How Do You Choose Which Book to Buy? Annie West

Confession time here. Things have been rather frantic in the West household and I looked on the calendar and realised I was scheduled to post with the LoveCats. What to choose? With my brain scrambled by other things I thought I'd tackle and hopefully get some views on something which all authors, and some readers, wonder about.

How do you choose which books to buy?

Specifically, how do you choose which romances?

Everyone is different so I assume there'll be a variety of views.

I'd love to think lots of readers went shopping looking specifically for Annie West stories (or stories by another particular author they love). But favourite shopping only accounts for part of our buying. I for one often find myself tempted by a new-to-me-author.

Could it be the cover, I wonder? I'm sure this one of Sarah Mayberry's caught the eye of a lot of people. Would you buy based on a cover? Or would the cover attract you to take a closer look?

 

If not the cover, would you buy based on the back cover blurb? Are you a sucker for the boy next door romance or a marriage of convenience or beauty and the beast, or some other romance theme? Do you scour the books on sale to find a back cover blurb to suit your mood?

 

Are you influenced by reviews? I'm particularly intrigued by this as I hear so many different things? I've had readers mention they picked up their first book by me because of a review. On the other hand I've heard from people who seem to ignore them. But I've also had people refuse to read a book because of a review (which made me grit my teeth as the review was misleading, but that's another story).

 

Do you buy based on title? I'm particularly wondering about this as I've noticed sales of my current book, 'The Sinner's Marriage Redemption' don't seem to be doing as well as my other recent titles. I don't think it's the cover (see below). Personally I think this is a corker of a cover, with just the right intensity. Maybe it's the theme or the writing or the title. Who knows? There are so many variables it's just about impossible to pin down to a single factor. Here's the US cover in a gratuitous attempt to give it a plug!

Maybe you buy based on friend's recommendations. I do. Not always, but people who know my reading tastes have been a terrific source of suggestions for new books.

 

Or maybe it's just an ad that catches your eye. Seeing a book at just the right time, or perhaps at a reduced price can be serendipitous.

 

Finally, I know there are readers out there who won't buy without reading the first page - or the last! I've seen them browsing in stores then putting books back before making their final choices.

 

Where do you stand? Are you and impulse cover/title buyer? A dip into the text browser? Or maybe you'd like to comment on things that make you decide NOT to buy. I'd love to hear.



Cover Love

A lot of you would know a few years back I wrote a book with my sister, Ros Baxter, called Sister Pact. It was a great experience for both of us and we loved it so much we’ve written a second and are on to our third.

The book sold out its print run which is good but over several months, not in one or two weeks which makes you a superstar. It’s now OOP – out of print :-(  BUT thanks to the digital platform you can still get it as an e-book.

And from today you can also get it as an e-book with the original cover.

The original cover was the one both Ros and I loved.  Harper Collins truly outdid themselves with nailing exactly what the book was about in one piece of art and we were ecstatic – absolutely over the moon.

Look at it – isn’t it gorgeous?? (if you click on it, you'll get a lovely big, readable version!)

 

But then the marketers and the books buyers got involved and were not very nice about our cover. They didn’t like it, they wouldn’t buy many copies. It was too chick-litty and didn’t we all know that was “publishing death”?? It seemed it was too reminiscent of those covers that defined chick-lit for many years – cartoon martini glasses and red stilettos . 

Sigh.

So our beautiful cover was ditched and we got a more generic women’s fiction cover which everyone who knew stuff about stuff agreed would sell better.

Now there’s nothing wrong with this cover – it’s perfectly fine. Except it has nothing to do with the book whatsoever...

The first cover tells the story in one glance. The second cover tells you nothing. In fact, it looks like the women in the story are the best of friends and they’re going to ride off into the sunset together (or possibly star in a Libra Fleur commercial) which is so not what happens, so not what the book is about.

So you can imagine how ecstatic we both are that the lovely peeps at Harper Collins have decided to out the old cover back on the e-book AND have reduced the price from $12 down to $4.48 in the US, 2.99 pounds in the UK and $4.99 here in Oz!

We finally feel like we have our book back!

And because I’m so damn excited I’m going to give away a digital copy with the new cover to someone who stops by and leaves a comment. Tell me, which cover do you prefer? If they were side by side in a bookshop which one would you pick up? Do you buy on cover alone? Do cartoon covers turn you off? Does it annoy you when the cover doesn’t match the content? 

Covers, characters and a giveaway!

by Emmie Dark

Hi Lovecatters! It's an exciting month for me. Not only has my brand new novella Spellbound hit the e-shelves with Destiny publishing, I've also just received the cover art for my June SuperRomance!

I've totally been blessed by the cover fairies this month. Check out Spellbound:

Isn't it gorgeous? Sexy, a little mysterious, and somehow magical -- perfectly in sync with the quirky spice of the story. Personally, I also think that guy has one very sexy shoulder/chest. I think, maybe, it's because he's wearing a singlet and not showing just bare skin. What do you think? Are we in the romance world a little weary of naked-chested hunks? (Is such a thing possible??)

