What's in a Cover? Well Everything ; part 1

Covers are the key to everything! Well at a glance they are because that's how long you have to make your sale a glance. Think about it, when your perusing Amazon or any other online book store just how long to do look at whats on offer ten seconds? No, more like two seconds. So that's the time-frame you have to play with. Design your cover with this in mind. It has to stand out, grab the viewer by the eyes and force them to click on the thumbnail. Then to land the fishy you need good blurb or a sell sheet, call it what you like but its how you seal the deal that's really important.

Covers must relate directly to the content of the book, there's nothing worse than a terrific cover that does not relate to the content within. Your not going to get people to buy into your Authorship with that approach, remember you are basically a brand and people like to associate themselves with brands, to identify with your books. Its like fashion or movies, it defines certain social structures we all subscribe to. Don't disappoint.

In Picture Books the illustrator should also design the cover. Maintain the same style, it can be their best work but it should not outshine the illustrations inside. More in part 2.