There’s an old saying that goes, “Never judge a book by its cover.” Thing is, a lot of people do. A book’s cover is so often thing that draws a reader’s attention. Certainly, in the world of paper books on the shelves in book stores and supermarkets, the cover is the thing that jumps off the shelf and slaps the casual browser in the face. It’s the thing that makes a potential reader pick up the book and read the blurb on the back and maybe a few pages inside, after which they will hopefully decide to buy the thing.
And the same is true of e-books.
The cover of an e-book is just as important, and maybe even more so, than the cover of a paper book. On the virtual shelves of your favourite online book store, the casual shopper might well be presented with a screen full of twenty or thirty covers at a time and then be able to scroll through hundreds more.
So you cover needs to stand out. It needs to be the one cover on the screen that draws the eye and makes the reader want to click or tap on it.
And I hope that’s something I’ve achieved with this cover for Charlotte’s Secret.
I think that the colours I’ve used, or even the lack of colours, is what makes the cover striking. That whole black and white thing with the bright red underwear and text.
But what I really like about it is that it hints at so much about the story, without really giving anything away at all. “Charlotte’s Secret” is, of course, an underwear shop in the book, so the fact that we have a woman in her underwear on the cover fits quite well.
It’s also a sexy image for a sexy book.
But for me, the real killer on this cover is her pose. The “Shhh” finger at the lips, hinting at the secrets within the book. This cover says to a potential reader, “Hey, there are secrets in here, and you want to know them, don’t you?”
I am really pleased with the cover. And I hope you like it too.
