I did a bit of research to see what readers thought. They gave me three different ideas about the connotation of the image.

OMG! No, the book is not about the Unabomber. No, the book is not about Jihadi John, the Brit who became the public executioner for ISIS. And no, the book is not about Trayvon Martin. I don't feel qualified to write about any of these three, particularly not Trayvon, whose tragic death touched me deeply.

Oh, what to do? Hire a different cover designer, of course. And, true to wanting a build up for the reveal, you'll have to wait until my next post. Yup, teaser that I am, you'll have to curb your inquiring mind for another few days. Giggle. I hope you like it.

###

Betsy Ashton is the author of the Mad Max mystery series, Unintended Consequences, Uncharted Territory, and Unsafe Haven. She also wrote a dark psychological suspense novel, Eyes Without A Face, about a female serial killer, who unpacks her life and career in first person.

Old Book, New Look by Alison Henderson

Boiling Point isn't an old book--it's been out less than eight months. In book terms it's still a baby, but I decided it needed a face lift. 

Why? Even though I designed the cover myself, I'd never been fully satisfied with it, and sales haven't been what I'd hoped. Its sales are consistently about 60% of the figures for the first book in the Phoenix, Ltd. female bodyguard series, Unwritten Rules. There could be a number of reasons for this: readers want to start a series at the beginning, readers tried the first book and didn't like it enough to read the second, or whatever. But I had to ask myself, what if part of the problem is the cover?

I've received lots of positive feedback on the cover for Unwritten Rules since its release. Everyone seems to love the legs and the flirty tone. It's a good reflection of the style and tone of the story and has even attracted male readers!

So what was wrong with the original cover for Boiling Point? It wasn't close enough stylistically to Unwritten Rules. I looked at every image of a stone mansion I could find, hoping to find one that would make a good background and reminded me of the setting. Nothing worked. I settled for the condensation image because it suggested steam, which tied in to the title. I also looked at every single image of every variation of "woman with a gun" I could think of. I ended up with the recumbent figure because it was one of the few in which the gun was far enough away from the face to crop the head. In a series, it is important to have design continuity: same fonts, same color scheme, same figure style. I would have preferred a standing figure but couldn't find another that worked.

My cover re-do was actually inspired by our own Jannine Gallant. She found the perfect image for the mansion background. It looks exactly like the one in the story, and I swear it wasn't available a year ago when I started looking. Sadly, the seated figure looked just plain silly with it--like the woman was sitting on the driveway. It did encourage me, however, to take another look at "women with guns." 

Lo and behold, the stock image sites had added tons of new images, and I found the perfect one! The new figure of a woman in a short skirt and high heels with a gun behind her back is an excellent companion to the one on Unwritten Rules, and her cheeky pose mirrors the humorous tone of the book. 

One of the best things about being an indie author is the ability to make changes whenever I want to try something new. I'm thrilled with the new cover, and I hope readers have the same response. If I don't see any improvement in sales, I can always tinker with the blurb next!

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com