Judging Books by Their Covers

Don’t judge a book by its cover is a pretty familiar aphorism. The meaning, of course, is apparent–that what you see isn’t always what you get. Judging a book by its cover is making your evaluation by something else’s face value. You’re not supposed to judge people (or books, or movies, or businesses) based on how they look or even the first impression that they give you.

The problem here? We all do it.

First Impressions

Everyone’s let a first impression get the better of them. Someone cuts you off in traffic, you assume they’re a jerk. Someone holds a door for you, they’re probably nice. We might cross the street to avoid people who look homeless or we think might be “scary.”

This is normal human behavior. Scientists have actually been able to observe how the brain lights up when we make judgments and they can actually see the more ancient parts of our brains creating this circuitry. Being able to tell a poisonous mushroom from an edible one or a venomous snake form a friendly one was pretty important to survival back in the day. It makes sense that we’d still carry some of those thoughts with us

But it makes your first impression even more important. A study from Cornell shows that first impressions tend to stick even after we’ve met someone. Although you might know that the burly guy with the tattoos and the beard is a just a teddy bear once you get to know him, part of you might still tighten up when he comes around a corner.

Judging Books, Movies, & More

I’ve written 4 books and guides so far in my professional career. As frustrating as it can feel sometimes, I’ve come to understand that most people use the cover to decide if they’ll like it or not. Some people buy wine based on whether they like the label art. A movie trailer comes to define what viewers expect it to be about. If you don’t believe me, look at The Shining after it gets the rom-com treatment.

It’s not that the content is totally unimportant. There are great trailers for terrible movies. A lot of new books have a minimalist style and still get picked up by readers. But there are a lot more books out there than there used to be. Readers want to make sure they aren’t going to waste their time or their money on someone’s get-rich-quick book. Covers are a symbol of how much care the writer has put into the project. And hopefully, it’s an indicator of the quality of information within.

Redesigning Your Cover

The key to avoiding disappointment on the first impression for books is making having an appealing cover that’s going to draw in my reader. But there’s more to covers than just books. When you have an interview, you dress well and pay attention to your appearance–because you want to convey that you’re a professional. Take a minute to analyze your cover. You want to make a statement but more importantly, you need to make sure that it’s the kind of statement you want to make. Do people want to read more and get to know you better? Would they want to watch that movie, based on the trailer you give them? If you don’t like the answers on your analysis, it’s time for a redesign to put out the impression that best reflects what you want to accomplish.

But as long as we’re judging books (literally here), my latest will be out 1/4/18 and I’m in the exciting final stages. I’ve got a cover design but I want to get more feedback from my audience and see what appeals to you.

What do you think of the design? Does anything draw you in or push you away? What kind of statement does it make to you? Or is it not making one at all? I want your input to help make this my best launch yet.

If you like the look of the book, be sure to get more details here and sign up for the pre-order list, which includes some amazing bonus content!