Saturday, September 20, 2008

eBooks: A Cover Test

I'm presenting five covers here.

All of these are from eBooks currently on sale.

Can you tell:

1) Are these all from a major print publisher?
2) Are these all from a small press?
3) Which are from which (if they are)?

And, which cover would entice you to buy the eBook?











"Don't judge a book by its cover." Yet people do. I sometimes do.

And if you intend to direct publish an eBook, it's going to need a cover. A striking cover. A cover that doesn't say, "I did this with clip art and PhotoShop and, man, I'm no frikkin artist!"

I've already pointed out editing services that are available for writers who intend to direct publish.

But I don't know of any artists -- or group of artists -- who specialize in eBook covers that writers will be able to license or purchase.

This is a subject I meant to bring up weeks ago. Then I find out MobileRead is debating the issue for eBooks that are created and freely distributed over there.

Start looking at book covers and studying the elements that attract you. Develop a sense of what makes a good cover. You're going to need it!

I'll provide the answer to these covers in Comments (at the WordPress blog) at some point in the future. Meanwhile, Comment!

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