Sure, there are readers who will look beyond a less than appealing cover art and read the blurb, but first, you have to get them to the product page. That means, your title and/or your cover art, scrunched up between more dynamic and attention grabbing books on the genre pages, has to get its share of attention.
Does the cover have to match what the book is about? Consider the millions of covers displaying naked women. It once signified the book was a romance, but now it implies erotica. I think readers looking for more substance might be shying away from blatant sex on the cover. Some publishers are showing bodies with no heads. I hope it isn't indicative of books with sex but no substance.
So maybe sex doesn't sell as well as it once did. Maybe what authors need to do, is find vibrant cover art that invokes the readers curiosity, and draws them to the product page. My cover, displaying only a black stallion, does just that. Okay, so there is a black stallion in my stories - almost all of them, as a matter of fact.
In the world of Independent authors, the cover art seems to be the last thing thought of. It is understandable since the darn things cost a fortune. I've seen hand painted cover art go for as high as $4,000.00. They are indeed beautiful, but there is no guarantee the book will generate that kind of money. Alternatively, authors try to make their own, which is exactly what I did. My covers weren't bad, but they weren't spectacular either. A few even got laughed at. The nerve of some people!
Another problem for Independent Authors is the lack of time. To have a cover created especially for a specific book can take weeks, and when a book is ready for publication, 'weeks' seems like forever.
Now, there is an alternative.
More and more cover artists are displaying an assortment of pre-made covers, ready for the title and the author's name. These covers are fast, affordable and can be used permanently or until the "real" cover art is created.
Here's an example of pre-made cover art: https://sites.google.com/
Questions and comments are always welcome here.
Marti Talbott
My Kindle author page -- http://www.amazon.com/-/e/
Formatted by CB -- http://www.eformatters.com
Edited by FS -- http://
Marti Talbott is the author of the Marti Talbott's Highlander Series, the Carson Series and The Marblestone Mansion series. Visit her website at www.firstchapterproject.com
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