#InkRipples~Book covers

Happy New Year!!!! 

I drifted away from posting during 2016, but am back and looking forward to sharing my thoughts again in 2017.

And what better post for the first of the year than an #Inkripples post.

Today's topic: Book covers.

Book covers are more complicated than you may realize. After all, one glance must not only catch the eye of a prospective reader and entice them to pick up the book to read, but it must also reveal the genre and a subtle hint of the story.

If you're looking for a thriller, you aren't going to pick up a book with flowery script and a picture of a man in a suit and top hat with a woman in a belle of the ball gown, are you? No, because the cover is revealing that you're holding a romance (and most likely, a period romance.)

Color, font, and images are all used to help a reader know at a glance what the book they are looking at is going to be about. 

This was an important thing for me to learn when I worked with the cover artist for my first book. I answered a series of questions about my book, about what I'd like to see on the cover, and some covers that I liked that were in the same genre as I was writing.

I had always thought that book covers needed to represent a specific scene from the story, but that isn't true. A great book cover will capture the essence of the story through the colors, font, and images the cover artist uses. And it is much harder to do this than you think!

Do you agree that book covers are more complicated than they first appear? What are some of your favorite covers and why? Share in the comments below!  

Ripples in the Inkwell is a themed meme hosted by Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #inkripples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.

This year's topics are:

January: Book covers
February: Genres
March: Tropes
April: Revision
May: Fairy Tales
June: Blurbs
July: Heroes/Villains
August: Author Options in Publishing
September: World Building
October: Career vs Hobby
November: Finishing that Book!
December: Goals