Postcard For Reader

Why covers are important.

Originally this post was just going to be about how much I love the cover of Shadow Lands by Kate Briant. It focuses on the title; the font is perfect; the girl looks awesome and is used perfectly; I love the hint of the birds; the sizing is all as it should be.

But, between the title and the cover, I thought that this must be some sort of paranormal or even a fantasy, if I was lucky.

Not so.

Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived … and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection with her father and sister, Darcy, leaving their friends and family without so much as a goodbye.

Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children, but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. But just as they’re starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?

What about this cover says 'modern contemporary serial killer?'

Is the font a little modern? Sure. Is the girl in modern clothes? Yeah.

All the indivdual parts represent the book.

But together? They don't. If I picked this up off the shelf, I'd be disappointed; people who were looking for the murder mystery wouldn't neccessarily pick this up because it doesn't look like the kind of book they'd want to read.

Book covers are the first impression of a book, the same way a poster might be the first impression for a movie. We watch the trailer of a movie to see if it is something we would like; we read the flap of a book to see if it is what the cover represents.

If it's not, and if the book doesn't match what we want, we put it back.

If it never looked like something they'd like to begin with, potential fans skip over entirely.

So while this cover is b-e-a-utiful, and the title is awesome, I don't think I like it for this book. It just doesn't seem to fit.

What do you think?