Saturday, June 05, 2010

First Impressions, The Book Cover

Congratulations to Kathy Otten. She won the set of notecards!

So far, my best selling book online has been the digital version of The Beast of Blackbirch Manor with the cover below.



The publisher changed the cover for the print version of the book.



Why? I don't know. Which cover do you find more attractive? Which one would you buy?

My latest release, The Fiend of White Buck Hall, has the cover you see below.



For some unknown reason, Amazon has not given the digital version of the book a cover. I did tell my publisher, and I did try to upload it myself to no avail. So on Amazon the book cover for digital version of The Fiend of White Buck Hall looks like this:

Despite the lack of a cover, there are readers who have purchased the digital version of that book. :^)

Book covers are an author's first impression for a reader. I have been disappointed in some of the covers I've received and ecstatic with others, but my opinion of the cover does not necessarily correlate with the sales of the books. Sales are influenced by other factors as well. However, a great book cover does help and I truly appreciate the skill of the artists who have worked on the covers for my books.

Look at the three books below. Which one would you choose to read--based on your first impression?









Anyone who comments from now until Friday, June 11, 2010, will be entered into a drawing. The winner will receive a set of notecards with the images of my bookcovers on the front of the notecards.

9 comments:

Moon_Pie said...

I like the print cover the best-- the online one looks like a tree that grew arms and grabbed the girl. It reminded me of the movie "Evil Dead" (I am a Deadite by the way!)

Penelope Marzec said...

Moon_Pie:

Thanks for letting me know which cover you like.

I guess since you're a Deadite you're not afraid of walking in the woods at night. :^)

Judy said...

I think I like the print cover the best! The darkness of the colors seems to bring it out more than you would think.

On the three covers at the bottom, I would pick up the first two. It is really according to what I am wanting to read.

I think the darkness and all the melding colors are the things in style right now for covers, because the paranormal books are doing so well!!

Brandy B aka Brandlwyne said...

I would pic Irons in the Fire first of the 3. Also I enjoyed the digital version of The Beast of Blackbirch Manor. It looks really good, I am putting it on my list!!! Thanks for the contest. Have a great summer!!!

Penelope Marzec said...

Judy:

You must be right about the trend in dark covers--there do seem to be a lot of them.

Penelope Marzec said...

Brandlwyne:

I prefer the cover of the digital version of The Beast of Blackbirch Manor, too. I guess I just like more color and less darkness.

Kathy Otten said...

Hi,
I like the second cover the best. The first one she has a weird expression on her face and his hands look like claws and he doesn't look like he's even touching her. Of the three at the bottom, I'd pick up the one with the light house.

Anonymous said...

I prefer the cover on the digital version of The Beast of Blackbirch Manor because it immediately caught my eye and made me think of dark and spooky things. Of the three covers, the first one caught my eye and would have been the first one that I picked up.

Penelope Marzec said...

So far it's three votes for the print cover of The Beast of Blackbirch Manor and two votes for the cover on the digital version.

I appreciate the feedback!