Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover

Don’t judge a book by its cover.  We’ve all heard that expression.  It’s certainly well-intentioned, but not very practical.  Don’t we ALL judge books by their covers?  Isn’t the cover what prompts us to take a closer look at a given book?  The eye catching artwork draws us to read the blurb, then maybe thumb through the first few pages.  Some might say it's the title which attracts their attention.  But where does one find the title?  On the cover of course.  The same can be said for the author.

What the author of this saying meant was that we shouldn’t prejudge based on appearance.  That is, in theory, a good idea.  But consider this scenario.  You pull a bowl of leftovers out of the refrigerator.  It looks like a science fair project.  Do you really need to smell it, let alone taste it, to know it has turned?

They also tell us: “You only have one chance to make a first impression.”  If we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, then why do we worry about making a good first impression?  So if a cover gives a negative impression, whose fault is it?

Which leads me to my current dilemma.  My third novel is ready to upload with the exception of ONE thing: cover art.  The cover IS very important.  Every article I ever read about publishing a book stresses the importance of cover art.  Kindle has another factor to consider.  Not only do you need an eye catching cover, it has to catch people’s eye as a tiny thumbnail image.  I have a vision, but bringing it to fruition has been difficult.  Perhaps I need a new vision?

At any rate, here are my first two covers.  The art for Soul Searching was my own photography. The cover for Apocalypse Road came from a web site which offers free artwork.

Click here for Soul Searching, a novel by Rick Armstrong, available for Kindle from Amazon.com	Click here for Apocalypse Road, a novel by Rick Armstrong, available for Kindle from Amazon.com

I will have to come up with something for my third novel's cover, because people will most certainly base their judgement on that one factor to decide if they even want to see what its about.

Apocalypse Road Update

Still working on the description.  Being that it is what will make people decide whether or not to read my book, I always agonize over what to write.

On the bright side, I have a cover, courtesy of www.pixabay.com.  The image was free for commercial use and requires no attribution.

Inspiration and Procrastination: My Kindle Project

The previous post is why I have 3 completed novels.  Every time I would finish a novel and start to even think about searching for an agent, I would get inspired with another story.  "I can't waste my time looking for an agent today.  I'm really hot on this new novel.  I probably wouldn't find an agent anyway."

As a champion procrastinator, the first rule of procrastination when faced with an unpleasant task is to find something more important to do.  Since inspiration has no schedule, you must strike when the iron is hot.

That is not to say that, I haven't procrastinated a bit since I first began exploring the Kindle option.  At the present time, I have ideas for 5 more novels in various stages of notes.  In the last week or so I have become very inspired to write other things, but I am forcing myself to focus on Soul Searching.

I have the cover art.  That was a huge stumbling block.  I have finally sorted out the royalty option choices.  I know what format it needs to be in prior to uploading.  When the final proofread and corrections are complete, the file will be ready for upload.  But there was more more thing to agonize over.  The description.

The description isn't just something to go and fill in.  You don't just sum up your novel in the text box with no prior thought and move along.  The description is what will make people either click the button to download or keep searching.  I find that daunting, especially after searching the internet for tips.  "Write in the style of your genre," says one.  "It will drive your English teacher crazy but don't use complete sentences," says another. 

Today, inspiration struck for my description.  I'm still fine tuning it, but I'm sure I'll have it ready before the final draft is complete.

All I can say is "soon."  Which is actually a little frightening.  More on that later...

Cover Art

After a couple of hours of testing my concept in my photo studio, I came to the conclusion that it would be difficult to achieve my vision, and nearly impossible without a greenscreen, which I don't have yet.  I also don't have a model.  I was using myself as a test subject just to see if I could make the lighting look right.  I could have very easily used that as an excuse to prolong the project.  But my wonderful wife again saved the day.  She suggested using an image I already have: a waterfall I photographed in Yellowstone several years ago.  As is so often the case, it was a great idea.  I now have a cover.

But there is more to the cover art saga.  Amazon recommends a huge image, the longest side being 2500 pixels with an aspect ratio of 1.6.  I saw one website report that they were upping that to 4500 pixels, which would be ridiculous.  The minimum recommended size is 1000 pixels on the long dimension.  I decided to go with 1200 pixels.

Why all of the concern?  Because at the 70% royalty rate that I have, or will be choosing, I will be paying for the download.  My 1567x2500 image came in at 1.31 mb.  By reducing the image size to 752x1200 I reduced the file size to 364kb.  I basically shaved 1 megabyte off the download.

Still working on the final final final proofread and corrections.  Getting excited.  Soon my only concern will be if anyone actually wants to read it.

Progress Report

My wife is proofreading and highlighting, and I have been exploring Kindle.  I think I have a pretty good handle on what's involved.  Two of the biggest things in the Kindle process, for me anyway, is coming up with a description of my book, and what payment option I want.

The description is a tough one.  How much do I say?  They allow a massive number of characters; up to 4,000.  Far more than I think I need.  I was thinking four or five sentences.  But there is room for so much more.  I'll have to ponder that and sit down with a blank Word document in front of me and see what flows.

Pricing on the other hand turned out to be a no brainer.  It seemed like a no brainer at first, but it made me wonder: "Is it really a no brainer?"  You have two royalty options.  35% and 70%.  Automatically, I think, "I want more money; I'll take the 70%."  But then my suspicious nature kicks in.  Surely there is some kind of catch.  Without getting into ALL the details, no there is no serious "catch."  To qualify for 70%, an ebook must be priced between $2.99 and $9.99, and a small download fee comes out of the author's end.  Choosing the 35% rate allows authors to charge as little as 99 cents and as much as $200, for their ebook, and Kindle picks up the tab for downloading.  So 70% it is.

Now I'm off to set up the camera gear to do some test shots for the cover art.  I have a vision, and I think I can do it.  Just need to play with the lighting.

More to come...