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.

My Fantasy Turret

Are any fellow writers reading my blog?  I have a question.  Do you ever wish you had a turret to which you could retreat and create?  I can picture myself in a haven for my creativity.  Like most of my fantasies, it quickly grew out of hand.  Yes, a turret would be perfect, with its only access being a winding staircase.  It would, however, need certain accoutrements.  A coffee pot would be a must, as would a small fridge.  Since coffee requires water and clean-up, a sink would be necessary.  A microwave would be nice, too.  Sounds like I should just turn the kitchen into my writing room. 

Unfortunately, the kitchen tends to be the busiest room in our home.  We have something of a commune at our house.  It is never quiet, and I am never alone.  At its peak, we had 10 people, a dog, and a cat, all in a two bedroom house.  In all honesty though, they weren’t ALL in the house; we had two tents in the back yard.  We have leveled off at eight, after two left, taking the cat with them, but that still makes for quite a crowd.  And loud considering two of them are small children aged one and four. 

So my “turret” is now wherever I take my laptop.  I prefer my desktop, but it resides in our living room.  Its fine in times of minimal activity, but when life gets too revved up, I have to go somewhere quiet.  To keep my writing synched between the two computers, I’m using Google Drive and Google Docs.  As a word processor it is basic.  But I have not as yet found any of its limitations to be a problem.   

On the writing front, I’m making progress on my next novel, and even have an idea for a future work.  And more on the commune situation, coming soon.