Book cover layouts play an important role in the overall presentation of stories, and often times readers first judge a book by its cover. This year indieBRAG has put together a cover contest of books chosen by the indieBRAG Team. These covers were chosen based on several factors including; 1) professionalism 2) visual appeal 3) creativity and 4) fit with the story/genre.
We have asked the ladies of the indieBRAG Interview Team to discuss with us the importance of book covers, what they like, want to see more of and so on…Today Heather Campbell talks with us about this.
On the scale one to five, how important are book covers to you?
I would say a 4. If I’m buying in store it is still the thing that makes me pick it up. If I’m just browsing online it’s less important, but seeing a friend share a great book cover will still make me go look it up.
Why are they important to you?
It’s all about what catches my attention primarily, but it also shows value, especially if it’s independently published, that the author/publisher spent the time to make their book look polished.
What do you not like in book covers?
After reading the book when the cover doesn’t seem to match either the feel of the book, scenes, character etc. I can get by with a wrong time period for clothing and not notice but if the whole cover doesn’t represent the story at all that’s an issue.
What would you like to see more of in covers?
Men represented on more than primarily romance covers. A readable font choice for the title or author (or how the color of the font contrasts with the background color).
How many books have you read this year thus far?
27
Do you participate in cover contest by voting for your favorite?
I do
When writing a book review do you consider the covers to be part of your rating the book?
Sometimes. If the cover really strikes me positively or negatively I will mention it, but I don’t mention all covers.
How much do you blog per week and how much do you talk about book covers?
I typically blog 3-5 days a week but discuss things on my social media basically every day. I feature my favorite book cover each week as part of a series and sometimes discuss them when i see them posted on Facebook or other sites.
Check out another great interview with Heather HERE at the indieBRAG Blog.
Heather’s website
Leave a Reply