You CAN Judge a Book by it’s Cover

by Warren Whitlock, Book Marketing Strategist · Comments

Best of 2008Amazon is talking about the Best Books of 2008 has an interesting list you may not have seen before.

The Best Cover Designs of 2008

Authors want to believe that the old adage “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover” means that they can overcome a lousy cover with great content inside.

Of course it’s true that the best writing, best advice, compelling story and secrets to a great life may be in a book with a mediocre cover… it’s also true that many books never get read because of the cover.

We teach authors that the cover, the distribution plan and above all, the marketing and promotion done by the author will largely determine whether anyone ever gets to read the material inside the book.

As an author, reader and publisher, I wish I could tell you different. I wish that worthy books, with important messages got out despite being ignored by the market. Sorry, that’s usually not the case.

Many great books never sell well, but the good news is that many authors, especially those with a sound book marketing strategy and online promotion system in place tell us that a book is the best thing that ever happened to them

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  • Good post.

    All of this withstanding the biggest problem I'm having these days is to get my clients to understand the important of social media in terms of brand building. They still think it's some kind of novelty that teens are into. I've been trying to get people to understand that social media sites are having a huge influence not only in the conversations people are having about a brand, but also on the search results that are coming up.

    I recently wrote a post about the tools that people are using to monitor the online space and that clients are still hung up in web analaytics to judge their brands health in the online space, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. E-mail me some time!

    -Freddie
    Digital Strategist / TakeMeToYourLeader.com
  • Today, everything matters including first impression and initial presentation. Maybe not so much 20 years ago. But, as competitive a market place this is, detail counts.
  • There are so many books in the market that haven't read yet. And base of my experience most of the readers are looking to the cover and most especially to the title of the book before they pick it and read.
  • Thanks for sharing such great ideas. I would like to appreciate your advice and would like to know more about strategies you apply to obtain success in book marketing.
  • Who would have guessed it to be true? This post makes a very good point about the importance of a good cover. Think of how many times you see an interesting book cover and pick it up to see what it is!
  • True, that is a little sad. Nowaday, any books that has a really bad or boring cover, you probably won't want to read it. You'll judge it by its cover and believe it's just some boring book...

    I do think like that when I go to the bookstores. I usually would pick up a book that catches my attention and usually it has some good looking cover page.
  • I love Grant Cardone and "Selling Is The Secret To Success". It has an awesome cover.
  • I spoke at a conference a few years ago for folks interested in POD and SP. I was truly astounded by how many of them didn't think the book cover mattered much (but then, many also didn't think that having the manuscript professionally proofed or edited mattered either).

    It matters. It all matters.

    But I guess this is what should be expected now that anyone can publish a book, no?

    Great post, Warren!
    S
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