And here's the cover for Just For Today...

I've got a story about the cover for Just For Today. It's funny how different books can be. For me, most of the time when I'm writing, I don't usually have an exceptionally strong sense of how my characters look. I mean, I know what color their hair is, and their eyes,  as well as any quirks like scars, etc, but when I picture them in my mind's eye, I don't often have a crystal-clear image of their faces.

That was totally different with Just For Today. I knew exactly, right from the start, what my hero and heroine looked like.

My hero was the spitting image of Jensen Ackles from the TV show Supernatural. He seems to be a perennial favourite with romance authors -- I do see his mug pasted up on Facebook more often than most.

And I think you can see why.

Apart from the jaw and chiselled chin, the hair was a big thing. My hero, Sean, does his hair exactly like that. And it gets referred to a lot in the book.

My heroine, Jess, also sprang into my mind's eye just as quickly and fully formed. She was Erin Karpluk from the TV show Being Erica. (If you haven't seen it, you absolutely must! It's wonderful!)

Jess had that same long, flowing hair and very natural, down-to-earth look. She's also a little older than Sean (a little more world-wearied, too) and I thought the two of them worked perfectly together. (I was thrilled to discover, long after the book was written and submitted, that Jensen and Erin shared screen time in the show Dark Angel -- unfortunately not romantically!)

Now go back and look at the cover for Just For Today -- don't I owe the talent scouts in the art department at Harlequin a beer??

I haven't got my advance copies of Just For Today yet. But leave a comment and I'll send one lucky commenter a copy as soon as they arrive. You'll be among the first in the world to read it!

How much notice do you take of the way characters look on the covers as compared to how they're described in the book? How clearly do you picture your characters when you're writing?

Judging a book by its cover

by Emmie Dark

I recently bought a book absolutely wholly and solely because of the cover. In my defence, it was very pretty. I went to an online cover competition to vote for a friend's book and saw it there. The cover just called to me, and a minute later I was looking it up online. All I found out was that it was a paranormal YA romance -- not at all my usual thing -- and before I knew it, I placed an order with Book Depository.

I wanted to own it, just based on the cover. I've received it and read it now, and I'm pleased to say that the words inside actually did live up to the cover! It was a great story and I'm glad I'd bought it.

Amazon

I suppose I should share it. Here you go, this is Die for Me, by Amy Plum. It's a fantastic book for older YA readers (or grown ups!).

It doesn't take much to make me buy a book (as my credit card statements will attest!) but it's not usual for me to buy something just based on the cover. In fact I buy a lot of e-books, and books that I've read reviews for, or just heard about by word of mouth on Facebook or similar, and for many of them I don't think I've even looked at the cover! So what was it about this one that intrigued me?

It's a few things. Paris, for one. One of my favourite cities. I have a little Eiffel Tower sitting next to me on my desk right now, and a calendar of vintage French travel posters on the wall. Set something in Paris, and you've already half-won me over.

The red dress, for another. I love the idea of a glamorous red dress like that. One day I will have to attend the Oscars so I can wear one! It speaks of power and fun and adventure and fairy tales. (As a side note, have you heard about "The Travelling Red Dress" project by The Bloggess? It's amazing. And it's all about not waiting for an invitation to the Oscars in order to wear a dress like that.)

And the black squiggly things. I don't know why I like them but I do. I don't think I'd ever be brave enough to get a tattoo in real life, but I'm always intrigued by other people's, especially when they're beautifully drawn black lines. And if I ever did, then it would be something like those pretty swirls and winding vines and leaves. In fact, when I draw doodles in the margins of notebooks, they tend to look something like that (although not nearly as pretty).

So for me, the reasons I like that cover are all incredibly personal. There will be plenty of people out there who don't like it, who have an objection to red dresses for some reason, who encountered a rude Frenchman on their trip to Paris and have less than fond memories of the city. For those people, this book won't be appealing on any of the same grounds as it was for me.

Covers are so subjective. Like any kind of art, I suppose -- beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. And in these days of ebooks, I wonder if covers are as important as they used to be? We've heard about the demise of album art in music now -- I wonder if book covers will go a similar way?

Pre-order at Amazon

While on the subject of covers, I can't finish without a shameless self-promotional plug for "In His Eyes" my new SuperRomance, which comes out in August in North America. I just received a copy of the cover for it a couple of weeks ago -- and how gorgeous is it??

I feel I have been blessed by the cover fairies (or just the Art Department at Harlequin -- thanks guys!). My cover for Cassie's Grand Plan was beautiful, and when I got to see it on the shelves in the US, the bright ocean and blue, blue sky made it stand out and it really drew the eye. (It wasn't just me -- other people said the same thing!) In His Eyes is set in a fictional winery area outside of Melbourne and my hero and heroine have competing vineyards and a complicated history. I just love the dark tones and sense of drama in this cover -- it's totally appropriate to the story. I hope you'll agree when you get a chance to read it. :)

Do you think book covers are less important these days? Have you ever bought a book just because of its cover?