The Importance of the Cover

When I wrote my first fiction book, Angel Sometimes, there were a lot of decisions I had to make.

First, I needed to decide if I would query it, ask the publisher of my three non-fiction books to handle it, or self-publish. At the time, I wanted to get the book up on Amazon as an e-book, so I decided to do it myself. For me, the most difficult part of the process wasn't writing or editing, or formatting it to meet the requirements.  I had to figure out how I wanted the cover to look.

Hours of many days were spent looking at pictures online, some free, others at a reasonable rate. I couldn’t find what I was looking for -- a flower garden.  I had a flower garden in mind because it plays an important role in the story. In the end, my husband and I drove to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and took pictures there. After a few hours of walking and snapping shots, I came home with one that I liked enough to use as the cover art.

That was the original cover for Angel Sometimes on Amazon. I say "original" because the more I looked at it, the clearer it became that it was not the right cover. Number one, there was no way for the reader to understand the significance of the garden until the end of the book. Number two, the picture seemed too soft for the book. Number three, it needed  a cover that was bolder, more eye-catching, and more "telling".

So I went back to the online sites for photographs. Only this time, I searched for water scenes or mermaids. There are mermaid photos, but most of them were women in a costume sitting on a rock. That wasn't what I wanted. I wanted her to be swimming. I also didn't want the reader to see the cover and feel that was the way Angel looked. I preferred readers to have their own vision of her.

I gave up and bought a beautiful underwater scene -- no mermaid. This was the cover I designed using that picture:

Ultimately, I decided I needed a professional cover artist, so I signed on with Patty G. Henderson.  

Luckily, Patty did not give up. She created a beautiful cover with a mermaid. She even manipulated the picture so that the mermaid's face was not visible. I loved the cover so much, I put it up as the e-book cover and used it for the paperback and my business cards.

Probably all of you are readers. How many books have you picked up then set down without even flipping through the pages -- because the cover did not appeal to you? I think the right cover is essential and can play as big a role as the back cover blurb in determining if the reader will buy the book.

What do you think? Do covers influence you to pick up the book? Buy the book? Do you turn to a professional to design your covers?

The late Helen Ginger (1952-2021) was an author, blogger, and the Coordinator of Story Circle Network's Editorial Services and writing coach. She was also a former mermaid. She taught public speaking as well as writing and marketing workshops. Helen was the author of Angel Sometimes, Dismembering the Past, and three books in TSTC Publishing’s TechCareers series.